Archie's eyebrows all but lifted off his head when I told him of my plan. "I can't say I would have imagined something like you suggest," he said. "However, if the new Alpha of the Blackwater is in agreement, then I am certainly keen on going through with this plan of yours."
I sighed in relief. "Thank you," I said gratefully.
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Finn, the new Alpha of the Blackwater pack, arrived in Reading two days later. He looked like a man who could snap a tree in two as easily as snapping a twig, and I decided to tread very carefully. "So, what's this I hear about you wanting to take those rogues away?" he demanded, folding his arms and glaring at me.
I bowed my head respectfully. "I wish for them to have a new start," I said. "And they're still my pack, even though there are so few of them left. I don't want them to feel adrift or left out of things."
Finn raised an eyebrow. "You know," he said, "I could instead have you taken back to Penzance," he said. "You don't belong here."
I gritted my teeth, reminding myself I was talking to a man who might snap me in two if I wasn't careful. "My half-sister is here," I said - though in truth I had no idea where she was living, or even if she was still alive. "I want to be near her."
"You turned your back on her," Finn said coldly. "You have no right to call her family."
"I had no choice, Alpha," I said as respectfully as I could manage. "If I hadn't done it, she would be dead, or worse, a slave to Simon's depravities. I know she'd understand, and do the same thing if she were in my place."
Finn shook his head. "You're a fool," he said. "She's not even in Reading."
I blinked. "I beg your pardon?"
"I said, she's not in Reading," Finn said, speaking to me as if I was a person of low intellect. "She and her escort were killed before they could reach the border with Berkshire."
I stared at him, feeling as if all the breath had been driven from my lungs. My little sister was dead. The little sister who would have been Beta to my Alpha when I took over from Dad - was dead. The little sister who had owned me the day of her first shifting, who'd proven she was as dirty a fighter as more senior members of the pack - was dead. "You're lying," I whispered. "Alpha Archie would have told me."
Finn chuckled. "Alpha Archie has no clue," he said. "He thinks she's alive and safe somewhere. He's got no idea she's lying buried somewhere in the wilds around Stonehenge. And no, girl, I'm not lying. In fact, I was there that day. I watched her throat get torn out, and I watched her as she was torn to pieces where she lay. And the same thing happend to her escort. It's a pity. Brayden would have made a good Beta, even an Alpha, if he felt so inclined."
He stood. "Now, enough foolishness. You're coming home with me. You don't belong here. You belong in Penzance, and by all the gods, you will stay there."
I backed away. "No," I said, eyes wide with horror. "You can't make me go anywhere."
Finn growled low in his throat, reminding me I still didn't have my link with Kira restored. Neverthless, I was ready to fight him with every dirty trick I'd learned from James. As if he'd read my mind, Finn chuckled. "Oh, yes. Your wolf. I suppose Alpha Archie didn't tell you the truth about that either? Well, let me be the first to congratulate you. Your wolf is dead, and you had no idea. Here, let me show you."
Before I could move or run away, he seized my head in his hands, and I screamed. Pain blanked my senses, and by the time I could see again, I realised he was telling the truth.
My next scream dwarfed every other sound I had made before then.
But I had no chance to turn that into a scream for help; a large hand was placed over my nose and mouth, cutting off my air, and through the ringing in my ears, I felt despair that I wouldn't see Samuel be brought to trial. Nor could I tell Archie the truth about Doreah - if what Finn had said about her was true.
But in any case, it didn't matter, and it wasn't long before I passed out, darkness snuffing out all my senses. 135Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpLF2xE9Oar
