“Zee was sent away from Greylock by our father after I told him that if he didn’t get her away from the alpha, I’d take her and run. I should have done it when she was thirteen—one of the older kids nearly killed her. She was always putting herself between the young wolves who were too weak or scared to refuse the monsters, but she wasn’t always fast enough to get away. Etan and I were constantly watching her to make sure nobody hurt her, but we weren’t always there. Once, I was almost too late. That asshole Samuel said he’d deal with the matter. He didn’t though. She lived in hell for another three years. She caught the alpha’s attention by that time and I knew I had to get her out before it was too late.”
“No,” Niko said, voice ragged.
But Phoenix wasn’t done. “I convinced the old man that she’d catch Jameson’s attention—she was young, smart and wounded. Sam wanted the old alpha dispatched but wasn’t willing to risk challenging him, so he thought getting one of the young in front of the Prime was our best chance. As protective as the Prime was, it wouldn’t take long for somebody to point her out, even as proud as she was. He’d realize something was wrong. She’d be safe—finally. And once she felt safe, she’d tell the Prime what was going on in the Greylock pack.” Voice nothing more than a growl now, he added, “And as the Therian Prime’s son? Well, he never came into the picture. Zee spent most of her life just trying to survive in a pack where the young and weak were considered prey. She’d never known a healthy pack... or a male who’d treat her like she mattered.”
Niko was going to be sick.
“When I heard you were interested, I was torn between going down there to threaten you to treat her right... or just going down there to kill you. But you and I had talked before, gotten along. Everything I’d ever heard about you was that you were a good kid, would be a decent Prime. So I left you alone.” Dispassionate now, Phoenix straightened away from the monitor, his eyes now their normal grey-green. “She didn’t come to me because she knew I’d been instrumental in sending her to North Carolina and, as it turns out, my dear old dad did want you to get trapped up in her; he’d figured all along you would. He’d gotten trapped up in her mother, after all. Leanan Sidhé can be... compelling. It’s in their nature, just like the wolf needs to run and hunt. Good ol’ Dad wasn’t much for the committed lifestyle though. He stole Zee away from the woman. That killed her, by the way. Maud Duncan died less than six months after my father kidnapped her newborn baby. I found that out a few years ago, thanks to Saint. Maud wouldn’t leave Scotland, and Sam was determined to get Royal Graves ousted from Greylock, but he’d keep his pups with him. Gotta love how dominant wolves are, right?”
“Enough,” Nico said. He had to process this—all of it.
“She didn’t know anything about her mom, ya know,” Phoenix said, a cold glint in his eyes. “Save for Sam, none of us knew she was part Nightdweller... a leech, until you cheerfully announced it in front of everybody, Prime. Not that it matters to me. She’s my baby sister and I love her, but fuck it—she won’t have anything to do with any of us. She’s been kicked too hard, too many times and there’s nothing left inside her that knows how to trust.” Phoenix gave him a mocking smile. “You got exactly what you wanted, Niko. She’s miserable, alone and suffering... and no Therian male in the Appalachia region will fucking touch her because you threw her aside publicly. She’s an outcast.”
He paused, giving the words time to sink in. “Is that all... or do you want to hear more about how badly you savaged her? How badly we all savaged her?”
Niko crushed the phone, not even realizing he’d done it.
And across the room, the quiet machines that had been humming, the only sign that Samuel Day still clung to life, shrieked.
Driven by a primitive urge he couldn’t translate into words, Niko lunged for the bed, reaching it before Liam.
Sam’s eyes opened—a rich, vivid green, eyes the same shade as the ones that haunted Niko’s sleep.
“Stay, Samuel,” he ordered.
“Zee... ” Sam whispered, eyes wet with tears. “Forgive me.”
Then that green gaze went opaque and glassy as death took him.
OUTCAST.
The word circled and reverberated through his head hours later.
When Boone entered the big house where Niko had lived his entire life, he didn’t even look up from the fire.
“How much did you know?”
Boone’s response came after long moments. “Suspicions. But I didn’t want to ask. I guess I didn’t want to know. Loyalty to you, maybe. But I didn’t know she’d never reached out to Phoenix. Everybody always assumed she’s a part of Greylock. Guess he wanted people thinking that. It was safer for her.”
It would have been, yes.
Too many of the laws that governed Therian packs were archaic, dating back to times when laws and history were shared orally because the written word had yet to be invented. Those laws still favored the strongest physically, the dominant, either male or female. Because those were the ones who’d be most successful at creating the next generation and ensuring they lived to adulthood.
Outcasts were seen as a threat because they’d done something that violated pack law.
Even though the matter between him and Zee was personal...
He closed his eyes, breathing in through his nose, then out, waiting until the repetitive pattern calmed the caged, pacing animal inside him.
“I have to go to Massachusetts.”
Boone said nothing for a long time. “Colby can never again enter a territory that’s under Atlantic Atargarian protection. If he does, he’s dead. It’s also possible the same applies to the Pacific Atargarians.”
Canting his head to the side, Niko narrowed his eyes on Boone. “Repeat that.”
“There was an... incident.” Boone averted his eyes. “Zee was apparently getting physical with a guy—human—and Colby walked into the bar where she’s known to hang out.”
A vicious, ugly blade cut into him—jealousy, possessive and consuming. But he breathed past it, somehow, waiting.
“Colby grabbed the guy. Meridia’s people intervened. The human wasn’t hurt, but... ”
Red washed over his vision. “Did Colby lay a hand on Zee?”
“You know better.” Boone’s mouth went flat. “But it doesn’t matter. Zee was apparently in such bad shape that she was in physical pain by the time Colby dragged himself off the floor. The only thing that centered her, according to him, was Meridia grabbing her and holding tight.” Gaze sliding away again, Boone swallowed. “Colby’s best guess is that she’s in deprivation, probably hasn’t had physical contact from anybody in years, other than hugs and shit from the few Atargarians she considers friends.”
“That’s not possible,” Niko said.
“That’s what I told Colby.” His mouth tight, the other man continued. “The Therians in the region won’t go near her. Word got around that you... ” Boone’s cheeks went red. “You’d staked your claim.”
“I broke things off!” Niko shouted, feeling sick inside even though the thought of anybody else touching Zee enraged him. Even now.