no idea what he’d been through, but she could tell it had been rough. Lacing her fingers through his, she waited him out. If he wanted to tell her, she was ready to listen.
“I don’t want to scare you,” he murmured, pulling out the phone to check it. “We’ll wait ten minutes and if he’s not awake by then, I’ll carry him back to the car.”
“And the other guy?” Zoe leaned into Liam, for comfort as much as warmth.
“Kai and Shane have the coordinates. They’ll take care of it.” Liam sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “Even though I’m grateful the universe chose you to be my mate, I wish it had waited. If I could have prevented you from having to go through all this crap, I would have.”
“I know.” And she did. Liam was a kind and caring person. He hurt when others hurt, and Zoe squeezed his hand. “You won’t scare me away.”
Liam unlaced their fingers so he could put his arm around her shoulders and hold her close. Zoe let herself press into him and breathe in that smell of his she loved so much.
“The decade before Kai was terrible. Alphas fought each other for dominance constantly and the change of leadership created instability and chaos. They were cruel and vicious. The way they ran the pack was worse than any gang. Nothing could keep them in check other than death.” Liam glanced at her, his eyes glowing that silver color like the moon.
Zoe nodded, encouraging him to continue.
“Noah and I are submissives in the world of shifter dominance. It’s a spectrum obviously, but we’re almost always the most submissive, though I think Sage might actually be a little bit more submissive than we are. It’s not a bad thing and it doesn’t affect our ability to fight or protect, but it does make it impossible for us to challenge an Alpha’s order, or to fight against a particularly strong command.”
A bad feeling started settling into the pit of her stomach and Zoe felt bile rise as she tried not to imagine what a cruel dominant could do to someone as sweet and kind as Liam and Noah.
“They used us a lot against the more dominant members like Shane and Alexander,” Liam admitted. “There was an entire year we were forced to live in a cage so that Shane wouldn’t kill this one Alpha we had. He’d managed to capture a raven shifter and it ended up biting us in the ass later, but…I’ll never forget what Shane gave up to keep us as safe as he could.”
Zoe bit her tongue so hard she tasted blood.
“Your eyes are glowing,” Liam teased, playfully nudging her.
She turned and stared at him like he was crazy. Searching his eyes, she found the pain there and realized he was trying to lighten the mood. “You said I was meaner than Olivia.”
“I did.” Liam’s teasing look turned cautious.
The human stirred and her attention shifted to him. “Don’t forget that, Liam. If I’m mean to the people I don’t care about, what do you think I could do to someone I hate?”
“I like murderous you,” he murmured, brushing his lips against her cheek. “That Alpha is very dead. Don’t worry. But I’ll let you protect me anytime you want.”
Suddenly the human lurched upward, and Liam caught him, arms wrapped around his torso to keep him from lashing out. Zoe was impressed with his reaction time, and grateful. She’d had to fight too many violent patients not to be prepared, but now this one had super strength.
“How are you feeling?” Zoe asked, flicking her flashlight on to check his pupils.
“What the fuck is going on?”
“You’re alive,” Liam reassured him. “You survived a werewolf bite.”
“Seriously? What the fuck?” The way he grabbed his head was something Zoe understood completely.
“You survived the bite because it healed you. You’re now a werewolf. Let’s go.” Zoe stood and held her hand out for him. “We’ll explain the rest once we get out of here.” She was cold and ready to get back.
Maybe Liam had been right. Doing this so soon after it had happened to her might have been a mistake.
“My friend?” He grabbed Zoe’s hand and let her pull him up, eyes glazed over as he tried to search for the other one.
Liam angled his body and pushed the man back the way they’d come. “He didn’t survive the bite. Come on, let’s get to the homestead. We’ll explain everything and prove to you