Page 35 of The Tracker's Dawn: Sunderverse

I doubted it was thelow profilething Mom was worried about exactly. And I had to admit that the idea of mybaby sisterin a hot tub with some guy didn’t sit well with me either.

As they hurried about packing a few things, I breathed a lot easier. I couldn’t do what needed to be done if I was constantly worrying about my family.

Jake and I had a pact to break.

CHAPTER 13

“No way, but I’m notgoing to Wolfskeep,” I protested for thenthtime.

“I second that,” Eric said. “Besides, I quit the Pack Rule, remember? And not only that, your dear ally doesn’t want me there.”

Ulfen Erickson stood in the middle of Eric’s study, looking extremely frustrated at us. His red hair and beard were unkempt, and his tie hung loosely around a crumpled shirt. He had the appearance of a shaggy stray dog on the run from animal control. Eric and I were the only ones here. Rosalina was resting since the situation at the high school earlier today had exhausted her. And Jake and Damien had left—Jake to take care of pack business and Damien to ponder about the best way to break the blood pact. He said he did his best thinking alone.

“You must come tomorrow,” Ulfen insisted.

Eric scoffed. “Nope.”

“So you’re washing your hands of things. Is that what you’re saying?” Ulfen demanded.

“Yep,” Eric replied at the same time that I said. “Not exactly.”

Ulfen glanced between us, anger beginning to show in his features.

“Look, I have my own problems,” I said. “I have my family to worry about and—”

“That only means it’s in your best interest to take that damn witch down. Unless you expect your family to hide for the rest of their lives.”

It turned out, Ulfen had seen Eric and me on the news as we ran out of the high school, which was the reason he was here. He’d wanted to learn what happened. Now, I wished we hadn’t given him the scoop—not if he was going to use it against me.

After we told him what happened, he’d proceeded to talk about the upcoming Pack Rule meeting, and when we said we weren’t going, he’d cranked up his engines to convince us.

Ulfen turned to Eric. “You can’t let your pride get in the way of this city’s well-being.”

“Of course I can,” Eric shot back, nonchalantly. He reclined in his desk chair, practically fanning himself with indifference.

I was standing by the fireplace about to turn on my heel to walk out the door. I had too much on my mind to take up a vendetta against Mekare Graves. I had tried that before, and it hadn’t gone so well. It’d been my desire for revenge that had resulted in Rosalina’s kidnapping, the destruction of the agency, and the attack on Lucia’s school. If I’d just stayed out of it, my life would be in much better shape. I’d already decided that others could take care of that deranged Midnight Witch: the police, the packs, the vampire covens... she had pissed them all off, after all. I was nobody, just a lone wolf without the backing of a pack. Ulfen could risk his life and everything else if he wanted to avenge his son’s death. I’d already lost too much, and I didn’t have a hefty bank account, like he did, to make everything right once this was all over.