I was speechless.
'Are you okay? Did he hurt you?' Ty asked.
'No. Nobody hurt me,' he said. Over the back of Ty's shoulder, his gaze caught mine, daring me to say something. My skin crawled, and his focus went back on Ty.
'I'm sorry, Aaron. She wouldn't listen to me.'
'Shh,' Aaron whispered, stroking her hair. 'It's okay.'
Liam growled behind me, glowering at his brother. He wrapped his arms around me, pulling me to his chest. 'Was that what you intended to do Aaron, talk to her?'
Aaron feigned an innocent smile. 'Of course. What'd you think I would do?'
'A bit of an elaborate plan for a discussion, wouldn't you say? What'd you plan on doing, Aaron? Get away from me, come back here, and kill her?' I could feel his muscles tensing.
'Don't be ridiculous.' Aaron nuzzled his nose into Ty's soft curls. 'I would never hurt Charlotte. She's a friend of Ty's.'
The back of my neck crawled.
'Sure you wouldn't,' Liam said, 'even if she were the one thing stopping you from becoming Alpha?'
Ty's blue orbs turned up to Aaron. 'What's he talking about, baby?'
'Nothing. I think my brother hit his head in the woods. Are you okay though, love?' Aaron asked, cupping Ty's chin. 'How did you get those bodies in there anyway?'
'Steve told us about them too,' Liam said. 'Don't worry. Your friend will be safe. We'll cover up the deaths and then we'll teach her how to control her shifts. She won't hunt a human again, I promise you.'
The reality of the situation crashed down on me. Ty couldn't have...
'What bodies?' Ty asked.
Aaron faked a laugh. 'That's cute, honey, but seriously. We all know.' He rolled his eyes. 'It's okay. I wasn't here to help you through your first change and I'm sorry. It's my fault.'
'Aaron,' Ty said with a straight face. 'I haven't changed yet.'
'What do you mean?'
'I haven't shifted into a wolf. I didn't hurt anyone.'
The color drained from Aaron's face. The walls of the well began to feel too close, and my image of the dank tomb haunted me. Everyone realized it at once.
We weren't alone.
Chapter 23
Liam shook and trembled. The pheromones filling the air blinded me. I could feel the entire pack readying to shift. 'We need to get out of here,' Liam said. 'Everyone. Right now.'
Aaron scooped Ty up in his arms, and joined us. Liam's firm arm cupped me around the waist as he pushed me towards the corridor.
'What's going on?' Ty asked.
'Did you see anything funny while you were in here, Ty?' Aaron asked. 'You didn't see anyone did you?'
Ty shook her head. 'No, just the wolf that you left to watch me.' She paused, her face showing the dawning realization. 'You didn't leave anyone with me, did you?'
Aaron's face twisted into a contortion of lines. 'No.'
'Oh, God.' Ty gasped.
Aaron ignored her, and tucked her into his chest as he sprinted to the passageway with Liam and me following. Reaching the exit, a low chuckle echoed off the walls, pausing us. I gripped Liam's sleeve. My entire world spun as the scent hit me, too familiar. I saw it then, the razor sharp jowls ripping into my shoulder, the haunting memory of those following me all those years. They were here. It was them. I began to shake.
'Liam,' I said in a small whimper.
Liam didn't move, his back bristling.
Two large men with eyes blazing gold, appeared blocking our route. I watched in horror as razor sharp claws broke through the tips of their fingers.
'Going somewhere, boys?' An older male said behind us.
The hairs on my arms stood.
'Thomas,' Liam said under his breath. Slowly we turned around. Standing, leaning against the base of the well shaft, was a cocky looking man in his mid-thirties. He had short, cropped, rust brown hair, with a matching goatee.
'You know him?' I asked.
The man smiled, and dropped the cigarette he'd been smoking; squishing it out with his steal toed Dock Martins. Even without the werewolf factor, he was intimidating.
'What are you doing here?' Liam asked, his body stone.
'Please, Boy. Is that a way to greet your father?'
'You're not our father.' A wave of pheromones rolled off Liam, and the skin on his arm rippled against my shoulder.
The man sighed as if wearily trying to explain something to a child. 'Technically no, but I did find you two orphaned mutts in the woods all those years ago.' He shook his head. 'You two had such promise too, considering you were both born this way. It was a pity that you stopped growing at seventeen, but oh well.'
'How did you find us? What do you want from us?'
'I don't want anything from you two.' He chuckled. 'I could care less about you two mutts. I'm here for the girl. She's mine.'
Liam's back began to pop. 'Over my dead body,' he said.
Thomas shook his head with a sigh. 'Don't be stupid, Aiden. I've been tracking this chick since I turned her years ago. For a while she threw me though. Made me second guess that I actually bit her, but now I know that's not true. You can thank your brother for that.' He grinned. 'The boy got a little pack hungry. It was more than easy to slip one of my own in there, unfortunately for you all, my friend likes to talk.' He pulled out another cigarette, lit it, and took a puff. 'Your brother's so reliably easy to manipulate.'
Aaron put Ty down. His chest heaved as his eyes burned wolf. 'How dare you.' He snarled, lunging forward.
'Aaron no!' Liam tried to grab him, but the older werewolf moved too fast. Thomas' arm shot up, snatching Aaron around the neck and smashed his head down into the toppled stones.
Ty screamed.
I wanted to do the same, but nothing came. I starred in horror as blood began to ooze down from Aaron's scalp.
Thomas moved in front of Aaron, lifting him up limply by the collar of his black tee shirt. Aaron groaned something unintelligible as the older werewolf leaned over his bloodied face. 'You were always so reckless. You were never as good as your brother.'
Aaron's eyes rolled open, locking on the older wolf. He hacked up a bunch of blood and spat it in Thomas' face. 'Screw you.'
A snarl ripped from the man's throat, and his teeth elongated. He pulled his lips back, his mouth opening wide. I couldn't watch, turning my head away, when I realized Liam wasn't beside me.
Oh, God. No.
'Don't touch him,' Liam said.
I turned around in time to see Aaron fly backwards into the cold stonewall. He toppled to the ground along with crumbles of loose debris. Liam began to shift in midair, when Thomas' hand whipped out, catching his jaw just as it started to elongate. I felt the howling yelp from Liam all the way to my toes. His body violently reacted with a spastic shutter, the pain clear in his eyes.
'Stop it. You're hurting him!' I yelled.
Thomas gave me a look of death.
