Page 104 of Ghost

My heart pounded furiously in my chest, and I remained unable to look away. Two emotions inside me tugged for dominance.

On one hand, I wanted to murder Maria for touching my things. On the other hand…

I felt strange. It was impossible to take everything in, and my focus kept changing to different areas of the picture. Bianca’s perfect face. Her hair with that crown….

“Yeah.” Matheus’ deep voice caught my attention. He spoke to someone on the phone while throwing a strange look in my direction. “He has a goofy look on his face. It’s disturbing.”

My attention shifted to him, and I threw my phone face down on the bed. “Who are you talking to?”

Matheus raised an eyebrow as he lowered his phone slightly. “Maria…”

I was halfway across the room before I knew it, snatching the phone away from the stunned wolf. “Maria! What do you think you’re doing?”

My only response was a dial tone.

“That little…” I growled, glaring at the phone before I tossed it to Matheus. “She hung up!”

Matheus caught his phone without missing a beat, shrugging in response.

I groaned, pulling my hair as I paced the room. “How could she do this to me?” I wondered, unable to get the picture out of my head.

Bianca. She had looked like… like…

There were no words to describe the feeling in my chest. Might it have been accurate to say that she was a princess?

This was awful. We were friends. Maria was getting off on torturing me—dressing Bianca up in shiny, glittery objects. She was a sadist.

“She’s cute—that girl.” Matheus grunted as he reclined back onto his bed. “Who is she?”

My blood froze and my focus snapped to the wolf.

He looked bored, but he had said she was cute. Which meant he had seen.

“What did you see?” I fought to keep my voice calm, wondering if I had jumped to conclusions—

Matheus’ eyes were still closed, and he waved his hand in the air, unconcerned. “Some hot chick in a lacy thing wearing jewelry—”

His sentence had been cut off because he was no longer physically able to speak. The reason was obvious, since my forearm was now pressed against his throat.

Through the red haze of my vision, I still noticed the fear in his eyes. “Forget it.” I somehow forced the human words out. “Erase the sight from your memory.”

Matheus was a large man, though smaller than me. And he was strong as well—he had to be. But even his wolf had nothing on me.

And he better forget about her, or else I’d destroy him.

He tapped my arm, asking for permission to speak. I let the pressure off slightly, never taking my eyes from his.

Matheus’ slow, rough, voice spoke. “That’s not realistic. I’ve already seen—”

His protest ended in a gargle as I applied more pressure. “Forgeteverything.”

Somehow, he was able to nod, his eyes wary. It crossed my mind I had never raised my hand against my subordinates before. But I was unconcerned, because it was more important for Matheus to realize this:

“Whatever you might hear about her,” I told him, “you keep all information to yourself. That is an order.” Goosebumps broke over my skin at the very idea something would happen to her. That anyone—our people, or the guild that hunted our kind—would find a way to use her against the four of us.

We hadn’t thought this through. But it was too late. There was nothing I would change.

Matheus tapped my arm, and I realized I still restrained him. Suddenly, I felt guilty.