“Vincenzo,” the woman said. “Let me throw it back in its cage.”
“Get out, Martha!” he bellowed.
He ran his fingers through his shoulder-length grey hair as she hesitated, but one look in her direction had her running from the room, leaving me alone with the beast.
He paced, avoiding my gaze. I knew I would likely provoke him, but I needed to see him. I needed to see the person who had brought all of the trouble on us. He had sent wolves to scare me, to attack my father. He had destroyed all of us in some way. And there he was before me.
“My mate sometimes forgets to be obedient.” He held his arms close to himself. “The wolf knows too well who the mate is. Who the mate will always be.”
I stared at him, utterly baffled by his words.
“You’ve spent time with them? With Jakob and his family?”
I nodded, startled backward by his speed as he rushed at me. He put his arm around my waist, and I squeezed my eyes shut. But no pain came. I opened them again warily, surprised to see him sniffing me.
He released me. “You don’t smell like her. I hoped you might.”
I shivered, wondering what exactly was happening.
“What was she like when you knew her?”
“Who?”
“Lia!” he bellowed in my face.
I shrank from him.
He closed his eyes, took a step back, and nodded, his finger tapping his temple. “Lia. What. Was. She. Like?”
“Beautiful, until you killed her.” I didn’t know where I’d gotten the nerve to say that, but my words worked like a strike against him.
He flinched, horror colouring his expression. “I didn’t,” he whispered, shaking his head. “It wasn’t me. It could never be me.” He sat back in his chair, and his expression turned ugly. “But at least now he knows what it’s like. He can suffer as I did. His mate is gone, and he will never be whole again. Now he’ll understand what it was like for me when they ran, when he wouldn’t let her say goodbye. He couldn’t even give me that. He took her, but now he’ll know what it feels like to lose your heart.”
“You have a mate,” I said in a croaky voice. “That woman—”
“That woman is nothing. A name. The strongest female, so it made sense to try. The wolf won’t recognise her. Not anyone. Only Lia. The wolf has been dying for years, but now, now we’re fading because she’s gone for good. Except I can’t give up yet.”
“Lia and Jakob were soul mates.”
“No.” He sounded so distraught that I almost forgot he was the monster ruining my life. I almost pitied him in spite of myself. “She was mine. She was my mate. I found her first. I protected her. I saved her. I challenged the alpha to keep her safe when I knew he couldn’t. Jakob acted the hero, and she was loyal, but he stole her away from me.”
He raked at his arms with his fingernails, reminding me of how Nathan had described Willow.
“Did you know,” he said, closing in on me, “that I tried to turn her wolf to protect her? To keep her safe. Give her the strength to defend herself in case I wasn’t there. I did it because he didn’t have the balls, but he ruined it. He filled her head with nonsense and actually made her believe that I would try to hurt her. Me, whose heart she tore into pieces! As if I could ever hurt her. He only did it to steal her from me.”
“You can’t steal a person in that way. They have to want to be taken.”
“You child.” His voice trembled, but it was wild and hoarse, as if he hadn’t spoken in years. “You small-minded child. Do you know so little of the world? Of course you do. It took you too young, this curse of yours. The curse that ruined my life.”
“It’s gone. It’s over. No more curses. Lia’s dead because of this. Isn’t that enough? They don’t want your pack. They never have. Can’t you leave them be now? Can’t you leave all of us alone?”
He got up and prowled toward me. “It wasn’t my fault. I just wanted her with me again. I wanted to see if… to see if it was still there. Everything we felt before.”
“And now she’s dead,” I said bitterly.
He sank to his knees and stared at me, his eyes widening with either shock or madness. “I don’t care about anything else. I only ever wanted her. All of this has only ever been for her, but I’m surrounded by beasts. Beasts with no brains and heavy hands. Bad-blooded fools. I promised the pack so many things, and now they want to kill us for it.”
“They’re not murderers,” I said. “They won’t come in here and take anything from you. They don’t want it.”
He looked at me as if I were the one consumed by madness. “You don’t understand. You can’t understand, can you? The wolf who loses his mate is lost, is dying. He will do anything and everything, and nothing will ever be enough. I had to take another mate just to hold on to my control. Jakob has nothing now. He’s lost it all, and he won’t stop until he repays me. We’re all going to suffer for it.”
What would my death do to Nathan? I shuddered. “You could make peace. Byron… Byron would accept it. I know he would.”
He laughed humourlessly. “The son? After what happened to his brother?” He shook his head, his eyes losing the room and finding another place.
I shifted from one foot to the other, uncomfortable and terrified and confused. How was this man controlling our lives? He could barely control his own thoughts.
“Another mistake,” he barked. “I only wanted his wife with me to force Lia to come for her. But even when they died, even when their son died, Jakob never let her. If she had come to me, all of this could have been prevented. So no, I don’t believe the other son will be quick to forgive.”
“Byron’s sensible. He’s not like Jakob, but he’s in charge. He wants everyone to be safe. He wants this all to be over. You don’t have to keep going, keep making everything worse. Enough people have died. And for what? Lia would never want this. Deep down, you know this would make her hate you. She would never, ever want people to die because of her. It will destroy everything, stain the very memory of her if you let that happen. You can’t do that to her. If you ever loved her, truly loved her, you would stop this.”
He sat back in his chair, his eyes moving rapidly from side to side as if he were running through sequences of events, of possible endings to his story. “Maybe it would work. With you there, I could even—”
“Don’t listen to her,” Martha said from behind me. I hadn’t heard her come back in. “She’s spying on you for them. She would tell you anything to make you complacent. They want to kill us all, but we’ll die fighting, won’t we?”
“No,” I said. “There’s no need for anyone else to die.”
“It’s the only way, Vincenzo,” Martha whispered.
“Yes!” He stood and thumped his bare chest with his fist. “We will take them down with us before we kneel at that animal’s feet.”
I stared at the floor. There was nothing anyone could do. Both Vin and Jakob were mad and delusional. Both were suffering from grief and loss, and it meant nothing could ever end peacefully. We were all being sucked into a supernova of pain and anger, of sorrow that could never heal, and none of us could break free. Not until death cured the madness.
The madness was so infectious that I found myself laughing. My laughter became louder until even Vin looked freaked. I couldn’t stop, and when the tears finally came, they flooded out of my eyes with a power I didn’t think I had anymore.
Chapter Eighteen
Nathan
Our barking dogs woke me. All of them were going absolutely crazy, especially Cú. He had a new lease of life, and according to Jeremy, he had been leading the other dogs in the search for Perdita. Our family’s bond with the wolfhounds was often a tad spooky, but at the moment, I was glad of it.
When I heard Cú’s bark above the others, I raced outside to see a car speed away beyond the driveway.
I ran, shouting for my family, but the car was gone by the time I made it to the road. I stared after the speedily r
etreating vehicle until I caught a certain scent in the air. Following it, I found a box on the ground inside our garden wall. I lifted it onto the top of the wall and opened it.
Long auburn hair. Perdita’s. Swallowing hard, I held the bundle tightly, struggling to stay on my feet as the world spun on its axis. I wanted to vomit. Voices were all around me, shouting, arguing. Amelia’s hand gripped my shoulder as she whispered for me to calm down, and I realised I was one of the shouting voices.
I shook my head and glanced up to see Perdita’s father roaring at me, his face purple, his eyes darkening like a werewolf’s. I couldn’t even hear what he was saying. I just kept thinking, why?
And then I saw the note. “It’s not in English,” I said numbly.
Opa whipped the slip of paper out of the box. Everyone was around me: my family, Ryan, the dogs, even Perdita’s dad, who must have been outside the house, hoping to catch a glimpse of his daughter.
“They want to talk,” Opa said. “They want us to meet this afternoon, outside of town. We’re all to come. All of us.” He glanced at Perdita’s dad. “She’ll be there, too.”
“What’s going on?” Mr. Rivers demanded. “Is this a ransom note? Someone tell me where this came from.”
“Didn’t you see who left it?” I asked.
“I just got here. Someone call the police, for God’s sake!”
“No,” Byron said. “The police won’t be able to deal with this.” He glanced at me. “But we can.”
Mr. Rivers’ eyes became wilder. “Where is she? Who has her? Tell me what’s happening!”
“Come inside,” Byron said. “I’ll talk you through it.”
“No!” Opa exclaimed. “What are you thinking?”
“He has a right to know,” Byron said wearily. “It might have saved us some trouble if he’d known a while ago.”
They tried to take Perdita’s hair from me, but I couldn’t unclench my fist.
“He’ll be okay in a bit,” Amelia said, leading me into the house with firm hands. “You’ll be okay, Nathan.” Her voice sounded strange, as if my hearing was muffled.
Byron made me sit in a chair in the kitchen. Amelia made coffee and served some to everyone. Perdita’s dad drank some with shaking hands, but he never stopped glaring at me.
“Mr. Rivers,” Byron said. “Has your daughter told you anything about us? Anything at all?”
“No, she won’t talk.” But he looked eager, as if he had been waiting for that particular discussion his entire life. “Where is she? You know where she is, don’t you? That’s why the note came here. This is all about you. This has always been about you people. What have you gotten Perdy involved in?”
“You’re right,” Jeremy said in a firm voice. “This is about us. But we haven’t touched your daughter.”
“There is a man,” Byron began, “who despises our family for reasons out of our control. He sent people after your daughter when he found out she and Nathan were involved. We tried to protect her as best we could, but a man died.”
Mr. Rivers recoiled. “You killed someone?”
“No,” Amelia said softly. “Perdita did. To save my grandfather.”
He shook his head, his face paling. “What are you talking about?”
“The man she killed had a daughter,” Byron continued as if Perdita’s father wasn’t freaking out. “This daughter was one of the people who came here after Perdita. She wanted revenge, so she attacked you at our house, partly to send a message to us, but mostly to punish Perdita.”
“She set her dog on me?” He looked so confused that I felt badly for him.
“No, she attacked you.”
“I don’t… I don’t understand what you’re saying.”
“I’m saying that Perdita’s in the hands of dangerous people. Uniquely dangerous people. My family are the only ones who can get her back.”
“What are you, terrorists or something? None of this makes any sense.”
Byron laughed. “I know. That’s why I’m going to show you something that will hopefully explain everything.” He began to open his shirt, and Perdita’s dad looked more horrified than ever.
“It’s okay,” Amelia said. “Perdita already knows all of this. Remember that. Everything she couldn’t tell you, everything you didn’t know, today is the day. But Perdita needs you to focus, to stay strong. The only way we’re getting her back is if we all keep control. Can you do that? Can you stay calm?”
He had been watching her the entire time, drinking in her words as if trying to hear something that would finally make sense.
“Look,” I said, pointing at Byron the werewolf. “There’s your answer. This is the real reason why you shouldn’t let your daughter near me. This is what you should fear. This is what took Perdita.”
He stared at Byron in silence for so long, I thought he might have had a stroke or something.
“I need to get out of here,” he said at last. “I think I need to go back to the hospital or something. I think I need to…” He got to his feet and stumbled, but Ryan caught him.
“You need to listen,” I said. “You need to hear what Perdita’s wanted to tell you. We’re werewolves. The people who have her are werewolves, and the only difference between them and us is that they don’t give a crap about hurting anyone. Do you understand? She had to kill one of these werewolves to save my grandfather’s life, to stop them from coming after my little sister next. Their pack stalked Perdita for months. She’s been carrying all of this on her shoulders, and now she’s in the hands of the people who murdered my parents and my grandmother. She’s in danger.”
“Nathan, easy,” Jeremy said. “He’s freaking out.”
And he was. Perdita’s father opened and closed his mouth like a fish, looking as if he wanted to vomit. “This isn’t real,” he said through clenched teeth.
Byron changed back and dressed hurriedly. “It’s very real,” Byron said. “We’re running out of time. They want to meet this afternoon. They’ll have your daughter with them. If we can attack, somehow get—”
“And risk her life?” her father bellowed. “This is my daughter you’re talking about. If any of this is anything less than some… some weird hallucination, then you’re not going to put my daughter in harm’s way. Do you understand me?”
Byron smiled, and nodded. “Of course. Do you have any questions?”
“Of course I have some damn questions!”
And so began the retelling of our entire lives and histories. At least, the quick version.
“So she’s been miserable because she hurt somebody?” Mr. Rivers finally asked. “This is what she couldn’t tell me? And yet… it sounds so familiar. Like a dream or something.”
I cleared my throat. “She kind of told you everything when you were unconscious in the hospital. Right before you woke up, actually.”
He shook his head. “Goddamn kids. My poor girl struggling with this alone, and there was I, keeping her away from everyone as if that would help her. And they still took her. She was never safe, and I had no idea.” His face turned red again. “How dare you? How dare you people put her in danger and not even warn me, not even let me know I needed to protect her? If I had known… if I had done something differently…”
“If you had been there, you’d be dead,” I said bitterly. “They wanted her for a reason, and nobody was going to stop them. They were going to keep trying until they got her. I guess we’ll find out what their reason is at the meeting.”
“I’m going with you,” he said.
“Mr. Rivers, we—” Byron began.
“Call me Stephen, for heaven’s sake. You don’t show a man your bare arse and then call him Mister.”
Amelia covered her laughter, and even Jeremy shook silently. I shook my head in disgust. As if anything was worth laughing at.
Byron’s cheeks turned pink. “Right. Stephen, then. I don’t think it would be safe for you to be there.”
“I need her to know!” He waved his hand
s. “I’m sorry, but I need her to know I don’t blame her, that I’m not angry with her. She needs to know that I would forgive her anything, given the chance, that she can trust me to be there for her. If these people are as bad as you say they are…” He paled, swallowing hard.
“We’ll get her back,” I said. “There’s no other option.”
“Is this… is this why I’m sick? Why nobody can figure out what’s wrong with me? Is this what she meant before when she said… is this why I’m so bloody angry all the time?”
“I believe so,” Byron said. “The blood transfusion you received altered something, stopped the natural process. It’s something to do with your blood, Perdita’s too, that you both have the potential to become a werewolf. The wolf in us angers easily, but we soothe that by hunting, or finding our mates, or maybe even by having a certain type of wolf nearby. You can’t do any of that. The transfusion corrupted it and made it linger in your system somehow. You have to understand there’s a lot we don’t know. We’re on our own, and we’re different. What we have came from a curse.”
“A curse.” He sounded sceptical, despite everything we had just told him.
I laughed. “That’s too much? You just saw my uncle turn into a werewolf.”
“I need to understand. I still don’t know why they took Perdy.” His eyes were desperate, and I knew the feeling.
“We don’t know for sure,” I said. “All I can tell you is that this started because of the curse. We are, we were, rather, cursed to search for our soul mates, to be unable to keep away from them. We would fall for them, and they would be taken away. Killed. Amelia broke the curse, and I thought… I thought Perdita was safe. But she’s still my mate. Do you understand what that means? I have to find her. I can’t let anything happen to her. It will destroy me if she gets hurt out there. That’s how you know I’ll take care of her. That’s how you know I’ll bring her home.”