Rabid (Kingdom of Wolves #6) - Ivy Asher Page 0,124

thoughts as I take in the alpha. They look exactly the same in every way, same blue-gray eyes, same round face, same color and style to their hair. I know it’s not Hess solely because the scent is different, barely, but enough to confirm that I’m looking at a genetic replica and not my mother’s best friend.

Unabashedly, I stare at the unknown male, only able to see his brother, and it sends a pang of misery and regret through me.

Does he hate me? Does he know I’m the reason his brother is dead?

“Thank you for answering our call, Kier,” Tyran offers in place of a greeting.

“The pleasure is mine, Tyran. When I heard Twin Rivers was the target, I wouldn’t have missed it for the world. My brother has been trying to leave the pack for years, and it’s high time I help make that happen.”

Tyran smiles, but there’s nothing kind or warm about it. It’s the smile of a savage beast when it knows it has cornered prey. But horror catapults through me at Kier’s words, and I stare wide-eyed at the alpha.

Oh God, Kier doesn’t know.

Tyran’s head snaps to me as my feelings rush through him. He puts his back to the visiting envoy, and two wolves step between the groups, guarding their alpha’s back as Tyran dips down until our eyes are level, his gaze burning to understand the panic and anguish now crashing through me.

“Vicious, talk to me,” he murmurs, reaching out to hold me as though he’s trying to anchor me and bring me back to the here and now.

“He’s dead,” I whisper, my voice hollow and worried.

“Who, Vicious?” he asks, clearly confused, but I look around him and fix my gaze on Kier.

My throat tightens, but I swallow past it, dismissing the sadness that I don’t have time to focus on right now. I don’t know what he’ll do when I tell him the truth. Maybe he’ll still help us, his mission turning to one of revenge instead of rescue, but I have to tell him what Burke did to his brother.

“Hess is dead,” I call out hollowly, squaring my shoulders and readying myself for what will probably be a violent reaction. However, instead of rage or agony crumpling the alpha’s face, he suddenly looks as confused as Tyran does.

Keir shakes his head, and my heart breaks a little at the gesture of denial. “No...my brother’s alive,” he replies slowly. I open my mouth to contradict his words, but he keeps going. “He’s currently locked up in the Twin Rivers pack cells, but I assure you, he’s still breathing.”

Now it’s my turn to shake my head, the gesture a rejection of his statement. “Burke beat him to force me to go through with the Flux. I saw it with my own eyes,” I explain, hating that I’m the one who has to tell him this. It’s bad enough that what happened was my fault. But now I have to shatter Hess’s brother as badly as knowing me shattered Hess in the end. “I was trying to run, to get away, but Burke caught me and he… he killed Hess. He told me himself when he left me here,” I explain, my eyes bleeding sorrow, my heart aching.

Kier looks at me more intensely, as though he’s trying to figure out what’s going on. I watch as something dawns in his eyes, and he takes a step closer, making the Ruin Falls wolves standing between us growl in warning. The Plummet Lake alpha raises his hands in apology and steps back before settling his stare back on me.

“You’re Seneca? Seneca Rain?” he asks. His tone is perplexed, as though he’s expecting me to say yes, but there’s just a hint of doubt that maybe he’s got this wrong.

“Yes,” I answer simply, guilt weighing down my shoulders as Kier makes the connection.

Surprisingly, the alpha’s eyes warm slightly. “Hess told me about you and your mom. I didn’t realize you were here.”

“This is where Burke dumped me after...” I trail off, not wanting to get into it, but I gesture to my eyes, and the males surrounding Kier fidget and go taut as though just the gesture was a threat against their alpha.

“Well, that piece of shit lied to you,” Kier declares, not an ounce of doubt in his words and his tone brooking no room for argument. “Hess is hurt, but he’s alive. I would know if that weren’t the case,” he tells me, his fist bouncing