Total pages in book: 115
Estimated words: 108368 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 542(@200wpm)___ 433(@250wpm)___ 361(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 108368 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 542(@200wpm)___ 433(@250wpm)___ 361(@300wpm)
“It’s not a pretty story.”
“Neither are any of mine, baby.”
Because Ally figured honesty deserved honesty, she explained. “My childhood pack wasn’t much bigger than this. We all lived together in one huge house. There were only five kids in total. Me and Cain were best friends, and we used to play together in a fort that we set up with the help of our parents. Anyway, one night Cain was chasing me out of the fort, and as we reached the pack house a large pack of wolves invaded our territory.” An ache began to build in her chest as she remembered the screams, the blood, and the chaos. “Our pack didn’t stand a chance.”
“That was the night it was slain?”
She nodded.
“You and Cain got away?”
“There wasn’t a chance in hell that we’d have gotten away . . . but then the battle around me suddenly ended and I was back in the fort with Cain. I realized I’d had a vision. The trouble was that as I tried to get out in a panic to warn my pack, I dislodged one of the rocks. The front of the fort collapsed.”
“That was what you meant when you said you couldn’t get out to warn them,” Derren deduced.
“Yes.” She’d clawed at the rocks, tried her best to dig her way out. “We were trapped there for hours, and it was so dark.” It didn’t matter that her shifter night vision had allowed her to see clearly; Ally had never liked the dark as a kid. “We could hear them screaming and howling. By the time we got out, they were all dead.” Maimed bodies of adults and pups had lain all around the pack house.
Slipping his hand to the back of her head, Derren tugged her close and kissed her lightly. “Did you ever find out why they were all killed?”
She inhaled deeply. “Apparently one of the enforcers raped a mated female wolf. Shifters will burn down whole countries to avenge their mates. The guy was never going to let that go. But instead of killing the bastard responsible, he killed our entire pack in a rage. He must have felt bad about it later, because he didn’t come for me or Cain when he found out two pups had survived; he didn’t try to finish the job.” Cain’s uncles had understood the guy’s rage, but they had still gone after him to avenge the death of their brother.
“I’d say there’s no excuse for what he did. But I know that if my mate was hurt, the last thing I’d be is rational. I’d want to destroy the fucking world.” He’d eviscerate anyone who threatened Ally, whether their relationship was temporary or not. As usual, his wolf snarled at the idea of her leaving. “No wonder you have nightmares. I’m sorry you lost your family, baby.”
So was she. “I lost them when I was too young to really appreciate them.”
“Then you went with Cain to live with the Brookwell Pack?”
She nodded. “His uncles pretty much adopted me.”
“What’s the pack like?”
“Large, boisterous, would use any excuse to throw a celebration to get blind drunk.”
“Do you keep in touch with any of the Brookwell wolves?”
“I talk to my uncles by phone. And they visit me when they can.”
“I thought Cain kept them away from you so that you stay off the humans’ radar.”
“No, leaving the pack kept me off the radar. But my uncles still slip away and meet me sometimes, just like Cain does. I’ll never forget how they took me in and accepted me.” Still, she’d always felt like she was leeching off someone else’s family. Although she adored her uncles, Ally had never felt settled there. Never found her place. And so she’d flitted from pack to pack over the years, searching for it. But she never found it.
For a short while, she’d thought she’d found it in the Collingwood Pack. She’d let her guard down a little, but that had come back to bite her on the ass when Zeke—
“Don’t think about him.” Derren cupped her face, trapping her gaze with his. “He’s not worth an ounce of your time.”
It freaked her out that Derren could read her so well. “It’s not that I’m dwelling or anything. It’s that—”
“You trusted him not to hurt you, but he did. And now you wonder if you can trust your own judgment anymore.” Derren understood that well.
She nodded. “If you can’t trust yourself, who can you trust?”
Derren curled his arms tight around her. “You can trust me.” She’d no doubt find that difficult to believe, considering he’d been a total ass in the beginning. But it was true.
“And you can trust me, but you don’t.”
He tapped her nose. “That’s where you’re wrong. I was a complete bastard to you, but you healed me—even though the burns were severe, and even though you knew my agony would then become yours, you did it. You had to have known that using that much energy would knock you unconscious; that it would put your safety in the hands of people who hadn’t exactly been welcoming to you. But despite all that, despite all the prejudice you received because of your gift, you used that gift to heal me. You have my trust.”