I tugged against the ribbon, my hands almost numb from how tightly he’d tied them up.
“We can make another deal,” Lester slurred in response. “Come on, Alistair, I have a wife and two kids, I’d never look at your girl.”
Alistair scoffed at his answer as he swung his blade up over his shoulder.
My heart pummeled against my ribcage, terror swallowing me. Everything about him disgusted and sickened me.
He glanced over his shoulder at me, making my skin crawl. “That’s right, my moon. Keep watching.”
In a heartbeat, the swift whisper of his sword came down on Lester fast, striking him across the soft flesh of his neck.
The blade bit into his skin, slicing all the way through so fast, I had no time to look away.
Lester gurgled, and his horrified cry ended abruptly.
Blood splashed across Alistair’s shirt and the stone floor. Red dots stained everything around them.
I couldn’t move or even breathe, too scared to say a damned thing. The way his head rolled backward, detached from the body, made me queasy. So much so, that in seconds, I threw up my breakfast all over the floor and across my shoes. Everything came out so fast, it left me dizzy.
“For fuck’s sake, Rune.”
The image of Lester’s decapitated head was going to haunt me. I could already feel it sticking to my thoughts like a virus.
Alistair shook his head at me. “You’re cleaning this whole fucking mess. Your putrid vomit, the blood, everything. Fuck me, you’re such a weak bitch.”
I shot up and out of bed, wrenched from the memory, my heart racing and my knees shaking.
I was never going to escape Alistair.
I would be haunted by him forever, until eventually, I went mad.
I trembled and rubbed the goosebumps out of my arms. Anytime I thought of him, I felt so dirty and guilty. I remember vomiting two more times during the cleanup in the basement, and I vowed to never go near Alistair’s office ever again. But it didn’t stop him torturing me at any chance he got.
There was so much vileness in everything he touched.
I took several steps toward the glaring sunlight pouring through the window and looked outside again to where nothing had changed from earlier. My mind buzzed, dragging me into panic about what I should do next. I needed to leave town, yet they wouldn’t let me go. And now most of those living here would blame me for Eve’s death. It made more sense from their perspective to blame the newcomer as opposed to an enemy no one had seen except me.
With my past whiplashing me, all that was left was me desperately trying to hold onto some normalcy in life, to some reason to keep fighting. Anger and fear tangled inside me, but another emotion had entered the battleground and seemed to be winning. Hopelessness.
3
Wilder
I paced outside the inn, listening to the sounds coming from within and resisting the urge to tear the front door off the handles and throw it at the next guy’s voice I heard.
Rune was in there.
And I was out here, going out of my mind. It had been a few days since I’d seen her, and my skin felt itchy, like something was crawling underneath it. Almost how it had felt right before my first shift.
My wolf had long since settled, most of the time feeling one with me instead of a separate entity. But right now…my wolf was on its own, bucking at my insides as he tried to convince me I needed to go inside.
What if she was with another man? The thought felt like a knife burning through my insides. I could just picture her, sitting by the bar, sipping her drink with that sweet little smile of hers. The one that had every wolf in this village wanting to come out here.
Was she wearing a flirty, little dress where every male in the place could have a nice, long look at those fucking sexy legs of hers? Were they imagining those legs wrapped around them?
The thought was too much for me. If it had been a full moon, I would have shifted right now. She was mine. Ours, my wolf stubbornly insisted.
Fuck. No. She wasn’t mine.
That lie was enough to make me lose control. A snarl ripped through my chest, and I punched the heavy wooden door, barely feeling the shards cutting at my skin. The door flew open, pieces of wood flying everywhere. I stormed inside, ready to rip Rune from the arms of the stupid man with a death wish that she was with.
There was no sign of Rune, however. There were just a bunch of flabbergasted members of my pack looking at me like I’d lost my mind.
Which I had. Obviously.
Jim was behind the bar, frozen in place, a scowl all over his face since I’d just somehow managed to punch a hole through his extremely thick front door. Which honestly in retrospect, was shocking even to me. I knew I was strong…but not that strong.
Rune. The urge to see her nearly knocked me over. I looked around the room, desperate to see her. It wasn’t a want, it was a need at this point. A compulsion.
A thought crossed my mind. A ridiculous thought. One that filled me with dread. If I was in control of myself at all at this moment, I would be running away as far as I could. I would never set eyes on Rune again.
But I wasn’t in control anymore, was I?
When I saw she wasn’t anywhere, my gaze flickered to the staircase, wondering how crazy it would be if I went up to her room. Just to check on her of course. That’s all it would be.
Because what I thought was happening, it wasn’t happening. I wouldn’t let it happen.
I stumbled towards the stairs, feeling like I was drunk…wishing I was drunk and that could explain how out of control I was.
I made it to the landing and gripped the handrail like it could prevent me from going any forward. I reluctantly let go when the bearings that connected the railing to the wall started to groan as they threatened to give way. I was already going to have to make sure Jim and Carrie got a new front door. I probably shouldn’t make it a stair rail as well.
It felt like my wolf was dragging me towards Rune’s door. Terror, desire…fear, they were all coursing through my veins.
I pounded on the door, furious with myself, but unable to drag my body away.
Just a look, I told myself. I just needed to look at her. Then I could leave.
My wolf rumbled under my skin, almost like he was laughing at me. The asshole.
“Open the door, Rune. It’s me, Wilder,” I practically growled. I cringed at what a psycho I sounded like. But this was her fault! She was the one doing this to me.
There was a long pause, and I literally had to clench my fists to prevent myself from pounding on the door again and demanding that she let me in.
Finally, she opened it. I exhaled a breath of relief as I soaked her in. Fuck, she was the most stunning thing I’d ever fucking seen in my life.
Mine, my wolf reminded me.
“Wilder?” she asked with a raised eyebrow. I realized she must have asked me something and I’d been too busy devouring every perfect feature on her body to hear it.
“Um, hey,” I responded lamely.
We both stood there awkwardly, until finally, she swung the door farther open. My insides erupted into flames as she motioned for me to step inside.
“Wilder, what are you doing here?” she said softly. Rune looked exhausted. Peering at her closer, I could tell she had dark circles under her eyes, like she hadn’t been sleeping.