Lies.
It hurt worse than the damn gunshot. Against my better judgment, I got mixed up with another man, and this time my poor judgment left my sister with a death sentence. Tears stung my eyes, but I blinked them back. Tears wouldn’t fix any of this.
“Looks like the bullet has an exit wound,” Jason muttered.
“That’s good, right?” I winced as he cleaned out the hole.
He shrugged. “It means I won’t have to dig a bullet out of you, but I don’t like how much blood you’re losing. It might have nicked an artery or chipped your bone. We need to get you back to the ranch so I can check it out with better light.”
Jason looked over at Aren. “I’ll carry Nadya if you can help Sasha back to the cars. When we get them to Adam’s I’ll be able to set up a treatment plan for their injuries.”
Nadya’s skin was pale, but her muscles had finally relaxed. Other than the bulky bandage on her shoulder, she looked like she could’ve been sleeping.
“She’ll be all right, won’t she?” I whispered to no one in particular.
Jason scooped Nadya up into his arms. “We’ll take good care of her.”
He carried my sister back toward the parking lot, leaving Aren and me behind in awkward silence. He reached around my waist to help me to my feet. “Can you stand?”
“I think so.” I bit my lip to keep from screaming, but I made it to my feet.
“I could carry you.”
I shook my head. “I think your ankle is unhappy enough as it is.”
“Fuck my ankle. It’s you I’m worried about.”
I couldn’t look into his eyes. How could I have been so stupid? He painted a bright future in front of me, and I sacrificed my own sister to try to reach it. What the hell was wrong with me? I bared my soul to Aren, shared things about myself and my family that I’d never told another person, and in return he never trusted me with the truth.
What else had he lied about? One lie only led to more. Apparently I hadn’t learned anything from my relationship with Sebastian. I shivered, wrapped tight in my blanket of self-loathing.
“I’m fine.” I leaned into Aren, hot flashes of pain licking through my leg with every step.
I should’ve pulled away and taken care of myself, but Aren’s body still felt like home, a rock in a storm. He kept his arm tight around my waist, holding me up as we both hobbled toward the cars.
At the gate, he stopped. “I had every intention of telling you about the twins. I should have told you sooner. I’m sorry.”
“Me too.” I still didn’t look at him. His fingers brushed my chin, but I shook him off. “Don’t.”
“At least let me explain.”
“No.” I grabbed the fence and slipped through the opening. “Trust me. I get it.”
Before he could say anything else I called over to Jason. “Got a crutch in there?”
The doctor rushed over, helping me. I got inside with Nadya as Aren stood, stoic, watching the van.
Jason turned around from the front seat. “Be sure to keep her head elevated, and let me know if she starts to seize again.”
I nodded, but my attention was focused through the back window.
There was Aren, shirtless in the center of the parking lot, his eyes locked on mine as we drove away. I watched until I couldn’t see him any longer.
With a sigh, I dropped my head, looking down at my sister’s sleeping face. Her life was going to be cut short because of me. In the back of the van, I finally let myself cry.
Chapter Fifty-Three
Aren
Someone clasped my shoulder, and I spun around ready for an attack only to find Gareth, raising his hands. “Easy, dude.”
“Sorry.” I shook my head. “Still a little tense, I guess.”
Gareth nodded. “We all are.” He watched the van disappearing in the distance. “Jason’s going to be able to help Nadya, right?”
“Hope so.” The truth was none of us knew, least of all me. All I knew for sure was that I’d convinced Sasha we could protect her sister, and now they were both injured. Most likely, Nadya would never recover fully. Even with her psychic abilities, the flawed DNA would eventually ruin her like it had Fonthill.
The worry for Sasha’s sister was only part of the rabid guilt eating away at my insides. Seeing the betrayal in my mate’s eyes and knowing it was because of me made me want to scream and turn back time. I’d fucked up and hurt with the woman I loved.
After being with that lying sack of shit Sebastian, she must’ve thought I wasn’t much better. I didn’t mean for it to happen. I’d wanted to tell her, but it was never the right time.
Goddamn excuses. Was that the best I could do? That would only piss Sasha off more.
“Jared and I will meet you at the ranch,” Gareth said, interrupting my mental beat down. “Can you drive Miller back?”
I’d forgotten all about the general. “Yeah.” I looked at the cars and frowned. “We’ll have to come back for the Lotus. Sasha still has the keys.”
“I can push it out into the street just in case the police come poking around.” Gareth tipped his head toward Jared. “We’ll bring you back for it before morning.”
“All right.” I walked toward the Lexus, grinding my teeth together and struggling not to limp. Before I got the key in the ignition, the passenger door opened and Miller got in.
He fastened his seat belt and then turned toward me. “I should have been able to stop him. I was the Alpha of the Lycan Squad. We even built in hypnotic protocols with each solider. When I gave him a mental push, he should have obeyed.”
“A lot of things should have gone differently tonight.” I pulled out of the parking lot, not knowing what else to say. This was my father’s brother, but I didn’t know anything about him. He stood by and let his werewolf soldiers be mutated into madmen.
I didn’t understand him, and I wasn’t sure I wanted to.
I pressed the accelerator, ignoring the ache creeping up my leg.
“It never should have been like this.” He stared out the window. “The research seemed promising.”
“You don’t have to explain yourself, okay?” I glanced at the rearview mirror and back to the highway. “I’m taking you to the ranch, and you can get back in that Hummer and pretend like we never met.”
He was silent, and for a second I thought maybe I’d shut him down.
“I’ve scheduled a debriefing meeting at Nero regarding Fonthill and the Lycan Squad. I want to know why they hired him for a mission when they knew the other soldiers had…not made it.” He spoke with so much authority that for a moment, I almost thought I gave a shit about what he was planning to do in the future. “I’m also going to request full disclosure on the attack that killed Malcolm.”
My eyes shifted toward him for a second. “Good luck with that.”
I could feel him staring at me, but I didn’t give him the satisfaction of looking his way again.
“I did love my brother. We didn’t always see eye to eye, but I never stopped caring about him.” He cleared his throat. “I thought eventually we’d get together and put the past behind us.”
“He must not have felt the same way. He never mentioned you.” I kept my gaze straight ahead.
“I don’t know. Maybe he was waiting for me to make the first move.”
I took the freeway exit a little too fast. “Maybe he was worried you would.”
I saw the general raise a brow out of the corner of my eye. “Malcolm wasn’t hiding from me. I’ve always known he and the others formed their own Pack in Reno.”
“I’m not going to argue about the past with you.” I waited at the light. “I’ve got enough on my plate as it is.”
“You want me to get in my government vehicle and never look back again.”