Page 9 of A Token of Blood and Betrayal

“It’s too easy to get under your skin.”Hewinkedat me.Then he moved his hand to the left to give the envelope to Nora.

“You…” I struggled to find words to stab him with.Something clever.Something memorable.Something that would erase his damn grin, but all I managed was a flat, uninspired, “I hate you.”

“I don’t have to be outside the Null to know that isn’t true,” he said, his voice deepening in that quiet, confident way that made me want him to move closer.

Nora muttered something under her breath, then snatched the envelope from Blake’s hand, as if she hoped it would slice him on the way out.I rooted for the paper cut, but Blake didn’t even flinch.

Nora pulled out a crisp black stationery card, and her gaze went from icy to a lethal subzero.

“What is it?”I asked.

Her eyes tracked left to right, left to right, as she read.Then she shoved the card back into the envelope.“An invitation to return to the pack.Now that Jared is ‘out of the picture.’”

Ouch.That had to hurt, especially considering the encounter she’d just had with her husband.Did he know he was making a jab at her insecurities?

“It’s a good offer,” Blake said.“You need the pack.”

She faced him with the same confident arrogance she’d wielded against me since high school.“That’s why he sent you.He thinks you can convince me to come back.”

“He misses you.”

“He barely saw me when I was pack.”

Blake didn’t argue.Just watched her a moment before he exhaled as if he’d known this would be her reaction.

“Your absence is noticeable, Nora.”Blake’s words were barely audible, but that didn’t make them less effective.When a strong, dominant man softened his voice for you, it made you feel seen, like you mattered enough for someone powerful to let you in.

“There’s a hole in the tapestry,” he continued.“It’s bigger than any we’ve had before.Losing you has weakened us.”

I’d never heard a pack’s connection referred to as a tapestry before.It was a good metaphor though.The wolves were linked by magical threads.The tighter the weave, the stronger the pack, and the higher a wolf was in the hierarchy of dominance, the more acutely their absence would be felt.

Very deliberately, Nora held Blake’s gaze.She lifted the envelope and ripped it in half.

Then she ripped it again.After one final angry tear down the middle, she tossed the pieces toward his face.

Blake’s mouth flattened as the rejected invite fluttered to the ground.A clench of his jaw, then he looked at me.“You’re a bad influence.”

I couldn’t help it.I laughed out loud.“Stop bringing messages no one wants to read.”

His wry smile returned, and of course my body reacted again.Damn him.Why did he have to have a sense of humor?Why couldn’t he be an asshole all the time?

“Make sure your alpha gets the message,” Nora bit out.Then she pivoted to walk away.

“Hey,” I called.“What about Deagan?”

She didn’t glance over her shoulder or slow down.“I don’t help people who don’t trust me.”

The words were a direct hit—no drama, no shouting.Just a clean strike that let guilt hook its claws into me again.I was making the right choices—keeping Garion’s identity secret, not signing Jared’s list—so why did I feel like everything I did betrayed the people I considered friends?

“What’s that about?”Blake asked.

“It’s nothing.”I stared down at Deagan so Blake wouldn’t read my expression.Maybe after I talked to Garion, I could talk to Nora.I’d need help breaking or altering my bargain with Canyon.

One problem at a time.First up was the one right in front of me.How was I going to get Deagan to a room?I clearly couldn’t manage him on my own, but I didn’t want Blake to—

He hoisted Deagan over his shoulder.

—volunteer.