Page 69 of Fractured Mates
Jules, though? She’s just a child.
She’s a year older than you were when we left, my wolf reminds me.
I know, but she looks so much more innocent than I felt all those years ago.
A message comes through, and I immediately click on it.
Unknown: Who else has to die for your stupidity, Sophie?
Me: You. You will die.
The phone gets slammed on the bed, and I’m up searching for my clothes. I’m done waiting. I won’t let Jules get further hurt by the idiocy of our parents.
I find the rest of what I need to dress and head to the bathroom to clean up. In no time at all, I’m covered by a wrinkled, black T-shirt and dark-blue jeans with my socks on, but I still need to find my boots. First, though, I take a peek in the mirror.
My long brunette hair is a tangled mess, but that’s easily tamed with my fingers. My normally light-green eyes are closer to emerald thanks to my heightened emotions, darkening from the outside toward the center. I’ve killed dozens of times before, and today, I will kill for my family, even if that’s only my sister now.
Just as I tie my hair back into a ponytail, Kyler walks into the cabin, his proud voice echoing through the small space. “Snagged two rabbits.”
“They’re going to have to wait,” I tell him, stepping out of the bathroom. “We’re getting my sister. Now.”
He drops the dead animals on the floor and is standing in front of me, hands on my shoulders. “What happened?”
Instead of using my words, I show him the picture, giving him a moment to see what I already have. The rumble that builds in his chest tells me I’m not overreacting.
“Who sent that to you?” he asks, his grip on my shoulders getting tighter as I tuck my phone back into my pocket.
“I assume Astor, but it was an unknown number,” I answer, moving past him toward our bags, where I’m pretty sure the hunting items he bought before are stashed.
“We need to call River,” he says, not seeming to understand my urgency.
I don’t reply, because it doesn’t matter what River says. I’m not waiting.
“Sophie.” Kyler’s voice is low and much closer than I expect.
When I still don’t say anything, he grabs my waist and turns me until I’m looking at him. “You have a picture. Nothing else. We need to know where your sister is before we go in there. We’re outnumbered. Don’t waste this chance to save her.”
I open my mouth to yell at him, but my wolf stops me.
He makes a point, she says. We will only get one chance, and as much as you may hate the idea, we need help. Help that Kyler’s people can provide.
Motherfucking hell.
“Two hours,” I say between gritted teeth, then I shove my phone at him. “Call whoever you need to and tell them, stolen wolves or not, I’m going in there tonight to get my sister and to kill that son of a bitch.”
His hand slowly moves up my face, cupping my cheeks. “I promise you won’t regret this.”
“I better not, or a hell of a lot more people are going to be dead before tomorrow morning.”
That’s one promise I know I can keep, and from the way Kyler nods at me and his mouth flattens, he knows it too.
It’s been one hour and fifty-six minutes. Kyler is pacing in front of the unlit fireplace, and I’m sitting on the couch, my foot tapping on the hardwood floor as I watch the clock on the wall.
“He’s going to call back,” Kyler tells me, having more faith in River than I do.
Not that I think he’s incapable of doing his job, but I don’t know that he’s had enough time to become close enough to Astor within the window I’ve given him.
Yes, I’m aware that waiting could yield less casualties, but that’s not what my brain is capable of focusing on right now. I need blood. I need retribution. I need to save my sister. That is all that matters to me, so until I have those things, reasonable thoughts are taking a back seat.