But I didn’t deserve Tara, and she and I both knew it. I had nothing to offer.
Rain pelted us as Saul finally navigated the boat up to Eli’s dock. Cady was crying about the bullet, about hospitals—
“No hospitals,” Saul grunted.
“What?” I winced at the pitch of her voice.
I propped an arm under Eli, helping him off the boat with a smile. “Saul can get the bullet out just fine, miss Cady.”
That was the wrong thing to say. I waited impatiently in the sand, anxiety boring holes in my calm facade as Eli coaxed Cady toward the house.
He was about to tell her the truth, and she was not going to take it well.
How could she? What woman wouldn’t run screaming when she saw what we were?
I trudged to my brother’s house, leaving Eli to comfort his hysterical woman in private.
The front door flew open. Saul stomped out with a loaded shotgun. His voice was even, his posture relaxed, and to someone like Cady, he might seem like he was handling this well.
But the beast inside me could sense the one inside him.
Saul had a temper. I’d been on the receiving end of it too many times to count.
This was different. This version of him was a calculated predator. Methodical.
I studied my brother, his wet beard clinging to his neck. Hair unkempt, clothes old and ripped. What would happen to him if he had to kill Jacques’s new pack?
After he tried to kill his own blood.
I always resented him. It hadn’t occurred to me what a burden it was to be the firstborn.
I didn’t say any of that to him, my assessment interrupted by Eli and Cady stepping onto the porch.
I paced the kitchen, trying not to listen to my brother’s conversation. The scent of fear spilled through the cracks in the door.
How would Tara react if I told her?
Cady was pale and soaked when they stepped inside. A pair of handcuffs kept her arms at an awkward angle in front of her.
I searched around for tools in Eli’s kitchen, settling at the bar with her to work at the lock. Saul was back, using a pair of pliers to fish a bullet out of Eli’s chest.
I kept my breathing shallow, trying to ignore the lingering scent of fear and blood.
Cady was afraid of me. OfEli. He risked his life for her and she was terrified of him.
The worst part was that he would do it again. He had no regard for his own life anymore.
I didn’t know if I could live like that.
I had for the last three weeks. It was miserable. Unable to sleep. Constantly on edge.
How could my whole life shatter over someone I barely knew?
None of it made sense. I felt crazy. So, when Saul sent me to the next big town to buy supplies, I didn’t argue. I couldn’t.
My brothers would keep it locked down on the bayou.
I had to get out of there before I did something I would regret, like turn off the main road and drive straight to where I knew Tara was waking up with the sunrise.