Page 79 of Ruthless Moon
“I’m the alpha!” Aiden growls.
“Not mine. Not yet.”
“I’m doing this with her,” Bast says, stepping beside me and raking his fingers through his hair. “I’m not losing another brother.”
The two men who drove Eleanor and me to the coven stand at the far end of the table, their expressions unreadable. Alice, Rachel, and Lila remain equally silent, their eyes wide—waiting.
“You spent the last few hours almost catatonic. What if something happens? Then Oliver gets all of you.”
I meet his concern with a low growl, my gaze steady on his. I’ve already considered the possibility, but I’m willing to die for Liam and I know he’d do the same for me. “If you lose us, does it change how you fight this war?”
His response is a single, staggering step back, his eyes wide with disbelief. Like I slapped him with the raw, brutal truth.
I don’t stop. This is my way in.
“This war is happening. If my father takes us during the rescue, you have to run. You have to leave us and protect your pack and the coven.” I say the words bravely, knowing if my father manages to keep me and Liam and Bast, his torture will be pure hell until he grows bored and kills us all. The thought terrifies and frees me at the same time.
“Fuck!” Aiden’s roar fills the room, his eyes flashing bright gold. “You can’t expect me to leave any of you.”
With a sharp intake of breath, I straighten and cross my arms over my chest. “But that’s exactly what you have to do. If we don’t make it out of that house. That’s it. You cut your losses. You figure out alliances. You fight dirty. You do whatever it takes to beat my family. But you don’t come back for us.”
My gaze swings back to Bast. “If something happens, you leave me and get out of that house too, do you understand me?”
Bast starts to argue, but I cut him off. “You leave me.” The finality in my voice seals the vow. “Do not give my father another inch of leverage.”
After a tense moment, he nods slowly.
The afternoon sun cuts through the thick canopy, casting splotches of light and shadow on the forest floor. Our small group moves like ghosts among the trees, every one of us aware of the threats that lurk ahead.
Tension, dread, and a hint of grim excitement crackle in the air. My father’s house steadily grows closer. It’s the five of us—Bast, Aiden, me, and two other enforcers introduced as Nolan and Cormac. Eleanor has stayed back with Alice, Rachel, and Lila inside the coven.
Aiden’s hand cuts through the air, directing Bast to the left. A second hand signal, curt and silent, tells me to remain frozen in my spot. I obey, heart pounding in my chest as Aiden and Bast stalk the guard perched atop the hill. He’s right where I warned them he’d be.
Within moments, the man is knocked unconscious, gagged, and tied to a gnarled tree trunk.
We regroup and press on, our formation threading through the dense undergrowth, following the familiar turns of the deer path I’ve frequented countless times after sneaking out of the house.
The window I’ve identified looms into view.
Aiden nods.
Nolan and Cormac widen to flank the entire hill, their movements sly and predatory as they prepare to serve as distractions if needed.
Bast and I drop to all fours, crawling up the slope toward the window. We dart from one stone alcove to another, carefully moving from tree to tree that perfectly hides us from the cameras watching from the house.
To the others behind us, we probably look like lunatics, but I explained how the path worked before we got here and Bast agreed to let me lead.
In a ballet of predatory stealth, we reach the window minutes later. I pick up the piece of wire hanger from where it lies innocuously on the ground and poke through a tiny hole in the frame of the window until the latch moves into the unlocked position.
“Fuck me—” Bast’s whisper is part shock, part admiration.
I turn and look at him and nod. “I drilled the hole one night when most of the house was gone and the rest were drunk.”
He tugs the window. It yields willingly, winging open to welcome us.
I slip through the opening first and take a moment to listen to the quiet hum of the house. No boots pounding. No shouts of alarm. I’d hoped never to be inside this house again, especially not the basement, but for Liam I’d do anything. Even face my demons in the belly of this house.
Satisfied no one’s coming, I signal Bast to follow.