Page 54 of Same Thing
“Is this the human that has been causing all of the trouble?” Aro asked. His voice was so terrifying, it lifted the fine hairs on the back of her neck.
She grasped her hands in front of her and resisted the urge to run.
“Speak!” he barked, and she startled hard.
“She is my friend,” Delta said. “She spent the night. I’ve been lonely.” All true. Clever Delta.
“I know you aren’t stupid enough to build a friendship with a human. Look around you, girl. This is werewolf territory. There is no reason for a human to be here. And yet…I knew she would be here. I just felt it. I felt the betrayal.”
“Betrayal,” Bridger repeated. “What has Delta betrayed? Nothing. Not you or this Pack. She is allowed to have friends—”
“Enough! This human is not here for this she-wolf, and you know it. She is here with Liam. His Arrangement described her just as she is. Plain. Nothing special.”
It stung. It did. Nory had just had the most intimate night of her life with Liam, but his people thought she was nothing. And he was nowhere to be found.
“Cool observation, is there a reason you are here?” Bridger asked.
A blur of violence pushed her backward, and her back slammed against the porch railing. There was a second of blinding pain, and when she looked up, Delta was gone. A light gray wolf stood in front of her, and around her shoulder, Nory could see two of Aro’s men pinning Bridger against the side of the house.
Bridger didn’t look scared. He looked angry and his eyes were almost white.
Delta’s shredded clothes littered the ground, and Nory realized something awful. They were going to kill Bridger. Shecould see it on their faces. Aro curled his lips back, and his teeth were too sharp. He looked like a monster.
“Fuck you,” Bridger spat, eyes locked on Aro.
Aro nodded to his people, and she knew this was it. They were going to kill him!
“Stop!” she shrieked. Nory stepped around the gray wolf—Delta—and held her hands out. “Please stop. I am human. I am nothing. I am nothing special. You are right! I was trying to leave, and I will never come back. I’m sorry! I didn’t understand the rules, but I can leave.”
“You,” Aro snarled, striding for her. He grabbed the back of her neck. “Do you realize the Arrangement was my daughter? Do you realize she cared for him? Do you know Liam was the only one she would consider an Arrangement with?” His grip was so painful, and his nails dug into her neck. His nails were turning to claws, and she whimpered.No. Don’t make a noise. If this is it, go strong.
He leaned down and gritted out, “Your time to leave has passed. I’ve traveled all the way out here to tell Liam what he has done.”
“Say it,” Bridger said, pinning against the wall. “Say it and be done. No one here cares about the theatrics.”
Aro stood to his full height, and shoved her downward, until she was hunched against his grip on her neck. Warmth trickled down the side of her neck, and she could see spots at the edges of her blurry vision. It hurt so bad!
Delta’s wolf was snarling constantly, and she was squaring up to Aro.
He could kill them all in seconds. She knew he and his men could do that. He was toying with them, and God, Nory had never been so terrified in her entire life.
“Where is Liam?” Aro gritted out.
“Your guess is as good as ours,” Bridger choked out.
Aro shoved Nory toward Bridger with such force, she was dizzy with it. She landed on her hands and knees with a yelp.
The others let Bridger go, and he told her immediately to, “Get in the house.”
“Nah. I want her to stay. The three of you will be the punishment,” Aro said solemnly. “You will bring Liam and the others back in line.”
“He will kill you,” Bridger said. “They’ve bonded. He won’t learn whatever fucked up lesson you are trying to teach him. You will turn him into a grenade. He will never stop hunting you.”
Aro laughed and looked to his men, who chuckled too. “Change.”
“There’s a gun above the front door,” Bridger told her, his eyes white and his bones snapping. “Go!” An enormous wolf exploded from him, and she turned to run. Time slowed as she took a step toward the porch, and then another, pushing her body.
Something slammed into her from the side, and she hit the porch stairs hard, a wolf had a hold of the leg of her jeans and dragged her into the yard as she flailed and kicked. Bridger and Delta’s wolves were battling for their lives, and never in her life had she seen something so horrific. Something so violent. Something so deadly, and bloody.