“That’s not your concern.”
“They’re going to destroy you, Em.”
She looks at me. There’s a softness in her expression that I don’t quite understand, and then I realize that this is the first time I’ve shortened her name. If you look at it from a certain angle, it could seem affectionate. It could seem like I’m expressing concern for her.
Which I’m not. I just think she’s making a dumb choice, and I think she should reconsider.
“We don’t have to go anywhere near them,” I tell her. “We don’t actually have to stay in this city. We could go anywhere in the world.”
“And you’d just pick up and come with me? Is that what you’re saying?”
“It might be nice,” I say. “My life here is over anyway. And, you know, after last night…”
“I told you,” she says. “Last night isn’t happening again. It was a one-time thing.”
“Okay, okay.”
She turns to look at me full in the face. “Are you avoiding the question?” she asks.
“No,” I protest.Fuck. How is she onto me already?I really thought I was going to be able to put this off a lot longer.
“Yes, you are,” she said. “Why don’t you want to tell me where the coven is?”
“You’ll take off without me.”
“There’s no reason you should care if I do that, though.” She assesses me. “You don’t know where it is, do you?”
“I told you I did.”
“Yeah. But you were lying. I can tell.”
I think about trying to deny it again, but she sounds so certain. And I mean, really, what’s the point? She’s right.
“Okay, fine,” I say. “I wanted you to let me out of the cage, so I told you what you wanted to hear. Are you happy now?”
“Fucker,” she says. “I should have fucking known. I should have left you in that cage. I don’t know why the fuck I listened to you. Your alpha was right to put you in there. He should have left you there to rot.”
“This should be a good thing,” I tell her. “You should be thanking me.”
“Thankingyou?”
“You’re crazy to want to go to the Moon Casters.”
“What kind of wolf are you?” she demands. “I’ve never met one who didn’t want to kill Moon Casters.”
“Yeah, well, you and I both know you’re not planning to kill them.”
“Excuse me?” she stammers.
“Come on, Em. You’re insane, but you’re not an idiot. You must know you don’t stand a chance by yourself against an entire coven. They’ll tear you to shreds. And I’ve spent enough time with you to know that you don’t have a death wish, which means that this is something else. I don’t know what you’re hoping to accomplish by finding them, but it isn’t going to work. You don’t have a chance once they have you.”
“I’m not going to let them catch me,” she says.
“Well, I’m not going to be the one to lead you into their territory,” I tell her. “I’mgladI don’t know where they are. I don’t need that shit on my conscience.”
She shakes her head. “Get away from me,” she says. “I wish I’d never met you.”
She turns and walks away, and I don’t follow.