“Greg knows what’s good for them. They are all going to die for what they did to Theo.”
I had no idea what to do.
Collin was a werewolf, and my father was going to kill him.
My sister glared at me, eyes filled with loathing. “What’s wrong with you? How did your precious little visions not show you that he was a werewolf? You’ve been spending so much time with him. How did you not realize it?”
I shook my head in disbelief.
She was also in love with Collin. Why wasn’t she stopping my father?
I could finally move my legs again, and I rushed downstairs on unsteady legs.
“No, Liz. I never had a vision of Collin was a werewolf. If you’d gotten over yourself and bothered to speak to me, you’d know that. And you’ve spent more time with him than I have! If you didn’t figure it out, how the hell was I going to?” My fists clenched at my sides. “Get the hell away from me! I need to talk to him.”
She grabbed my arm and pulled me back with all her strength. “Ru, they don’t give a shit about humans. They kill us, for fuck’s sake!”
I shook my head. Collin had shared a great deal with me.
How had he fooled us the night he came over for dinner? The cutlery had been pure silver, but he’d been fine. Why had his skin burned from Uncle Fernus’s gun?
I pulled my arm out of her grasp and ran out the door.
“Dad!” Liz yelled.
He shook his head. “She needs to see it, Liz.”
I burst into the barn. Collin was passed out, on his knees. Will clasped silver shackles around his wrists, and my eyes followed the chain, which led up to the highest beam of the barn.
His skin was sizzling under the silver, making my stomach turn.
I wanted to scream, to tell them to stop. But I couldn’t.
How had I not known he was a werewolf? Why hadn’t he told me? I’d thought what we had was real, was special, but it wasn’t.
I didn’t know whether to be angry or sad.
“How did you find out?” I asked, turning around to face my father.
“Emily figured it out. She had the same feeling we had. Tonight she tested out her theory. At dinner, she pretended to accidentally poke Greg with her fork. His skin sizzled instantly. Greg jumped up, but a second too late. We all heard it, Ru. We sprang into action. I shot Tommy in the leg, and the silver bullet burned a hole right through him.” My father’s face contorted in fury as he aimed a kick at Collin’s midsection, then spit on him. “Greg narrowly escaped the shot Fernus fired, but it scraped his arm, and he burned again.” His upper lip curled into a snarl. “Then everything was out in the open. Greg grabbed a vial and emptied it into his mouth, and he exploded into a wolf. We retreated and then the real hunt started. But I came straight here. I couldn’t leave you alone in the house with this fucker.” He kicked Collin again and I had to clench my jaw to keep myself from telling my father to stop.
Collin was coming to. He screamed in agony at the silver, but quickly got it under control when he realized where he was.
Think, Ru. Fucking think.
“Why did you lie to me?” I shouted at him.
“I’m sorry, Ru. We had no choice,” he said through raspy breaths.
“Stop talking to her.” Will punched his jaw. I wanted to tell him to stop doing that, but I didn’t. It wasn’t how hunters acted. Hunters were trained to kill the monsters, not screw them or fall in love with them.
Collin laughed, low and breathlessly. “All this time I’ve been trying to tell you that not all wolves are bad, but you didn’t fucking listen to me. I’m not a monster. My pack protects humans.” His tone changed from incredulous to defeated. “And you call me the monster? You hunters love the kill more than we do.” He said in disgust.
“I said stop fucking talking to her.” Will punched Collin square in the nose.
Blood spattered everywhere, tiny droplets falling on my sweater. I looked down at the drops staining my front, the reality finally sinking in.
Collin was going to die—my family was going to kill him—and there was nothing I could do.
Collin’s breath was coming out in low, controlled rasps, as if he had gone through this a million times before. He looked up at me, his eyes pleading and bloodshot.
“Ru, please. You know me.” His voice was low, raspy.
I swallowed past the lump in my throat. “Your family… are they real, Collin? Or another lie?” I asked, my mind wandering to Theo.
Collin hung his head, he’s eyes focused on the ground in front of him, but he didn’t say a word
“Where is my brother, Collin?”
“What?” my dad croaked Everyone turned to stare at me.
I crouched down in front of Collin, putting my face close to his. “Tell me where Theo is!”
Collin’s eyes tracked over my face. “Ru, I promise you, Theo is safe.”
“Where the fuck is he?” my voice rose an octave with my panic.
“Theo’s… alive?” my father asked in a broken voice.
“No, Dad. He’s not alive. He’s one of them.” The words felt harsh as they passed my lips.
My dad’s eyes widened, and he shook his head. “What? No. No. That’s impossible.”
I softened my voice and set a hand on my father’s shoulder. “It’s not. His birthmark… Daddy, it’s the mark of the wolves. That’s how they knew they could change him. They wanted more wolves, so they took him”
“That wasn’t my pack, I swear,” Collin said through gritted teeth.
“Do you honestly expect me to believe you? I gave you everything!”
“What?” my father roared and whirled on Collin, kicking him in his stomach.
“I’m so sorry,” Collin mouthed.
I heard Collin’s bone shattering as my father aimed kick after kick at his body. I focused on a spot high against the wall my jaw clenched.
I couldn’t watch this, I couldn’t hear this.
Collin had lied to me about everything.
I spun on my heel and strode out of the barn.
My sister glared at me as I passed.
Fuck off, I thought.
Collin’s defeated voice reached my ears. “Ru, please. I’m the one.”
I pinned him with a disdainful glare.
“It wasn’t all lies. I’m the one,” he said.
“What one?”
Will yelled. “I said—”
“Will.” My voice was low but commanding, and Will shut his mouth immediately. I’d never taken that tone with anyone.
I looked back at Collin.
“If you kill me, you will have another massacre on your hands. The wolves will all go insane again,” he rasped out.
“Oh, what bullshit is this?” Liz asked.
I ignored her. Pinning Collin with a glare, I said, “I don’t believe you.” Then I spun around again and stormed out of the barn.
The second I stepped my foot out of the barn, Collin spoke again. “Ru, please. The lockpass.”
I stopped, but I refused to turn and look at him.
“The tattoo. It only appeared the night I saved your life.”
He had told me about that. How there was one true mate for each wolf.
Fuck.
I was his.
I shook my head and walked away.
“Ru, please!” he yelled, but whatever he was going to say was cut off with his scream.
I ran in and upstairs to my room and slammed the door behind me, but it didn’t do anything to drown out his screams.
I noticed his bag in the corner of my room, and I went over to it.
In one of the compartments, I found three vials.
Two of them had Ravain stamped on it in small cursive letters, another said Stra-vain
I put the vials inside my hoody, and shut myself in my bathroom, his screams echoing through the night.
His wolves had abandoned him.
Tears rolled down my face. I leaned my head again the d
oor as I sank to the floor. And somehow, I must have fallen asleep, because I jolted awake.
It was quiet when I opened the door.
I stopped and listened, but there wasn’t even a whisper. I tiptoed over to the window, but I couldn’t see the barn from here.
The night air was silent.
Was he dead?
I didn’t want him to be dead.
I couldn’t show my family how I felt about Collin, because Collin was right. Hunters were the monsters. Werewolves weren’t.
When I was certain everyone was asleep, I climbed out my window and shimmied down the drainpipe.
Walking through the house made too much noise for me to sneak out that way. And my family would be sleeping lightly tonight.
I ran to the barn, where I found Collin barely breathing.
The flesh of his wrists was charred and puckered. My stomach turned.
My family had beaten him to a pulp.
I cupped his face, then lightly slapped his cheek “Collin,” I whispered.
I slapped him harder. “Collin?”
He stirred. “Ru?” he asked tiredly.
“I’m so sorry. You should’ve told me.” I grabbed a hair pin and pushed it into one shackle, twisting and turning it until it clicked. I pulled it off his wrist and rubbed the skin.
His arm flopped like a rag doll’s.
“What are you doing?”
“Saving your life. Now shut up.” I pushed the pin into the other shackle. I could feel his gaze on me. Tears pricked my eyes.
“I didn’t lie about everything.”
“It doesn’t matter anymore,” I murmured.
“Your brother is safe with Greg.”
“Shh, none of that matters.” My tears fell as I worked on the shackle.
“The other wolves. They didn’t die. We begged them to accept me—”
“Collin, please. Shut up.”
“Need to find the Alpha,” he drew out.
“Why is he so important?”
“He can link the minds of all the wolves,” he said through heavy breaths. “They won’t need to give up their rank to receive my gift.”
“You’re really the one?”
With effort, he nodded. “I’m sorry that I lied to you about my family. I had no choice.”
“Theo will never be human again, will he?”
He shook his head.
“Why did you lie to me?”
“I only ever lied about my family and why we needed the Alpha.” He looked at me with one good eye. “The rest was all true. You are my true mate. I won’t survive without you.”
“I don’t want to hear it.”
“I will never find another. I love you with all my heart.”
“Stop talking,” I hissed.
“Come with me, please.”
Finally, the shackle sprang open in my hand. “You’re out of your mind.”
“Ru, you’ll die if you don’t change.”
“I’m not wolf material. I wasn’t raised to be.”
“But you were made for it.”
“I can’t. I’m sorry. Go. Please. You won’t get another chance.” I grabbed the vials from my pocket. “Which one is it?” I asked and he looked down at my hands.
He didn’t speak.
“Collin… which one?”
He nodded to the darker one. Ravain.
I opened it and handed it to him.
“You need your strength. Just go.”
“What will you tell your family?”
“That the wolves came to rescue you,” I said as I pressed the vial into his hand.
“I don’t think so,” Liz’s voice came from behind me.
She stood in the doorway. Panic roiled inside me.
“Go! Now!” I yelled, and he downed the vial.
“You little traitor,” Liz spat at me.
“You don’t know all the facts!” I moved in front of Collin, shielding him from her as she walked forward.
“He’s a fucking werewolf! He probably changed our brother,” Liz snarled.
I grabbed at her arms and tried to reason with her. “He was with me the night Theo was changed, Liz! He couldn’t have done it.”
“You are in way over your head, little sis. Do you really think he loves you?”
Collin was still behind me.
“What are waiting for? Go!” I yelled at Collin and he drained the other vial as well.
He groaned at the start of the shift. It must have been painful as fuck.
Liz and I both watched as inhuman sounds came from his mouth.
“What did you give him, Ru?”
I looked back at her in a panic. “You need to run, Liz.”
For once, she listened to me, streaking out of the barn in a flash.
A beast stood where Collin had been.
“Please, go. Liz will come back with reinforcements. Please.”
He walked toward me, his tubes rattling. My heart pounded erratically. I had no idea if his mind was still his
He stopped. “I will find you,” he said in English. “I promise. I’ll see you soon.”
He left through the window.
He hadn’t harmed me. He truly wasn’t like them.
“Collin, wait!” I yelled after him and ran out into the forest. He would find me. He would.
From the house, I heard my family’s shouts.
I ran deeper into the forest.
“Collin, please,” I begged in a whisper.
“What is it?”
I jumped, startled. I turned and watched as he slowly approached me, his tubes still and silent.
Fuck, he was huge. Bigger than any of the wolves we’d ever hunted.
He waited me out.
“I saw your Alpha. He’s in Egypt. The place is torn down. In a forest. I don’t know where. But the floor gives in and his tomb is right underneath. He’s asleep there.”
He stepped closer, and I backed away, trembling more with each step I took. But then I was against a tree, with nowhere to go.
The only time I had ever been this close to a wolf was when it was about to die.
“I love you, Ru.” He disappeared in a blur.
Sixteen
Weeks passed, and I struggled to piece my heart back together.
My dad was furious with me. My uncle refused to acknowledge my existence, and Will and Liz treated me like shit.
But I didn’t give a fuck.
I spent most of my time in my room; the message that I was unwelcome on the farm was clear.
My family still hunted. One thing they’d learned from Greg’s pack—or Collin’s, I wasn’t sure now anymore—was that working together as a team got more wolves killed.
They were on a warpath, wanting to slaughter every last wolf. They were the bloodthirsty monsters now.
I’d given up my weapons.
There was no way in hell that I could kill a werewolf now.
The only way to get through to my family was Theo.
He’d hated the wolves and lived for the kill as much as they did. He could make them understand the truth.
One morning, I found a letter beside my bed.
I closed my eyes. Collin had been here.
I took the letter from my nightstand and smelled his scent on it.
I missed him constantly. I felt like I would never be happy without him.
I opened the letter.
My Ru.
I cannot tell you how sorry I am about everything. I wish I could have told you before what I was and why I wanted to find the Alpha.
I’d lied about us wanting to kill him. We need to find him to align all wolves again, so we can fulfill our purpose like we used to.
We were never monsters. If you don’t believe me, I left a book for you in the library. Row G, the third book of the twenty-first marker.
It has no title. It carries our entire history. Please keep it safe until we meet again.
I hope you will have forgiven me by then, because I didn
’t lie when I told you that I cannot survive without you.
I only hope you are safe, and that your dad isn’t too angry with you.
Your safety is more important to me than my life.
I wrote this letter to answer some of your questions.
Theo is safe. I would never let any harm come to him. He survived the change, as did others who bore the mark.
The lockpass… what I said that day… it’s all true. It’s beautiful, but it’s also a curse.
If you die, a large part of me will die too.
Please, for me, keep yourself out of harm’s way.
I will find you when the right time comes. I promise.
Being a wolf is a noble sacrifice. I was scared when they first found me. I didn’t want it. But when Tony and Greg told me the truth of who I was. He gave me the book I’m leaving you, and it opened my eyes to what I had to do. I hope it does the same for you.
My pack had been keeping an eye on you long before we ever met. We saw what you could do. The younger the seer is, the more she can see. Our she-wolves cannot see him. We sought out new seers, even they couldn’t see him.
We found you during a hunt and have been watching you ever since.
I’m sorry about the trickery. I didn’t know who you were to me until it was too late. I had no choice but to continue lying.
The day your father tested me with the cutlery, I was prepared. Greg and I knew he would test me, but we needed you to find the Alpha.
There is a substance called Homeofolio. It’s like a protective glove that human eyes cannot see.
It shielded my hands from the silver. I was happy it was enough, but we were wrong to trust hunters.
It wasn’t easy. Believe me. But I know there is good in you, plenty of it too.
In your vision of the Great War, you spoke about a breed of monsters that looked almost human. They are a shifter race. They can take on the appearance of another, but since their bodies appear human, no one detected that they were supernatural.
They filled in for us during the full moons. The doctor at the hospital, he was also a shifter. Many hospitals and police departments have them as our worlds are not so different from one another.
You must be able to look past the armor to see who is a monster and who isn’t.
I lied about being out of commission. In fact, I was healed before I left the hospital. But that is the bitch about pretending. It always comes and bites you in the ass.
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