Purity (14 page)

“Why?”

“You look so depressed all of the time. You should have come out with us.”

I snorted. “To be stared at like a performing monkey all night? No chance. Besides, your boyfriend would have pissed himself if I had said yes.”

“No, he wouldn’t have. The others, maybe.” She grinned cheekily. “They’re just in awe of you because they saw you beat up Aaron, that’s all.”

I stared at the floor, uncomfortable with the memory of losing control at school.

“You could come to that party, though. They only asked because they wanted sixth years there, and they thought you could produce them.”

“Charming.”

“It might be fun.”

“Maybe,” I said, still thinking of my conversation with Byron. Maybe he was right. I needed to know what it was like to have time away from werewolves, curses, and destinies. I knew Perdita wouldn’t be there because she was grounded. “Maybe I’ll bring someone.”

Amelia’s face lit up. “Really?”

I shrugged. “Why not?”

I didn’t want to go to the stupid party, but I had been such an idiot to my sister that I felt I should do something to make it up to her, and at least I could drag along the few friends I had left to make it slightly more bearable. “Maybe it will be good to do something normal before the summer holidays are over.”

“Enough of that talk. Plenty of summer left.”

The sound of the front door opening drew our attention. Hearing voices, I followed Amelia out into the hall to see Opa and Jeremy dropping their bags on the floor. No
Willow
. Ryan stood next to Byron, his eyes alert as he waited for news.

“No sign,” Jeremy said. “We couldn’t find a trace of her. We came home in case she talked, told them how we had split up. We thought we should be together.”

“For her sake, I hope she talked,” Ryan said, and his pronouncement chilled me to the core.

Opa and Jeremy both looked exhausted, and I felt guilty for leaving them.

“Go get cleaned up while we get a meal ready,” Byron said. “We can talk over food.”

The pair trudged up the stairs, and the rest of us followed Byron into the kitchen.

“Do you think she’s okay?” Byron asked Ryan.

He shook his head. “Hard to say. Last time I took her punishment for her. This time… let’s just hope she isn’t in their hands. She’s not worth enough for Vin to care about.”

We speculated while we prepared the food, and when Opa and Jeremy were ready, the lot of us sat around the kitchen table.

Jeremy dug into his food eagerly. “What’s with the police car outside?” he asked between bites.

“Keeping an eye on us. Hoping to catch some wolves,” Ryan said.

Jeremy’s eyes narrowed, and I wasn’t sure if it was because of the answer, or who had responded.

“That’s probably played into our favour,” Opa said. “But Vin holds all of the cards. He likely has Willow and knows the curse has broken, and he surely knows that Amelia’s a werewolf.”

“Which ups her value,” Ryan said. “He has my daughters, too. Don’t forget.”

“Nobody knew anything about them,” Opa said. “We asked along the way.”

“Except for Malachai,” Jeremy said.

I swallowed hard. I hadn’t told Ryan about that for a reason.

“Malachai?” Ryan asked.

“The last wolf we saw.
Willow
knew him, and we think there’s a good chance they took her at his place. He’s the one who took your girls.” Jeremy stared Ryan down, waiting for his reaction.

“You knew?” Ryan asked me.

I nodded. “I didn’t know how to… what good it would do to tell you that right now. He’s gone, too.”

Ryan jerked his head forward a couple of times, taking deep breaths. “Remind me what he looks like if he ever reappears.”

A tense silence reigned for a couple of moments. Amelia shifted uncomfortably in her seat.

“We run together tomorrow,” Byron said at last. “To cement the pack.”

Jeremy’s fork fell. “With him?” He jerked his head at Ryan.

“Yes, with him. He’s stood with us. That makes him one of us.”

“But he’s not blood,” Jeremy said, sounding way too much like me. I cringed at how whiny I must have sounded to Byron.

Byron stared at his son. “Pack is more than blood. It’s time we started living the way we’re supposed to.” He gazed around the table. “And that means one alpha.”

Opa leaned forward. “And that’s you?”

“You know it’s me,” Byron said steadily. “But if anyone wants to challenge me, do it now so we can save ourselves some time.”

Nervous silence filled the room until Byron spoke again. “Good.”

“I still don’t trust him,” Jeremy said as if Ryan wasn’t in the room. “The places he and
Willow
sent us to were mostly empty. Abandoned. Vin was nowhere to be found. How do we know he isn’t setting us up?”

“You weren’t supposed to be looking for Vin,” Byron said, his voice rising slightly.

“We had to try,” Opa said.

“And his info was crap,” Jeremy added.

“Did you really think Vin would hide out in a place I’ve been? A place I’ve heard about? He isn’t stupid. Don’t underestimate him.”

“Stupid enough,” Jeremy muttered.

“Stupid enough?” Ryan echoed, holding Jeremy’s gaze. “You think you know more than him, pup? You think you’ve seen as much as him? He’s one of the most intelligent werewolves I’ve ever met, and don’t you forget it. He may be cruel and sadistic, unbalanced even. He may make decisions based on the kind of logic that would never apply to a normal person. But never mistake how intelligent he is when it counts.”

Jeremy leaned forward, and the tension racketed upward. “Whose side are you on anyway?”

“My side,” Ryan said. “My daughters’ side. Anyone who shares the same enemy as I do. This is about survival. It’s not a pissing contest, pup. It’s about time you took this seriously.”

Jeremy leapt to his feet, Ryan following less than a second later.

“That’s enough,” Byron bellowed. “Nathan, deal with Jeremy.”

“Nathan?” Jeremy gasped as Byron led Ryan away. “
Nathan
… deal with me?”

Byron fixed a chilly stare at his only son. “You heard me. Remember who’s in charge here, son. And remember what we’re all here for. It’s not to tear each other apart.”

Byron turned his back on Jeremy, and I jumped in the way to block Jeremy’s lunge.

“What the hell are you doing?” I hissed as he slammed me against the wall.

Opa walked out of the room as if nothing was happening. Amelia stood at the door, and I wanted to tell her to run, but I had to remember to stop treating her like something delicate that needed to be protected.

Jeremy pressed his thick forearm against my throat, and I pushed back until I had him backed up against the fridge. Jeremy was strong and angry, and it was all I could do to keep him in the room.

“You need to calm the hell down,” I said when he finally stopped struggling.

“Because you say so?” he spat bitterly. His blue eyes were cold and cruel, and I remembered how he had acted in the mountains.

“Because your alpha says so,” Amelia said quietly. She pressed her hand against his shoulder, and he relaxed almost instantly. “Look at the bigger picture, Jeremy,” she said, still in that soft voice. “Byron’s right. You know this. We can’t afford to turn on each other. We need to protect the pack. How are we supposed to do that if we can’t even be in a room with each other for more than five minutes?”

Jeremy pushed us both away from him and sat down to eat his food as if he hadn’t been about to go wolf on us. “I’m just frustrated. I can’t stand having to come back here and wait around to be attacked again. I can’t stand not knowing what happened to
Willow
. And every time I come home, everything’s changed again. I have no place here. That man can call me
son
all he likes, but he’s never been a father to me.”

“You go,” Amelia whispered to me. “I want to talk to him for a bit.”

As I left the room, I heard Amelia speak to Jeremy in that same hypnotic tone of voice again. I went straight outside to the back garden where Byron and Ryan were having a discussion. They got quiet when they saw me.

“Amelia calmed him down properly,” I explained. “I think you might be right about this omega thing, Ryan. It’s bizarre, but she definitely had some kind of effect on him.”

Ryan nodded, a muscle ticking in his jaw, and I wished she would come outside and do the same thing to him.

“So she’s basically a werewolf whisperer,” I said.

Ryan laughed, the tension falling from his shoulders. “Pretty much. But she can’t make Jeremy accept me.”

“He’ll come around,” Byron said.

“I’m not so sure, to be honest. He’s… he’s not like us.” I scratched my head, unsure if I should continue. “Things got a bit out of hand when we were away together.”

Byron clenched his jaw. “What do you mean?”

“One of the last places we went to, well, it got rough. Opa and
Willow
were acting weird, so Jeremy and I went for a run. He took me far out, and we ended up running close to a place we’d been turned away from, a hut in the mountains. I… we… like I said, it got out of hand.

“I ended up fighting the werewolf who lived there, but then… then I realised Jeremy was running after the humans—an old man and the wolf’s mate. Jeremy tried to… I stopped him. Nothing happened in the end, not really, but it could have.” I inhaled sharply as I recalled the scene. “It could have been a
lot
worse. I thought… I didn’t know what to do. Put it this way: he hasn’t been happy with me since then, so that probably didn’t help back there.”

Bryon turned away and stalked up and down the garden.

“Give him a minute,” Ryan advised, putting a hand on my shoulder.

“Have you really been watching out for her?” I asked.

“Who? Oh. We can’t just leave her running around alone. Luckily, her father has made our job a lot easier.” He gave me a rare smile. “I owe that girl a lot. Did you really think I would let her get into trouble?”

“I didn’t think. I mean, you’re kinda still the wolf I saw about to attack her in the woods.”

His face fell. “I know. If I could change what happened… but I can’t. My daughters’ lives are in your family’s hands. If it’s any consolation, I can’t find a moment’s peace.”

“It is, actually.” But I shook his hand. “Welcome to the pack.”

Byron joined us again. “It’s my fault. If I had been more of a father to you kids, everything would be different. When all of this is over, when we’ve won, we’re going to be the family my mother always wanted us to be.”

I saw how determined he was, and I understood. I had my own promises to keep.

Perdita

Amelia whispered the gossip to me as we read through the same books again on my lunch break.

“So even though Opa and Jeremy are home, we’re none the wiser really. We’re back to waiting for Vin to make a move, if he ever does. I mean, now that the curse is broken, he might just give up, right?”

“Yeah, but will your grandfather?” I asked.

“Probably not.” She bit her lip. “Ryan thinks Vin will want me. They tried to take my mother, and they meant to take Mémère before she died. What if they come for me?”

“Nobody’s going to let them near you.”

“Yeah, but what if I go willingly?”

I slammed the book shut. “Don’t even joke about that, Amelia.”

“I mean it, though. What if that would end everything? Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad.”

“Are you freaking kidding me right now? Haven’t you heard Ryan talk about those people?”

She blew out a breath. “I know, but—”

“But nothing. That would be idiotic. Never even
think
anything like that again.”