Page 132 of My Solemn Vow

“And you have every right to get angry, to yell, to want to hurt me back. I’ll take it. All of it.” He raises his hand but stops himself before he can wipe the tear off my cheek that escaped.

Suddenly, a question springs into my head and rattles around my brain until it tumbles out. “What happened to Neil?”

“Nothing,” Valor answers flatly.

“Nothing!”

I clench my fists, turning away from him, because my tears only boil over instead of freezing, my rage bringing the precipitation with them.How could he be sorry yet nothing happened to Neil?

My wolf is snarling too. At least I know my anger in this isn’t one sided. She may want me to forgive Valor, but we’re not letting this go.

Valor’s hands are on my shoulders, and he spins me around, gripping my chin and dragging my face back to him.

I narrow my eyes. “I almost die, and he’swhat?—”

“Nothing happened to Neil because he’s still in my basement waiting for you. Well, us. I have more questions I need answered,” Valor explains.

Those words calm my rage, and I force even breaths before raising an eyebrow. “Me?”

“He committed treason, but the most egregious offense was against you.” Valor tries to explain what must be a complicated system of laws, and he pauses to reframe. “Kidnapping Royal, hurting Declan and Jack, killing Sean and Gavin were all offenses against wolves. But you were human when he hurt you. That comes above anything else.”

“When you let him hurt me.” I don’t pull that punch. I correct him with the ferocity of my wolf backing me.

“And you can torture me for the rest of our lives for that.” He assures me before continuing. “Neil, however, is yours to do with as you will. I recommend making him suffer and killing him, but you’re within your right to do whatever you please.”

“Whatever I please?” I straighten and tilt my head. “And if that’s taking a little bit of him apart and dismantling him until he dies?”

“Then I recommend you pick parts at random to inflict the most pain,” he advises, sounding a little bit more than ‘slightly’ unhinged. “There are many ways to make it hurt for as long as you’d like.”

“You haven’t questioned him or anything?” I ask, testing the ability to hear falsehoods.

“I refused to leave you longer than I had to. I wanted to make sure you transitioned cleanly. You were my priority.” Valor’s gaze holds the intensity of his dedication I’ve seen before, but now it’s directed at me.

I’m a priority.His words don’t come with that itching feeling of a lie.Huh.

It’s because we are his and he is ours.My wolf weighs in.We canbe angry, but it doesn’t make him less ours. Let him show us he can do better.

I blow out a breath and sit back on the bed, but Valor stays where he is.

“Neil is getting his bare minimum needs met. Food, water, a bucket to shit in. We’ll question him together when you’re ready to go home.”

We’ll go home soon.My wolf reassures me like she knows where home is.Starving him to death is an option though.

“And no one will be angry, there will be no retribution, if I kill him?” I need to clarify because this sounds too good to be true.

“If you don’t kill him, I will.” Valor shifts on his feet and slides his hands into his pockets. “Neil has to die. Fast or slow, it doesn’t matter so long as it gets done.”

Death and murder shouldn’t soothe me, given everything that’s happened, but my shoulders drop. I’m not cold, but I pull the blanket around me, needing comfort.

Valor moves over to the woodstove and stokes the fire. He turns around to face me again and clears his throat. “I know this cabin isn’t very large, so if you wanted some alone time, I could maybe shift and go for a run or something?”

Space doesn’t feel like what I want, especially since my wolf seems to settle with his proximity, but the longer I’m around him, the harder it is to be mad at him. He deserves for me to be mad at him.

I shake my head, and Valor doesn’t waste a second to sit next to me on the bed. He runs his hand across my shoulders, and I lean into his warmth.

“I don’t remember much since the basement,” I murmur.

“That’s normal.” Valor isn’t fazed by my abrupt change in conversation. “The first few days, the wolf is driving. There isn’t anything science based I can point to, but we believe it’s because she’s making space for herself in your brain and body.”