This Dark Wolf (Soul Bitten Shifter #1) - Everly Frost Page 0,120

so that my father willingly steps aside.”

He stares at the discarded picture of Ella that dropped to the floor when he grabbed me, and I know which choice Cody is going to make.

Oh, Ella.

I can’t kill Baxter because of her and neither can Cody.

Unable to stay, I rush from her room.

I have to find Tristan. We need to leave. I can’t go through with killing Baxter Griffin and the longer we stay here, the more danger we’re in.

I won’t breathe easily until we leave this place behind.

Chapter Thirty-Two

I race down the stairs, relieved that Ford Vanguard is nowhere to be seen. Ignoring the thumping music from the other side of the house, I hurry back into the dining room, scanning the crowd for Tristan.

Baxter Griffin has returned, standing at the bar, his sharp gaze boring into me as I hover in the doorway.

With a surge of relief, I spot Tristan standing in the alcove I left behind. He’s leaning against the wall at the back corner, his shoulders hunched, setting down an empty shot glass onto the little table in front of him as I hurry toward him.

Trying not to cause a disturbance, I dart between guests to reach his side, grateful that the tables nearest to us are empty. “We need to leave—”

“No.” Tristan’s free hand clamps around my arm, shockingly tight, making me freeze.

His fierce eyes meet mine, his eyebrows drawn down, his mouth set in a hard line. A threatening growl hums in his throat. “We’re not leaving.”

I tug against his hold, suddenly wary of his anger. “Tristan, we need to go—”

I wince as he yanks me up against his chest, his hands gripping my waist so hard that it hurts.

He snarls. “Your emotions are wide open to me, Tessa. You know what happened to Ella. You know I can’t protect you or give you a future.”

Forcing myself to breathe, to remain in control, I dare to slip my arms around his chest, my hands sliding up his back, slow and gentle, willing him to accept the embrace, even though he remains tense in my arms.

“We will have a future,” I say. “We’ll protect your pack. Together. We just need to find another way.”

His chest rises and falls against mine, increasingly rapid, thrumming with growls.

“It’s impossible,” he says, grabbing both of my arms to push me away from himself. “Deceiver, coward, killer. As long as the three-headed wolf exists, you won’t be safe. Nobody is. It has to end tonight. I can’t ask you to kill him. I know that now.”

“Tristan.” My heart is a rapid hammer in my chest. “I don’t understand what you’re talking about.”

Tristan said that his father was a deceiver, a coward, and a killer, but his father is already dead. I don’t understand why he would reference his father in the same breath as the three-headed wolf, as if they are the same creature. “Please. Let’s go.”

“Please?” Tristan’s voice is sharp. His gaze flicks past me—the quickest glance—to someone behind me. It’s the same frighteningly clear assessment that he gave my father before my father was killed.

I shudder as I remember Helen’s warning that Tristan has an unparalleled ability to perceive and neutralize threats. Cody also said Tristan is smarter than anyone knows.

Tristan inhales deeply, a moment of silence that feels like the second before thunder breaks. His mouth whispers across my forehead, the lightest kiss. Startlingly gentle.

“Don’t ever beg, Tessa,” he whispers. “Command. Order. Cajole. Rage. But never beg. My pack will need an alpha. They’re your responsibility now.”

My eyes widen. What is he saying—?

Before I can respond, he sets me aside so fast that I’m catching my breath as he strides from the alcove.

With a roar that echoes through the room, he lifts the nearest empty table and flips it, sending it spinning and crashing against the surrounding empty tables, knocking into them so hard that they slide across the room. Glasses shatter as they fall and silver table ornaments crash and roll across the floor.

The room freezes before it erupts. Shifters leap out of the way of the crashing tables. Some of them race toward Tristan. His fist darts out, knocking out the first man, sending the second sprawling, all while he rips off his jacket and tie and tears through his shirt.

While the shouting guests stream out, guards stream in, lining the room and pointing their guns at Tristan.

On the far side of the room, Charlotte suddenly appears in the doorway, along with Cody’s brother, Cameron, but Baxter