Moon Claimed (Werewolf Dens #2) - Kelly St. Clare Page 0,56
is what you really are. A pathetic liar.”
I stood, clinging to my depleting calm with everything I had. “I’ve wanted to tell you so many times. Sascha and I had already completed the capture meet when Herc found us. He had a gun. Without me saying anything, he knew what was going on. Maybe he’d already suspected. Why else have the gun? And he tried to shoot Sascha, too, even knowing what it would do to me.”
The words rocked me. It was the first time I’d blamed Herc for what might have happened.
She rolled her eyes. “And what would happen?”
“Break me, apparently. Sascha will die if I’m killed. That’s why another Luther is after me now. He thinks Sascha’s connection to a human mate shows he’s too weak to rule the pack. Rhona, you have to believe that you’re the person I love most in the world. I can see how upset and angry you are. I understand that coming back from this could be impossible. Either way, I’m glad you know the truth. It’s nothing less than you deserve. I don’t think you’re stupid or irrational. I just didn’t know how to tell you.”
“Bet getting all that off your chest will help you sleep at night.” The cruel words slipped from her clenched teeth.
I absorbed the blow. “Do you have any more questions?”
She laughed—a harsh noise that would give me no shortage of nightmares. I’d never heard such a devoid sound except for the mournful echoes of my own heart.
“I know enough now to make a decision I should have made the moment Dad’s will was read.” Rhona’s face twisted.
My growing fingernails dug into my palms. I spun from Rhona in case my eyes darkened. “Don’t let this come between us. Please be smarter than me. You have a right to be angry and to hate me. But, in part, I lied to protect you.”
“Get out.”
I couldn’t leave things like this.
My fangs pierced my gums and told me I was mistaken. Shifting into a wolf would be the straw on the camel’s back. “Rhona—”
She screamed, “Get out!”
“I’m not leaving you,” I lisped with the slight protrusion of my bulging incisors. “When you’ve had some time. When you have more questions. Or when you need me. I’ll be here. I love you, Rhona. Always.”
Her voice lost the whip-like edge.
In its place was a dark voice I’d never heard from a human mouth.
“You’re no daughter of my father’s. You are no Thana. I reject you as head steward. The stewards may accept you for now, but you have no dominion over me any longer. You are no sister of mine.”
Her words struck at the very oldest of my wounds and the most acute of my new fears. I gasped as my fangs surged.
“Get out,” she whispered.
Eyes blurring and hands over my mouth, I stumbled from Herc’s office.
15
I walked into the manor at dawn, waiting for the stewards to chase me out with pitchforks.
Rhona had all night to spread the sorry truth.
This was my mistake, my fuck up, and I’d come to face the music. Closure. Something no one had given me in my life. People deserved the chance to rant and rave and be furious.
But dread filled me.
The entranceway was empty of Tiptoe Eleanor, and I ducked through the kitchen to look out the window, scanning the training pavilions crammed with stewards.
Well, they were still focused on winning. That was good.
I should leave everything in order for Rhona in the office.
“Morning, Andie,” Roderick said cheerfully.
Jerking, I glanced at him. “Oh, hey… How are you this morning?”
“I feel better than most. Not much of a drinker. Are you ready to capitalise on the win? Everyone is itching for a fourth grid.”
He didn’t know. That much was obvious. “Uh. Absolutely ready. I’ll see you guys at eight.”
What the hell was going on?
Grabbing an apple, I walked to the office in a daze.
In Herc’s office, not a single book remained on the mahogany shelves. I’d seen Rhona sweep the desk clear, but she’d upturned the chairs and torn the curtains from their rails after I left.
I’d made her lose control to that degree. Just like Herc destroying her pride, I’d destroyed what was left of her. And from personal experience, I knew losing control to her temper would leave Rhona feeling like shit.
Closing the door, I set to work putting things to right. I could do that much. Maybe after, the way to setting things right with Rhona would be clearer.