Wolf Broken (Wolfish 2)

The phrase causes a light to appear behind his eyes, but he only cocks his head and looks at me more closely. The silence around us, the stillness of the forest … it’s unnerving to say the least.

“Will you help me?” I blurt out again, hopeful that the fact he didn’t immediately say no means that there’s a chance he’ll help.

“No.”

And there it is.

The word rolls all too quickly off his tongue.

At least this time, he doesn’t let me sit in shifting silence.

“What you’re asking is impossible. It’s against all of the agreements of Romulus’ precious alliance to turn any new humans. And even if it wasn’t, I still wouldn’t help you.”

He eyes me again, that menacing smile pulling at the corner of his lips again. This time, the menace is directed at me.

“You say Romulus told you what happened between us … but surely, that isn’t all he told you about me?”

“I just thought—”

“So, he has,” he snaps, cutting me off. “And yet you still came? How curious.”

That smile turns utterly wicked.

“You’re a fool, Sabrina. None of those boys want you as anything more than a novel plaything. You’ve definitely come to ask the wrong person if you thought that I would be any help to you. My mangy brother has a soft heart for the half-breeds, but I, however, do not.”

He stands up, his already tall stature looming over me like a giant in the darkness. He could kill me here, now, and he’d barely have to lift a finger to do it.

“Out of what little respect I still have for Romulus, I will ensure that none of my pack harms you tonight. But, as soon as you leave here, and if you dare to come back; I can’t promise that I can control them. You were foolish to come here. Not even just for the fact of risking your life with my pack, but there are other packs on the move right now too. Didn’t you already have enough of a scare with Rory’s own girl?”

“What?” What did he mean by Rory’s own girl?

Remus lets out a laugh that fills the woods with an echo of howls back to him.

“I guess my nephew left that part out in the details, did he? The girl that attacked you before was meant for Rory. She was supposed to be his mate. But instead, he took a fancy to you.”

I gape up at him. In my mind, that grin widens until it takes up the entire forest. It’s all I can see.

“I can imagine you understand why she would dislike you so much now. A woman scorned, and all that … or didn’t Romulus mention she was a part of my pack? That she was the olive branch I offered … and Rory was supposed to be the one to mend us, but instead …”

He eyes me pitifully. “Instead, you came along.”

Rory had already been promised to someone else? How the hell does that work? And if there was some sort of prearranged mating of shifters, then what consequence did he incur by denying her in order to be with me?

This was all going way worse than I had hoped. Worse than I imagined.

Remus’s look of pity turns to disgust.

“Go now,” he say

s as he stands up to leave. “I think we’re done here.”

I start to open my mouth to say something to ask him to wait, to explain something more, but as soon as he stands, I see a wall of glowing yellow eyes emerge from the trees. There are dozens of wolves who start slowly creeping out of the woods on silent paws. I suddenly feel like the sacrificial rabbit in a hunt, keenly aware of how little stands between me and certain death yet again.

“Hurry up now, Sabrina … before I change my mind.” He starts melting into the trees alongside the multitude of eyes. “Run along before the wolves are biting at your heels.”

I don’t linger.

I turn to run back to the other side of the river as fast as I can.