“Were you going to attack Rune?” Daxon purred in what might have been the scariest voice I’d ever heard. The front of Conley’s pants darkened as he wet himself in stark fear of whatever Daxon was about to do.
Wilder snorted at the sight, and then the woman let out a pitiful cry. That was enough to jerk me back to my senses.
“Daxon,” I snapped, weaving around Wilder’s body and rushing towards him. “Haven’t you noticed that Eve’s dead?” My voice caught on a cry as I pulled his clawed hand away from Conley’s face.
Daxon used his other arm to throw Conley down to the ground before standing up. I could feel Wilder’s warmth as he crowded me in from behind.
I resisted the urge to scoot back into Wilder’s embrace while pulling Daxon with me. Despite the fact that I was still furious at Daxon, still furious at both of them really, I found myself craving both of their touches.
It’s just because of the situation, I told myself, unable to admit anything else…even in my own head.
I jerked my hand away from Daxon, and in a blink, he was next to Eve’s body. With a gentleness that surprised me, he softly stroked Eve’s cheek and closed her eyes. He then sprung up and let out the most mournful howl I’d ever heard. It was the sound of pure heartbreak. The three others echoed his howls, and then I heard more sound in the distance where I assumed a large crowd of people were gathered for the picnic. A tear slid down my cheek as more people appeared around the corner, pure devastation present in all of them.
Daxon’s howls quieted, and his whole body quivered. I heard him let out a long exhale like he was trying to get ahold of himself. As the crowd grew, just a few feet away from me, their murmurs grew louder. Their eyes flicked from Eve to my blood-covered form, accusations in their eyes that were hard to bear.
Another loud cry ripped through the crowd, the sound somehow filled with even more pain than the others I’d heard. A woman pushed her way through the crowd, her eyes the same color and shape as Eve’s. She let out an inhuman wail as she collapsed to Eve’s side, burying her face in Eve’s chest as giant sobs wracked her body.
She must have been Eve’s mother. Shame that I shouldn’t have felt coursed through me. It was like everyone’s accusations and assumptions were sinking into me…making me feel like I’d somehow done something wrong.
Daxon snapped his finger at one of the men in the crowd, and he came and comforted the weeping, raging woman as Daxon turned his attention back to me.
“Rune,” he said softly, the words heavy in the air. I let out a hiccuped sob.
“I was just coming to deliver the food,” I whispered, half-heartedly gesturing to somewhere behind me where the tray of steak bites was still strewn across the path. Wilder had now stepped up right behind me until his body was practically cradling mine. I shivered despite his warmth. “She was lying here, already dead.” I took a deep breath, trying to get ahold of myself. “There was something in the woods, a creature. I’d never seen anything like it. It was right over there,” I explained, pointing to where the shadow thing had been.
Wilder moved away from me in an instant, stalking his way towards where I’d pointed. I wondered how long it was going to take for me to get used to how fast he and Daxon moved. No one in my old pack, including Alistair, had shown that kind of speed. Wilder sniffed the air and crinkled up his nose in disgust. “It smells like sulfur and smoke,” he commented as he moved deeper into the woods. My stomach rolled in worry as I watched him, sure that the shadow thing was going to make an appearance at any moment. Daxon hadn’t moved from in front of me. He was watching the crowd with hard eyes, as if he was daring them to keep talking about me. I probably should have sent him after Wilder, who’d just disappeared from sight, but I had a sinking suspicion that Daxon’s presence was the only thing keeping the crowd from coming at me. “Is that Eve’s mother?” I asked softly, resisting the urge to go to the woman and comfort her. That obviously wouldn’t go over well.
“Yes,” Daxon whispered just as softly. “That was her only child. They’d been having trouble lately, fighting more and more. I guess Eve had been acting strange.” He sighed and ran an anxious hand through his tousled golden locks. “Lydia’s never going to recover from this.”
I thought of Eve’s secret relationship with Daniel. I was sure it was behind Eve’s strange behavior.
Daniel. My heart thudded with the reminder that he still had to find out about this. He’d been crazy about Eve. I could tell. What was this going to do to him?
Wilder appeared from behind a tree, and I let out a sigh of relief. He shook his head at Daxon, answering an unspoken question.
“You did this,” Eve’s mother suddenly screamed. Her nails sharped into short, ferociously sharp claws as she lunged towards me. Daxon caught her before she could reach me, and she began to beat against his chest, snarling to get to me.
“Calm,” Daxon ordered, Alpha power threaded through his words as he spoke. She collapsed against him, her fight completely gone as she wept into his shirt. The blood she’d gotten on her while embracing Eve’s body stained Daxon’s white button-up. The whole scene was utterly heartbreaking.
Wilder reached an arm around my waist, and Daxon snarled. “Don’t touch her,” he seethed, his eyes flashing.
Watching his eyes…and everything else that I’d seen just now, reminded me what an idiot I’d been to ignore all the blatant signs in front of me that Wilder and Daxon, and the rest of this town, were so much more than human. It was amazing what the mind could do when it wanted to protect itself.
Daxon looked torn between wanting to rip Wilder’s hand off of me and continue to comfort his pack member, who was still sobbing in his arms. The woman in question lifted her head from Daxon’s shirt and shot me a furious glare filled with so much hate that I could practically taste it.
“I’m getting her away from this mess. You need to handle the situation,” Wilder growled out, and I sighed in frustration that even in the midst of this crisis, they were still doing their alpha a-hole competitive thing.
“I have the inn’s catering van,” I murmured softly, my gaze dancing to various members of Daxon’s pack that all looked like they were seconds away from going against their alpha and trying to kill me. If they thought about it, the idea that I was capable of killing Eve was ludicrous. She’d had the ability to harness her wolf powers. I was as weak as a lamb. Certainly not a threat to anyone.
People always feared the unknown though. It was much easier to blame something on someone they could see instead of acknowledging the fact that there was a monster prowling the woods around their town.
“You’re not going anywhere alone,” Wilder snarled, plastering me to his hard body. His touch felt almost desperate…like he was afraid I was just going to disappear.
Looking at all the townspeople currently glaring my way, it seemed like it just might be a good idea to disappear.
Daxon looked torn between wanting to be with me or fight Wilder, I couldn’t be sure…and being there for his people.
“We can drive in the van,” I said firmly, a wave of exhaustion hitting me. It had been an eventful twenty-four hours, and tonight, seeing Eve like that…I wasn’t going to get over it any time soon.