"I have a wife and child. My mate is pregnant again, Aimee, and she's human. Am I supposed to give her up for a brother who won't even talk to me anymore?"
Maman came to her feet. She raked a cold, hostile glare over Vane. "This is all your fault. You wolves brought this down on me. Before you came, we had peace and now-"
"Us?" Vane growled. "My brother wouldn't have been involved in any of this had it not been for your daughter! I stand to lose my pack and my mate, and for what? A bear?"
Aimee stepped back as if she'd been slapped by those words.
Vane gave her a hard, cold stare. "You better find my brother and bring him to me."
"And if I can't?"
"You don't want an answer to that question, little bear. Trust me."
Aimee winced as she realized exactly what was going on here. Vane was going to betray Fang one last time, and he wanted her to be the tool to do it.
Aimee stood in her room, packing everything she had. Her clothes, her jewelry, her books. But unlike the rest of her family, she wasn't going into hiding.
She was going to find Fang and they were going to run away from this crap for once and for all. There was no way she was going to be a part of handing him over. He'd been through enough.
A light knock sounded on her door.
"Come in."
It was Dev. He had his hair pulled back into a ponytail and the sleeve of his T-shirt was pushed up, leaving his double bow and arrow tattoo extremely visible. Like him, she'd always found the tattoo funny-though she was sure it irked Artemis since he wasn't a Dark-Hunter.
He hesitated in the doorway, his eyes sad and worried. "Are you going to travel in the SUV with Quinn's mate?"
Becca was pregnant and couldn't travel by her powers.
"No. I'm not evacuating."
Dev shut the door and moved inside. His gaze went straight to her open suitcase. "What are you doing?"
"I'm leaving, but I'm not going with the others."
"Why?"
Aimee sighed as she folded another T-shirt and added it in. "I've endangered everyone. It's only fair I should go."
"Are you crazy?"
That was a matter of opinion and at the moment she probably was. Her mother would definitely say yes. "I should have gone with Fang when he asked me to. Now"-she winced at the memories of everything that had happened-"I've done so much damage here."
"How do you figure that?"
"I was the one who antagonized the jackals and caused them to attack us. It was me who's been on Stone's back all these years."
Dev scoffed. "I'm the one who locked his sorry ass in a cage and threatened him."
"No, I'm the catalyst. You know how unforgiving Maman is. I should go before she kills me herself."
Dev pulled the shirt out of her hands that she was packing and forced her to look up at him. "You are her only daughter. Gods, Aimee, you know how much we all still grieve for Bastien and Gilbert . . . don't make us grieve for you too. You are blood of my blood. For better, for worse, for war, for peace. You are the only little sister I have and I would die if I lost you. Maman and Papa even more so."
Tears blurred her vision at his uncharacteristic speech. "You're always so tough. There's nothing you can't handle."
"Not where you're concerned. Don't make me lose you, Aimee. I'm not that strong."
She pulled him into her arms and held him close. "I really hate you, Dev."