The Vow (Black Arrowhead #1) - Dannika Dark Page 0,78

with two brothers, I knew that behavior all too well.

There came a point of no return when I realized I needed to see it all the way to the end. Lakota had warned me to stay away from Tak, but I couldn’t just walk away if it meant saving a life. So I kept quiet and maintained a safe distance. If something went wrong, I was a fast runner and an excellent tree climber.

Sweat trickled down my face, so I rested behind a tree to catch my breath. When I peered around the trunk, Tak was no longer in sight.

Careful not to make too much noise, I quickly jogged ahead to catch up. My pace slowed when I neared a thicket of trees and heard voices just down the hill. I stealthily weaved around a tree and stood frozen when I caught sight of Tak.

A few feet in front of him stood a girl who looked to be in her teens. She gripped the ends of her green shorts, her arms stiff as Tak approached. I couldn’t hear anything they were saying, but he reached out and touched one of the dark curls on her head.

My throat dried up. I glanced around for something to use as a weapon, but all I could see were flimsy sticks the size of pencils. Tak held the satchel under his arm, and when he reached inside and slowly withdrew his hand, I readied myself to shift. My wolf could take care of business.

Probably. But panic set in when I remembered Tak was an alpha.

The girl shrieked and reached for something. A loaf of bread?

“What the—” I whispered.

What had first appeared to be bushes behind the girl was actually a makeshift shelter made of branches and leaves. A frail man stepped out and bowed to Tak, accepting everything given to him.

From my vantage point, it looked like tomatoes, canned fruit, okra, and other foods wrapped in plastic storage bags. The teenager held the bread to her nose and hurried back to the shelter, calling for someone. A toddler wearing nothing but a pair of dirty shorts crawled out and looked up at her. The girl tore off a piece of bread and handed it to him. My eyes welled with tears. They were homeless Shifters.

While rogues had gained a bad reputation in many communities, not all of them were criminals. Occasionally wolves or other social animals lived on their own for personal or financial reasons. Some were on the run from crazy families, others didn’t have the skills to survive in the real world, and some had been turned away from packs or other organized groups of animals.

Tak approached the shelter and gripped one of the branches, giving it a firm shake. While he talked to the man, I circled to the other side of the tree and sat down to rest. I felt like an ass for coming out all this way, and now I wasn’t sure if I was going to be able to find my way back. If Shikoba discovered I was spying on his son, he might forget about our deal.

After taking a short breather, I quietly stood up and brushed off the bottoms of my feet. My heart nearly shot out of my chest when a hand clamped around my mouth and a strong arm pinned me to the slender tree.

“Why are you following me?” Tak growled in my ear. “Did Lakota send you?”

I wrenched away, my hair falling askew. “How did you know I was here?”

He circled the tree and came into view. “I could smell you. Maybe you should think about a shower before your wedding,” he said with disdain.

“So this is what you sneak off to do in your spare time? Meanwhile, people are suspecting you of murder.”

“I think I know what people you speak of, and Lakota is not my people.” Tak turned his head away so only the tattooed side showed. “What I do is nobody’s business.”

Circling in front of him, I said, “People in town are saying you did it. Is this what you were doing the other night—bringing food up here?”

He answered with his silence.

“Why would you rather people think you’re a killer than a kindhearted man? This is your alibi.”

His eyes slanted down at me. “What outsiders think of me is of no consequence, especially if it’s not true. Stealing food from my own tribe is a punishable offense.”

“Shikoba will understand.”

He huffed out a laugh and brushed past me. “You don’t