Was that why he'd never touched her? Thinking back, she remembered how he'd always been more respectful to his mother, sister and her than Dare had been. Always worried about them and their well-being. If they'd ever needed anything, he'd been there for them.
"Why did you bring me here?" she asked him.
He swallowed his food before he answered. "I want to know what that weapon is."
Everyone's attention focused on her and every hair on her body stood on full alert. They were poised to attack and she had a hard time controlling her panic.
"We've already had this discussion," she said between clenched teeth. "You can torture me all you want, but I will tell you nothing."
Vane laughed. "Katagaria don't torture . . . they kill."
Two of the older wolves stood up. "So we kill her?" they asked in unison without even a hint of emotion in their voices.
"No," Fury said. "I've given her my protection."
"Oh." The younger one who'd spoken picked up his plate and carried it into the kitchen.
Bride returned to the table and retook her chair.
One by one, all the men left except for Vane, Fury, Fang, and Trace.
"What happened to Zarek?" Fury asked.
Fang swirled his wine in his glass, something that struck her as very human. "He and Sasha are hunting down Dare."
"I hope they don't kill him before I do."
"He's your brother," Angelia reminded him.
Fury cut a harsh glare at her. "Let me explain something to you, babe. When Fang and Anya found out Vane was human, they protected him from our father. If he was wounded or sleeping, they'd take turns guarding his human form to make sure no one learned his secret. The instant Dare found out I was a wolf, he called out the patria to kill me. I think I should return that favor to him tenfold. At least he's a grown man, not an adolescent who had no real way to protect himself from the stronger, older warriors."
"He also has an unfair weapon. I think we should take it and . . ." Fang paused as he looked at Trace. "Put it someplace really uncomfortable."
Fury's gaze didn't leave hers. "I'd like to put it in the same place he wanted to drive that hot poker."
Angelia shook her head at his brutality. "All of you do realize that holding me here is an act of war."
Fury arched one brow. "How so?"
"You are wolves holding a patria member."
Vane snorted. "And I'm the Regis of your patria. Absent, true, but I am the head of the Kattalakis Arcadian Lykos. As such, you fall under my governance. To declare war on Fury and his Katagaria pack would require my edict, which I'd never give."
"So you condone his behavior?"
"For the first time in our relationship, and as scary as that thought is . . . yes. And as the Regis, I want to know what that weapon is that you used on the lion. Failure to give it to me will result in a trial and I think you know what the Katagaria council members will demand as punishment."
Her life. But not before she was brutalized. Whenever a Regis, especially one who ruled your particular patria requested something of you, you were compelled to give it.
Never had she hated that law more than at this moment. "We call it the Pulse."
Fury scowled. "What the hell is that?"
"It sends out small electrical charges. Not so much that it causes us to change back and forth, but rather it keeps us locked in our base form."
Bride sighed. "Like that collar you wear."
She nodded. "Only the pulse is permanent."
Fang shook his head. "It can't be. If it works on electrical impulses, it has to have a battery."
"It uses body chemicals to keep it charged."
Vane looked ill at the thought of it. "Can it be pulled out?"
"It's too small to be seen. There's no entry wound and no way to find it once it's inside a body."
Fang nodded. "That's what Carson said, too."
Bride grimaced in distaste. "Who would invent such a thing?"
"A Panther in the year 3062," Angelia said with a sigh. "He's now selling them to the highest bidders."
"Why?" Vane asked. "We don't need money like that."
Fury pinned him with an angry glare. "You're thinking like one of us, Vane. The Panther's Arcadian. Think human for a minute. Greed is their god."
Angelia was beginning to understand the differences herself.
Vane looked at Fury. "You should take her to the Lion at Sanctuary. Let her meet his mate who can no longer communicate with him. Or better yet, let her meet his children who will never know how much their father loves them. Never hear the sound of his voice as he tells them how proud he is. Or warns them of danger. Good job, really. I couldn't be prouder of your brutality."
Angelia refused to be intimidated by him. She knew better. "Animals don't do that."
Fury choked on his food before he pinned her with a vicious glare. "Yeah. I never said anything like that to you, did I?" He stood up and wiped his mouth. "You know what? I'm sick of looking at you. I remember a girl who used to be capable of caring about others. One who gave people the benefit of the doubt before she attacked them. But obviously she died. I want you out of here before you finish destroying what few good memories I have of that girl." He jerked the collar off her neck, then left the room.
Stunned, Angelia sat there, unable to believe what had just happened.
She was free . . .
"Uncle Furry?" Trace looked up at his mother. "Why is Furry mad, Mommy?"
"His feelings were hurt, baby. He'll be all right."
Vane met Angelia's baffled gaze. "You're free to leave. And I should warn you, the lions are out for blood. The guy you nailed . . . his brother is Paris Sabastienne, and you killed their youngest brother. While as a rule animals aren't big on vengeance, they are big on protecting their family. You've attacked them without provocation and they intend to slaughter all of you when they find you to keep you from doing this to any more members of their pride. You are their prey. Good luck."
Angelia swallowed in panic. "But I didn't shoot him."
Fang shrugged nonchalantly. "They're animals. They don't care who pulled the trigger. They're hunting by scent, and yours was all over Jake. Have a good life, cupcake, at least for the next few hours."
Angelia drew a shaky breath at his morbid forecast. As much as she hated it, she knew he was right. She wouldn't get far and there really was nothing she could do. She'd been a part of this. Willingly.
There was no way to change the past. Any more than she could keep the lions from killing her. They wouldn't listen to reason and honestly, if that had been done to someone she loved, she wouldn't be forgiving, either.
This was what she deserved for her part in Dare's brilliant plan. She would fight, but she wouldn't run. It wasn't in her. If this was her fate, then she would meet it with dignity.
Yet she didn't want to die without at least saying she was sorry to one person.
Excusing herself, she flashed from the table, up to Fury's room.
What she found there stunned her most of all.
Fury stood in front of the dresser holding the small medallion she'd given him when he'd reached puberty at twenty-seven.
"What's this for?" he'd asked her when she'd handed it over to him.
"You're a man now, Fury. You should have something to mark the occasion."
It hadn't been expensive or even particularly nice. Just a small circle with an X on it. Yet he'd kept it all these centuries.
Even after she'd betrayed him.
Balling it in his fist, he looked at her. "Why are you here?"
She wasn't sure really. No, that wasn't true, she knew exactly why she'd come. "I couldn't leave without telling you something."
He rolled off his retort in a dry, brittle tone. "You hate me. I suck. I'm an animal unfit to breathe the same air." He dropped the necklace back into the top drawer and closed it. "I know the tirade. I've heard it my entire life. So go away."