The hell of it is, he’s right. I absolutely want to see Victor again.
“Just order her to stop fighting,” the second voice says.
My heart sinks. So he’s not out of the fight after all. It was a long shot, and I know that, but knowing that I’m still outnumbered makes resistance seem like a losing game.
“I can’t give her orders,” Bruce snaps. “We found that out at the ShopMart.” To me, he says, “We know you were in there, Emlyn. We caught your scent again after you left in the morning. You were in there when we came looking for you, when we ordered you to come out, and you didn’t obey. More Moon Caster magic. Who’s been training you? Where did you learn to do those things?
I don’t answer. Let him believe that I’m more capable than I am. Let him think I know magic, that I’ve been learning it behind his back. I want him to be afraid of me. Heshouldbe afraid of me, even if it’s not because I can do magic.
He might have me neutralized for the moment, but it won’t last. I’m going to get free of this, and I’m going to make him—and all the rest of the pack—pay for the way they’re treating me. I might not know who or what I am, but I’m their sister. I’ve always been their sister. The fact that they could turn on me like this makesthemthe despicable ones. Not me.
They’ll all pay.
Except for Victor.
Because I still have no idea whether I’d have the strength to take him out, even if I was given the chance.
Chapter 24
EMLYN
“Youcantakeherblindfold off now, Sam,” Bruce says. “She’s contained. It doesn’t matter what she sees.”
So Sam is the other man here. I know him, of course. I know everyone in the pack. He’s a couple of years older than I am, and he’s always been the kind of guy to run around acting as if he’s superior to everyone around him. In a fair fight, I honestly would like my chances against him. He’s so cocky that he’s never learned technique, never learned to be aware of his surroundings at all times the way I have.
Which is a pretty ironic thing to think, considering that I’m only in this situation because these two got the drop on me.
I shouldn’t have slept out in the open. That was stupid.
“Are you sure we should take it off her?” Sam asks. “She kicked me.” He sounds surly, almost pouty.
Even though things are dire, even though I know it’s nuts to joke at a time like this, I laugh. “Are you scared of me, Sam?”
“No one’s scared of you,” Bruce says sharply. I feel a hand at the back of my head, and then my blindfold is ripped away and tossed on the ground.
The shadows on their faces in the moonlight make them look weird and ominous, and even though I shouldn’t be scared of them, I kind of am.
“You’re lucky you found me sleeping,” I bite out at Bruce.
He laughs cruelly. “Because if we’d come up on you when you were all alone and awake, you would have done what, exactly?”
“Take these chains off me and find out,” I suggest. “If you’re really not scared of me, what’s the problem?”
The truth is, if they took off the chains, I wouldn’t try to fight them. I’m not afraid of them, but I’m not stupid, either, and it would still be two against one. If they freed me, I would run.
But Bruce is still laughing. “You think it’s going to be that easy?” he asks. “If we take the chains off, you’ll use magic against us. I’ve been dealing with Moon Casters since before you could stand upright, Emlyn. I hunted them with your mother before she died.” He shakes his head. “Though I guess she was hunting them for different reasons than I was, wasn’t she? That’s a pretty fucked up fetish for a woman to have. Moon Caster fucker.”
I could rip out his throat with my teeth, without even shifting. If I were free, I would tear him apart. No one talks about my mother like that.
Bruce has always respected her. He’s always spoken of her with kindness and admiration.
But I guess everything’s different now.
And for the first time in my life, I really, genuinely wish that Ididknow some magic. Because I would use it against my old alpha. In all the time I’ve been running from my pack, I haven’t wished them harm. I’ve just wanted to get away from him. But that’s all changed now. I want Bruce to suffer.
I want him dead.
Even though I know I can’t break free, I strain his arms, thrashing, trying to cause him any injury I can. I can hear him laughing—he’s restraining me so easily—and it feels as if my hatred of him is burning hot enough to ignite us both.