Total pages in book: 73
Estimated words: 70338 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 352(@200wpm)___ 281(@250wpm)___ 234(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 70338 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 352(@200wpm)___ 281(@250wpm)___ 234(@300wpm)
The rifle clatters out of his hand and goes off.
I scream, looking around wildly to make sure no one was hit.
My dad runs for the rifle.
My scream draws Abe’s head around, and he and I both freeze, our gazes locked. “Go,” I mouth.
My dad picks up the rifle and aims.
“No!” I shout.
And then Abe moves, faster than I would’ve dreamed possible, bounding back into the cover of darkness and boulders and scrub.
I let out a slow sob of relief.
As my breath slows, I relish the sensation of my heart thudding against my breastbone. Knowing that I do care about something in this world.
If not my life, his.
Not the guy I should be worried about. The guy I’ve called boyfriend for the last year and a half. The one crawling to his feet and dusting off his designer jeans.
No, I’m not worried about Luke for a moment.
All my fear is for Abe.
He’s still the only one who reminds me I’m alive.
I may be barely functioning, a mere glimmer of my old self, but Luke’s visit shows me it’s not my old self I seek. There’s someone new emerging from this husk of a life. Someone only Abe can spark to life.
Someone only Abe can nurture.
Like it or not, my destiny is somehow intertwined with his.
Because for the first time since I moved to this hot, desolate town, I realize I want more.
More of the silver wolf with ice-blue eyes who stalks me at night.
More of the guy who crawled through my window to return my mom’s letter.
More of whatever he wants to do with me.
Chapter Thirteen
Abe
Fuck!
Fuck, fuck, fuck!
I race through the brush on four paws, the acrid stench of that human’s fear still up in my nose.
I completely blew it. I attacked a human! Even worse, a human at the Sterling Mansion. The place I was forbidden by my alpha to return to.
I never meant to reveal myself, but when I saw that idiot point the rifle at Lauren, my wolf lost it. The human is lucky I didn’t tear his throat out. It was only Lauren’s scream that brought me back and kept me sane. I turned to make sure she was safe, and our gazes locked.
For my wolf, that recognition hits bone deep. She saw me. Knows me as a wolf. Was afraid…for me?
It’s ironic that she would be the one to calm me when she causes my wolf to lose his shit on a daily basis.
Despite the world of trouble I’m going to be in with my dad and Alpha Green, I’m not sorry I knocked that shithead on his ass. He must be the fucking boyfriend.
He smells like expensive cologne and East Coast assholery. He must be the fuckface who thinks he’s good enough to take Lauren to Homecoming. I still would like to pry his eyeballs out and shove them down his throat.
I race to the back of my house and in through the dog door. Like all the properties of the pack royalty, our house abuts pack land, so we can shift and run straight from home.
The lights are on, and I hear my parents up, talking in the kitchen. Could the word of my attack have already reached them? My stomach knots like a fist under my rib cage.
I shift to human form and yank on a pair of sweatpants.
“Abe?” My mom calls out.
“Hi, Mom.” I walk into the kitchen, forcing a relaxed posture into my jerky limbs.
“Son.” My dad’s voice is somber.
My mom says, “Abe, little Rayne Lansing went missing during the game tonight. Have you seen or heard anything about her?”
“Wh-what?” I’m so braced for trouble of my own making, this comes as a surprise.
“Remember how she didn’t come to take her crown at half-time?” My mom reminds. “She ran out of the stadium when it was announced, and no one has seen her since.”
“Oh, wow.” I’m still barely processing what she’s saying. Still recovering from nearly killing a guy ten minutes ago. I move to the refrigerator and pull out chicken leftovers. Dinner was so long ago, I could eat five chickens right now.
“Speaking of which… how did it happen that Rayne was voted in as queen?” My mom gives me a sharp look. “I heard you might have had something to do with it. Were you trying to hurt her?”
I pick up the chicken with my fingers, eating it cold. “What? No.” Now I’m getting in trouble for something I didn’t do. Which, frankly, is a relief. “Mom, Wilde told me to make it happen for her, so I made it happen. I guess he’s taking his role as her new big brother seriously.”
“I’m not sure that’s how it is,” my dad mutters.
“What do you mean?” My mom turns wide eyes on him.
“I mean, Wilde nearly tore the Sheriff’s office apart when he reported her missing.”