“She’s the only one at camp who knew. Now, you and Malcom know, too,” he said.
“And Kyle,” I added.
“Right, I forgot about him.” He grunted.
“What’s with that?” I asked. “You don’t like Kyle? He thinks you’re his best friend or something. Believes everything you’ve told him.”
“I like Kyle fine. I don’t like how close he is with you,” he said. “But that’s not my place.”
I lifted my brow. Was he jealous? That was interesting. “You’re right, it’s not your place.”
I glanced over at him and caught a momentary scowl on his expression. If he was jealous, it was cruel of me to let him think Kyle and I were anything more than what we were. There was zero romance or chance of romance between us. I just didn’t feel anything for him. He was handsome, but that spark had never existed and I was confident it never would.
“But, since you brought it up, there’s nothing there between us. He’s a friend. A new friend at that,” I said. “He risked everything when he helped me. He’s just as dead as I am if we ever return. I owe him.”
“He saved my ass, too,” Alec said. “I owe him for that and for getting you out.”
“You realize that could have been prevented,” I reminded him.
“You’re never going to let me forget that, are you?” he asked.
“It’s a hard thing to let go,” I replied. “They could have killed me. Or Tyler could have…”
“Ace told me he was going to make his son break the bond.” Alec glanced over at me. “Since it was what you wanted, I figured it was the best way to do it. They’d get him close enough to make it happen.”
“How did you know he wouldn’t kill me to break it? That was an awful big risk if you actually cared about me,” I snapped.
“He promised me he’d release you once it was done, but I didn’t believe that. It’s why I got myself caught. Though, I honestly thought he’d force the bond to break. I was blinded by what I wanted,” he admitted.
“What do you mean,blinded by what you wanted? The money? If you got rid of me, there was no need to pay your witch friend to do the spell,” I pointed out.
Fear rolled through me and I wondered if I’d been played again. Why would he need so much money to have a witch do a spell for me if they were friends anyway? “You’re keeping things from me again. The money doesn’t make sense. None of this makes sense. Why would a friend who has been helping you charge for a spell?”
Alec stopped walking. “Supplies and alliances cost money. She’s not doing anything for me out of the goodness of her heart. She might be working on the antidote with me, but I keep her in supplies so she doesn’t have to leave her house. It’s a good arrangement, but I’m not foolish enough to think she wouldn’t hand me over if there was a better offer.”
“So why do you trust her?” It seemed like a huge risk.
“Because she never leaves and nobody know she’s here. It would be a challenge for anyone else to buy her loyalty,” he said.
“She’s working on the antidote but charged an obscene amount for a spell?” I still wasn’t convinced.
“It’s blood magic. If her coven catches her, she’s at risk of having her magic siphoned. The payment had to be worth it,” he said.
“Fuck. This is bad, Alec. It doesn’t seem like it’s worth the risk. What if the coven finds out and comes after you?” I asked.
“It’s possible,” he said with a shrug.
“I’m not worth all this,” I said. “I could have gone into hiding, or found a witch who could do a spell like Malcom has. There were other ways. Pissing off a coven of witches is fucking suicide. If they find out, they’re not just going to kill you; they’ll make your life hell.”
“It’s going to be fine,” he assured me. “She’s not going to talk.”
“We could still skip the spell. It hasn’t been done yet,” I offered. “I can’t be responsible for bad things happening because of me. It’s not right.”
“Stop it, right now,” he said. “You need to start having some sense of self perseveration. Can’t you see that you’re worth all this risk?”
“What? Because I have some alpha mark? You have the same mark,” I reminded him.
“Because you matter,” he said. “Since we met, I haven’t been able to get you out of my head. I haven’t felt this way about anyone since…” he shook his head, “never mind. It’s insane. Just trust me on this, you’re worth it.”