I deliberately ignored her proprietary gesture and kept my face neutral, not sure why she resisted bearing his pack mark when she clearly wanted me to know they were together.
Connor frowned and pulled her hand off him, stepping sideways a little. Her eyes flicked to him but he was busy staring at me, which had heat flushing my neck.
“So how are you here? Where’ve you been hiding all these years?” she asked. “I know everyone at the academy thought you were dead after what happened to Lyss, and Rawson disappeared.”
Connor’s mouth tightened and his throat bobbed. My stomach tightened. Did he know something about what happened to Rawson? I hadn’t seen him in this prison despite searching gen pop and watching all the entrances to the other packs. True, I’d grieved for him over the past four years, but I had for Connor, too, so if Connor was alive, maybe Rawson was alive as well. That hope had started to dwindle, but maybe…
I glanced down at my tattoo, then shrugged and forced a smile. No way was I revealing what my life had become since I'd lost Connor, Lyss and Rawson. The life of a drug dealer in Faerie was nothing to be proud of and was dangerous to boot, but it had been a way to search for the elusive Walker and keep myself hidden from the SBI—until, of course, it wasn’t. It certainly wasn’t something I cared to share with Shannon. “I guess I got good at hiding, so your...I mean, so no one could find me, until someone ratted my boss out, that is.”
Connor’s spine straightened and his eyes became even more intense. “You should join a pack. It’s safer that way. Even my orders won’t protect everyone, and there will be a period of—readjustment for those who believe it their right to just take what they want.”
I tilted my head, my voice hard. “And whose fault is that? If you’d stopped this behaviour before, it wouldn’t be such an issue now.” I stepped closer and poked my index finger into his hard chest. Owen growled from behind me, but I wasn’t bothered by Connor’s beta. I’d already figured out he was an honorable man who wouldn’t hurt me unless I hurt Connor. Which I wasn’t going to do.
Shannon smirked and stepped further away from Connor as his wolf bled back into his eyes. I didn’t care. I was incensed that the boy I’d grown up with had turned into such a cold and callous being; one with no remorse for what he allowed to happen to people weaker than himself. “This situation is your fault as Prime. You should have controlled all the shifters in this place, not just those in your own pack. I get that life hasn’t been easy since you were imprisoned here; that you gave your wolf more power and control out of necessity. But my life hasn’t been a bed of roses since I lost Lyss and Rawson, either. Or you.” I jabbed my fingers into his hard chest again, wanting to touch him even if it was just that small contact. My eyes burned, but I blinked rapidly, refusing to let him see my tears. “I heard them shoot you, for the Mother’s sake! I believed you’d died, Connor, how do you think that felt? That day was the worst of my life, I lost you, Lyss and Rawson. Gods, I’ve seen enough death and depraved behaviours since that day, to last me a lifetime. But allowing the strong to overpower the weak for power and sex, is a low I never imagined you, of all people, would sink to.”
A snarl curled his top lip and he leaned forward until heat rolled from him across my skin. I swallowed hard, remembering the power I’d once felt in that body when I’d touched him, how sweet and warm his tongue had been as it traced my lips. His taste… I bit back a groan as memories assailed me.
“Oh, I’ve stooped to far worse than letting others fight their own battles, Firecracker. You have no idea what I’m capable of now.” His voice was a low growl, one that dripped with dominance and warning. His hot breath fanned my cheek and I shivered, my reaction to his closeness was something instinctive that I had no hope of stopping. My wolf surged forward and she peeked curiously out at this unfamiliar commanding presence. Connor had always affected