Page 74 of Rabid
Does he hate me? Does he know I’m the reason his brother is dead?
“Thank you for answering our call, Kier,” Tyran offers in place of a greeting.
“The pleasure is mine, Tyran. When I heard Twin Rivers was the target, I wouldn’t have missed it for the world. My brother has been trying to leave the pack for years, and it’s high time I help make that happen.”
Tyran smiles, but there’s nothing kind or warm about it. It’s the smile of a savage beast when it knows it has cornered prey. But horror catapults through me at Kier’s words, and I stare wide-eyed at the alpha.
Oh God, Kier doesn’t know.
Tyran’s head snaps to me as my feelings rush through him. He puts his back to the visiting envoy, and two wolves step between the groups, guarding their alpha’s back as Tyran dips down until our eyes are level, his gaze burning to understand the panic and anguish now crashing through me.
“Vicious, talk to me,” he murmurs, reaching out to hold me as though he’s trying to anchor me and bring me back to the here and now.
“He’s dead,” I whisper, my voice hollow and worried.
“Who, Vicious?” he asks, clearly confused, but I look around him and fix my gaze on Kier.
My throat tightens, but I swallow past it, dismissing the sadness that I don’t have time to focus on right now. I don’t know what he’ll do when I tell him the truth. Maybe he’ll still help us, his mission turning to one of revenge instead of rescue, but I have to tell him what Burke did to his brother.
“Hess is dead,” I call out hollowly, squaring my shoulders and readying myself for what will probably be a violent reaction. However, instead of rage or agony crumpling the alpha’s face, he suddenly looks as confused as Tyran does.
Keir shakes his head, and my heart breaks a little at the gesture of denial. “No...my brother’s alive,” he replies slowly. I open my mouth to contradict his words, but he keeps going. “He’s currently locked up in the Twin Rivers pack cells, but I assure you, he’s still breathing.”
Now it’s my turn to shake my head, the gesture a rejection of his statement. “Burke beat him to forcemeto go through with the Flux. I saw it with my own eyes,” I explain, hating that I’m the one who has to tell him this. It’s bad enough that what happened was my fault. But now I have to shatter Hess’s brother as badly as knowingmeshattered Hess in the end. “I was trying to run, to get away, but Burke caught me and he… he killed Hess. He told me himself when he left me here,” I explain, my eyes bleeding sorrow, my heart aching.
Kier looks at me more intensely, as though he’s trying to figure out what’s going on. I watch as something dawns in his eyes, and he takes a step closer, making the Ruin Falls wolves standing between us growl in warning. The Plummet Lake alpha raises his hands in apology and steps back before settling his stare back on me.
“You’re Seneca? Seneca Rain?” he asks. His tone is perplexed, as though he’s expecting me to say yes, but there’s just a hint of doubt that maybe he’s got this wrong.
“Yes,” I answer simply, guilt weighing down my shoulders as Kier makes the connection.
Surprisingly, the alpha’s eyes warm slightly. “Hess told me about you and your mom. I didn’t realize you were here.”
“This is where Burke dumped me after...” I trail off, not wanting to get into it, but I gesture to my eyes, and the males surrounding Kier fidget and go taut as though just the gesture was a threat against their alpha.
“Well, that piece of shit lied to you,” Kier declares, not an ounce of doubt in his words and his tone brooking no room for argument. “Hess is hurt, but he’s alive. I would know if that weren’t the case,” he tells me, his fist bouncing on his chest and indicating what has to be a connection between him and his twin brother.
A small spark of hope ignites in my soul, and I stare at Kier as though I’m trying to peel him open and spot any signs that he could be wrong. He looks back at me, his countenance certain, his eyes filled with steely conviction. The spark in my soul morphs into an inferno, and I tilt my head back to the sky and breathe out a sigh of relief.
Hess is alive.
Happiness hums through me. Even though Hess and I were never close, I’m grateful to know that Burke lied. I should’ve known he was full of shit. I should’ve questioned it, made sure. I just took what he said at face value because it seemed exactly like something he would do.
Tyran squeezes my shoulders and then turns back to the other pack. “I assume you’ve brought more than a couple betas as back up?” he asks the other alpha.
“I have every warrior, hunter, sentry, and beta I could spare, while still keeping my pack protected.”
Tyran nods and gestures for Kier and his males to follow us. “Perfect, you can ride with us, and we’ll pick up your pack as we head out. Claw Ridge will be joining us too, but they’ll take a little time reaching Twin Rivers. We’ll work everything out on the way.”
Kier smiles coldly, his eyes alight with promises of retribution and pain. “Let’s go rip those cowards limb from limb.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
“He should be here.”
I look at the frown marring my mate’s face, the only outward sign of the worry I feel churning beneath his hardened exterior.
“Let’s give him a few more minutes,” I suggest, though anxiety is starting to spike in my stomach too. Luckily, my wound there is feeling so much better and hardly hurting at all anymore, like my wolf helped heal it in double time so we’d be ready for tonight.
