She stared at the mess on her hands. I reached to wipe it away because I couldn’t stand the sight of her pain. If I could have wrapped her in something soft and whisked her away from here, I would have. Though, I knew she would fight me every step of the way.
Addie might be soft and sweet, her heart going out for every living thing on this planet, but she was also a determined fighter. There was a balance to her that I admired. She cared, deeply. That meant when she took a life, it was of the upmost necessity.
I had to trust that about her. Though I wanted to go through human channels for justice, that wasn’t going to work in a world like this.
Sitting back on my haunches, I sighed.
“You’re right,” I finally confessed.
“You missed your cue card. You’re supposed to assure me that everything is going to be fine.” Despite her teasing tone, her face remained pale.
Maybe now wasn’t the time to talk about this, but I doubted we were going to have many other chances. “That’s not what I was talking about. I meant about justice.”
Addie closed her hand around the bloodstains as she peered at me. I turned away from her probing gaze because I wasn’t quite sure how to respond yet. While I’d been able to make the first confession, my head was still too much of a mess for me to properly put my thoughts into words just yet.
Thankfully, Addie was patient. She let me clean the wounds on her chest while I gathered myself. The aura of her power helped feed the hungry void deep within me while I knelt between her legs. Soon, I would need real sustenance. I’d been shifting too often, and my body wasn’t happy about it. Maybe some fresh energy would help me tell Addie what she deserved to know.
I placed the clean, white bandage over Addie’s wounds and watched it immediately blossom with blood.
“It’s not going to stop,” Addie said with a sigh dragging down her voice.
If I’d trusted her sooner, then I would have been able to prevent this. I should have put that soul-torn wolf down ages ago. I’d had several opportunities, but I’d gone easy on him because I didn’t want blood on my own hands.
So, now Addie had to have blood on her hands—literally.
“I’ll do better,” I told her. “I’ll do what needs to be done. It’s my fault for not realizing this sooner.”
She placed a soft hand under my chin and lifted so that I would look her in the eye. The urge to push her back into the bathtub and explore her body hit me so hard I had to physically swallow it back down before it came rushing out of me.
Addie tilted her head. “What are you talking about?”
“I can do it. I can kill.” The words weren’t as bitter on the tongue as I’d expected. When I said it, nothing happened.
The world didn’t fall on my head. No one burst through the door to arrest me. There was nothing standing in my way save for myself.
Her brows came together. I covered her hand with my own to reassure her. I wasn’t sure it worked, but it helped me.