I thought about it and finally nodded. “Yeah. I don’t see why not.”
“Family means nothing to you?”
I rolled my eyes, wishing there were fewer traffic lights on the way to the ranch. “My family doesn’t work with a dirty, corrupt organization like Nero.”
“Nothing is as black or white as you’d like to think.”
“They sent killers to my territory and murdered a Pack brother and our Alpha all in an attempt to kidnap a civilian woman. Then they hired a psychotic bounty hunter to take out one of their own.” I glanced over at him. “Did you know they also fund schools for the gifted so they can steal little girls with psychic gifts for a jaguar-shifter breeding program?” I got my answer by the look on his face. “They’ve got a lot more cooking in their facility than government defense contracts, General, so excuse me for disagreeing, but deciding they’re dishonest, evil sons of bitches doesn’t seem like much of a gray area to me.”
He kept quiet for the remainder of the drive. When I parked in Adam’s driveway he broke the silence.
“I appreciate the opportunity to try to talk my soldier down. I’m sorry we didn’t get a better outcome.”
I nodded and got out. The general came around and offered his hand. I gave him a firm handshake. “Do us a favor and stay away from Reno.”
I walked away before he could respond.
…
Inside the house, I found my brother with a stack of clean towels. He glanced around me. “Is the general gone?”
“Yeah. I recommended he never come back.”
In spite of the stress, Adam started to smile. “Sounds good to me.” He sobered. “I’ve got to get these to Jason.”
I followed him into their spare room. Sasha was propped up on one bed, intent on watching Nadya in the other. Even being scraped, bruised, and shot, Sasha was still the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen.
I was sure she was in pain, but she didn’t show it. All of her attention was on her sister.
Jason took the towels and went back to work on cleaning Nadya’s wound. Her skin was pale and glistening with perspiration. But she was alive.
I settled on the edge of Sasha’s bed and took her hand, half expecting her to smack me. But instead she gripped it. Tight. We sat like that for over an hour until Jason straightened up and wiped his brow.
“I gave her a sedative. Once she regains consciousness, I’ll be able to run more tests and assess her conversion.” He looked at Sasha. “I wish I had better news for you, but I don’t want to give you false hope. Until I get more test results, I don’t know how to counteract the gene mutation Fonthill passed on through the bite.” His voice dropped a notch, almost a growl. “But I damned well plan on finding a way.”
“I appreciate all you’re doing for us,” Sasha whispered.
He leaned over to check her bandages and straightened up. “I left Aren’s crutches at the end of your bed if you need to get up tonight, but you should really try to stay in bed, okay?”
Sasha nodded.
After the room cleared, I lifted Sasha’s hand toward my lips, but she pulled it away.
“I can’t do this with you right now.” Her eyes were on Nadya.
I frowned. “Do what with me?”
Her gaze cut up to my face. “Break up.”
Chapter Fifty-Four
Sasha
My injured leg hurt, but the pain in my heart overshadowed any physical aches.
“Break up?” Aren’s brow furrowed as he shook his head. “This was just a mistake. I don’t even get to explain?”
“This is about more than a lie, Aren.” I swallowed the lump of emotion threatening to steal my voice. If I kept staring into the forest of his green eyes, I’d fall apart. I gestured toward Nadya, motionless on the other bed. “My sister is infected with some kind of werewolf mutation because of me. I knew we were rushing into that plan. My gut told me not to dangle my sister out like a carrot, but I wanted to get Fonthill and move on with my life. I let you convince me that we could have a future together, and I wanted it so badly that I was willing to risk my sister.” My voice cracked, and I clenched my jaw. “I can’t talk about this right now.”
He sat on the edge of the bed and took my hand. My whole body ached for his touch. Part of me wanted him to hold me and tell me everything would be all right.
When did I get so weak?
“I love you, Sash. I’m sorry this didn’t turn out the way we planned, and I’m an ass for lying about Malcolm and Madeleine. When you asked me about them at first, I felt like it was Adam’s secret to share, not mine. They’re his kids. I know it’s a stupid excuse, but it’s the truth. And I should have come clean, but everything happened so fast that I didn’t get a chance.”
He kissed my hand, and it was all I could do to keep the tears in my eyes from rolling down my cheeks.
“We can still have a life together,” he said. “Let me help you and Nadya. We’re a team.”
“No,” I interrupted, shaking my head. “You don’t get it. You talk a good game about how I need to trust you and let the past go, but it was all talk. I trusted you and your Pack with my sister’s life and look where that got her? And the joke is on me because in the end you never trusted me.”
He got up from the bed. “I do trust you.” He sighed. “Can you at least look at me?”
I pressed my lips together, fighting to stay strong, and slowly tilted my chin up to meet his eyes. “I know you want to work this out, but trust isn’t negotiable.”
“I had every intention of keeping your sister safe. This isn’t your fault or my fault. A crazed madman threw all our plans out the window. I never meant for this to happen, and you know I planned on telling you about the twins.”
“When?” I felt a spark of rage erupt in my belly, and I clung to it with both hands, anything to escape the pain and heartache. “When exactly were you going to decide I’d proven myself worthy to know your Pack secrets?”
“That’s not what I meant and you know it.”
“Do I?” I raised a brow. “Because you like to say we’re a team, but in the end I bared my soul to you, and in return, you lied to me because you thought I might not be on the same team after all.”
He stood up, eyes narrowed. “Don’t put words in my mouth. I never believed you were spying for Nero.”
“Then why lie about the twins?” He hesitated, and I clenched my fists. “That’s what I thought. Just go.”
Aren reached for the door but stopped and turned around. “I love you, Sasha. I’m sorry I made a mistake, but I’m going to make them sometimes. I’m not perfect.” He lowered his voice and added, “But at least I’m not throwing away our relationship now that we have a real chance to make it work. You can blame me for this, but at the end of the day, you’re the one who was afraid to take a chance.”
He slammed the door behind him as my pillow went flying.
Chapter Fifty-Five
Aren
My hands were shaking, my body numb as I stormed through Adam’s house. I needed fresh air and time to digest what had just happened.
Leaning against the railing of Adam’s deck I stared up at the stars like I might find some answers hidden up there. My apology hadn’t gone the way I planned. In my head, Sasha was supposed to understand and forgive me, we’d kiss, and later we’d laugh about it.
But according to her, there wasn’t going to be a later.
I rubbed my chest, wishing I could soothe the gut-wrenching pain growing there, like she’d taken a hot stake and jammed it between my ribs. The burning radiated out until I could hardly breathe.