pack, not a flock. We don’t let outsiders prey on the weak and then stand idly
by to watch. We fight to protect our own. I may not like you, but I’m not
going to give you up to a terrorist.”
I stepped up in her face. “If that’s so, then why are you giving me shit?
Just to make me feel guilty and more miserable than I already am?”
Regina’s gaze didn’t waver from mine, but she pointed to the pictures of
the sleepers. “This is all your fault, and that makes it your job to fix it. Not
Jaxson’s. Not the pack’s. You. Do what’s right.”
I couldn’t help but look at the wall of pictures, and guilt dragged me
down like a heavy iron chain. All those people.
Jaxson wouldn’t give me up, nor would the pack—but there was an
elegant solution.
My stomach tumbled as things added up, and I dug my claws into my
palms. “So what, you want me to just give myself up? Because Jaxson won’t
hand me over?”
Her eyes were hard and unwavering. “I don’t care what you do—just end
this without getting Jaxson or anyone else from the pack killed. This
nightmare won’t stop until the sorcerer’s dead or you’re in his hands. Do the
math and figure it out.”
My vision blurred as tears of rage filled my eyes. It was all too much. The
pressure, the responsibility, the resentment.
In my chest, my wolf raged to be let free. But I just looked away and tried
to stop from quaking. “Trade my life for a bunch of people I don’t know,
who’ve never shown me any compassion or kindness?”
Silence hung in the air.
Then she pushed her fingers to her temples and dropped down on one of
the bleachers. “Fuck. I don’t want you to give yourself up. If I were in your
shoes, that option would be burning in the back of my mind, but I grew up
with these people, and I love them more than my own life. I know you don’t,
and none of this is fair.”