“She needed surgeries. Medicines not available in pack lands. She’d have died,” he said. “If I stopped…”
“Is this supposed to make up for how you treated me?” I asked.
He shook his head. “No, but I’m going to start working on that now.”
I scoffed.
“Your friend is in the basement. Locked in a cell.”
“I don’t have any friends.” The words stung, but it was the truth.
“He got himself captured to try to get to you,” he said. “The feral shifter. Alec.”
My chest tightened. He’d come back for me? How was I supposed to react to that? He was the reason I was here in the first place. He sold me out for the toxin and cash. I was nothing to him. For all he knew, they’d kill me the moment he walked away. He’d sold me out. Him coming back changed nothing. “So what?”
“Don’t you get it? He tried to play both sides. Or he grew a conscious. I don’t know what feral wolves do. Either way, they caught him at your window. You were still unconscious.”
“How is any of this helpful to me?” I demanded. “Are you trying to threaten him in hopes that I’ll fuck your friend?”
“Seriously, Lola. Get over yourself. I’m trying to help you. Can’t you see that?”
“Nobody helps me,” I said.
He lifted his shirt again. “I am a protector.Youare my alpha. Not Tyler. You.”
I felt like the air had been knocked from my lungs and I stared at him in horror. “I am not an alpha. The mark is a mistake.”
“The moon goddess doesn’t make mistakes,” he said.
“Then how do you explain the mating bond with Tyler?” I asked.
“I don’t know. But our pack has been under the rule of a tyrant for too long. You either step up and do your job or you don’t. That’s not my call. That’s yours. Just know that whatever you choose, I’m with you,” he said.
“No.” I shook my head. “You’re no better than them. Besides, your sister.”
“She got what she needed. She’s going to be okay. My mom can protect her from here. And you were right. I’m not better than them. But I do want to start trying to make amends.”
The door opened and we both turned toward it. Ace was standing in the threshold. Behind him, I could see several other shifters. There was a clear message. I wasn’t going anywhere.
“She’s ready for Tyler,” Kyle said. “She knows her place.”
“Nobody asked you to interfere.” Ace’s expression was murderous.
“I overheard,” Kyle said. “She’s agreed to get a tattoo. Something to commemorate her bond. On her hip.”
I swallowed and forced myself to maintain a defiant glare at Ace. Internally, I felt sick at the thought of having to be with Tyler. If Kyle was going to help me get out of this, playing along might be my only hope.
Ace’s expression relaxed and he lifted a brow. “Oh?”
“Do you want to send the tattoo artist tonight?” I asked, surprising myself with how even my tone was. “I was thinking I’d get a dark gray wolf. Same color as Tyler’s.”
Ace narrowed his eyes. “What brought this change?”
“When I realized I might lose him, I felt the bond,” I said. It was true, I had acted on instinct to save Tyler. It didn’t mean I wanted to be with him.
“I’ll see what I can do,” Ace said. He turned to Kyle. “Good work, Sinclair.”
Kyle nodded.