"Charlotte, I didn't say that."
"Well then don't say anything. Just don't. Ty needs me. She needs my help, and you can't stop me. So just stay away from me."
"Please, Charlotte. It's dangerous. If she is a werewolf she could be scared and changing uncontrollably. Remember what I told you about my mother? She might not know it's you. Liam..."
"Isn't here," I said. My chest hurt. I wanted Liam so much.
"How long have you known?" I asked.
"What do you mean?" Steve asked, his face a little pale.
I took a deep breath. "I'm not stupid. How long ago did you realize that her screams were only in the proximity of the werewolf scent? When did you suspect that it was her Steve?"
Steve looked destroyed, but at the moment I didn't care. I felt betrayed, not only by him, but life itself.
"The thought crossed my mind the first time we entered the barn," he said in a defeated voice. "I thought it was odd that I couldn't pick up her scent anywhere, yet werewolf was strong." His gaze hardened and then turned down. "I also knew it was female."
"You bastard!"
I punched him in the chest, yet he didn't move.
"I didn't know for sure until now. There was no way Ty could have screamed from this close of a distance and still smell only of werewolf. I'm sorry, Charlotte. I just didn't want to say anything. I wanted to be wrong. I was hoping I would find out I was wrong."
"Yeah, well you didn't." I knew my words hurt, but I didn't care. "I'm going to get Ty. Don't follow me." I turned from Steve and started in the direction of the scream.
"Charlotte, please. Just let me help."
I turned around and felt a faint rumble in my chest.
"Then go get Liam."
Chapter 22
Steve didn't follow me. I was glad. I wiped my damp cheeks and headed down the corridor without looking back.
The passageway wound into a large underground cavern. A faint light trickled down from above, and I looked up to see the moon high over the mouth of what had to be a well. Steve had been right about his theory. It made sense, the trails of water dripping from the walls. There had to be a hidden stream somewhere. Ripe muck sucked at my sneakers and my lips turned down.
A groan echoed off the walls.
"Ty?" asked.
Several small rocks crumbled and rolled on the floor, revealing a small form blanketed by shadows. She sat on the ground clutching her knees to her chest.
"Charlotte?" Ty asked. Her voice sounded weak.
"Ty!" I rushed to her side and slid down on the muddy earth, wrapping my arms around her. "You're alive. Oh, Ty. I'm so sorry. This is all my fault. I know what happened. I'm so sorry."
"Where's Aaron?" she asked.
I shook my head. "Don't worry about Aaron. He's with Liam. Liam's got him under control. He's not going to touch you."
"What?" Ty's body stiffened under my arms. She pulled back. "He's with Liam?"
Her reaction confused me. "Yes. Aaron's pack ambushed us in the woods, but I stopped them...." My voice trailed off. Ty's appearance went three shades whiter. "Ty?" I asked.
"Is he okay?"
The vision of the fight in the woods made me shutter. "It was bad. I think Liam's shoulder got torn open, but he's okay." I tried to push the image away. It reminded me that I didn't know if he was okay.
"No," Ty said, her voice more urgent. "Not Liam, Aaron. Is Aaron okay?"
"What?"
"Please," she said. "Just tell me he's okay. Please?"
I saw Liam's teeth sink into Aaron's neck. I had stopped it. What would have happened if I hadn't? "He's okay," I said.
Ty exhaled, her body nearly collapsing with relief.
"Ty. What's going on here? Why are you concerned about Aaron? I mean, remember the whole psycho stalker killer werewolf thing? He kidnapped you."
"No, he didn't," Ty said, pushing herself up to her feet. "And he's not a psycho killer. If there's any psycho werewolves around here, it's the one you're dating."
"What?" Had I stepped into an alternate dimension? "Ty, how can you say that? Liam's done nothing but try to help you and find you. Aaron was the one..."
"He didn't kidnap me," she said with a snap. "I left with him. It was planned."
"What?" I couldn't believe this.
"I'm sorry, Charlotte. The whole idea was to get you away from Liam. We knew you'd come after me. We had planned on him sneaking off with me when we got to my house, but then there was the accident. It just worked."
My jaw dropped. "He killed the truck driver and you are okay with this?"
"What? God, no, Charlotte." Ty shook her head. "That wasn't him."
"Then who was it? We know it was a wolf."
She shrugged, giving me a look that went through me.
"Liam didn't do it. Don't even think that," I said.
"Was he at the scene?"
I refused to answer. My lips turned down.
"Why would you do this? You're supposed to be my best friend."
"I do care. Liam is using you. Aaron doesn't want to hurt you. He just wants you away from Liam. He doesn't love you, Charlotte. He only wants you because of your gift. It's all about his brother. It always has been. Liam has had this need to control Aaron since they were kids. He kicked him out of his own pack, his own twin brother. If Liam has you around, Liam gets ultimate control over him. He stays Alpha and Aaron never gets to come home. Liam is afraid of losing control to Aaron."
Aaron's words to me in the woods echoed in my head. Liam had said not to listen to him. "No, he's messing with you, Ty. Aaron's a killer."
"It was self-defense, Charlotte," Ty said. "Yeah, Liam nicely left that part out, didn't he?"
"Self-defense? The guy he killed was only seventeen!"
Ty fidgeted. "Okay, that was an accident. The real Liam was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Aaron said the two older hunters had been slaughtering animals for weeks. He said it was sick how they toyed with the poor animals, letting them die slow painful deaths. He got too close one night and they spotted him. They had their guns out before Aaron even knew what was happening. He took a couple of bullets in the hip, before his wolf's instincts of survival kicked in. It happened so fast and then they were dead, all of them, including the teenage boy."
"That was what he said, huh?" I didn't believe a word of it. Ty hadn't seen the venomous glare Aaron gave me in the woods. He was full of it. I knew it. "And just when did you have this enlightening conversation with the killer, Ty? Was this before or after he kidnapped you?"
A low rumble sounded from Ty's chest and her eyes narrowed. "The night I went home with the album, he followed me. Aaron went through the book and explained everything to me that night. He also wasn't the one in your room, Charlotte. He was with me."
"Oh great. So now what? You're dating the killer?"
"Fine," Ty said with a huff, crossing her arms. "I'm not talking to you anymore. You obviously don't care about my feelings."
"Don't care about your feelings? I just risked my life coming here because of you. All I cared about was trying to help you. How dare you."
"Yeah, but you're so closed minded you can't even see what's going on around you. Did you hear me when I said Aaron wasn't the one who broke into your room? He didn't kill the truck driver either."
"Yeah, well, it wasn't Liam either."
"Whatever, Charlotte," Ty said, rolling her eyes.
"I hate you."
I turned before she could see my tears. I just wanted to get out of there. I wanted to go home.
"It was all a lie? You were never kidnapped. No one was ever following you?"
A deafening silence filled the air. I nodded and started out of the room.
"Charlotte..." Ty said. "Please don't. I didn't mean to hurt you. Look, I thought I was helping."
"By lying?" I paused without turning around. "I thought you were hurt, Ty. I thought I was going to find you dead, just like the other people." I scrunched my face up, trying to stop the tears. It hurt. "You can go to hell."