“Which means thatCarter’swidow is the bride ofSatan!”Anotherone concluded.
Shit.Thiswas bad—really bad.Ihadn’t realized how superstitious these people were, thoughIguessedIshouldn’t be surprised sinceBlackridgewas located in the foothills of theAppalachians—out in “the back of beyond” asI’dheard some locals put it.
“Enough!”Harrisshouted, raising his hands and the crowd quieted at once.Also, not a good sign—he already had them completely under his control,Ithought.Eventhe owner of the grocery store—the olderAlphawho had been so friendly to me when he asked me to move the crates in his stockroom—was glaring atVivienneand me with stern disapproval.
“Now, we all agree that these two arewickedthrough and through,”Harrisshouted, causing the crowd to nod and murmured agreement.“SoIsay, let them punish each other!”
“How do we do that,PackLeader?”someone shouted.
“Why, by letting the cleansing light of theMoonGoddesswork her will on them,”Harrissaid.Hepointed at me.“Gethim out there in the middle of theGladeand take off the silver chains.Doit now—before the moon comes up!”
I glared at him.
“So you’re going to punish me by letting myBeastout?Ihave to tell you,Harris, that’s not to smart.MyBeastwill go right for you.”
Harris’s smile turned downright evil.
“Oh,I’msure he would…if he didn’t have something—or someone—much more interesting to distract him.”Hepointed atVivienne.“Puther out there with him!Besure they’re both tied before so they can’t get away!”
At lastIsaw what he was doing and horror surged through me.
“No!”Ishouted, my voice breaking as four of the biggestAlphasbegan dragging me out into the middle of theMoonGlade.“No, please—don’t do this!Youcan’t do this!”
They were draggingViviennetoo, the two of them pulling her roughly behind me, making me want to kill them for touching her.
But in a minute when the moon rose, myBeastwould come out and he would do more than touch her—muchmore.
I felt a sick, sinking sensation somewhere in my midsection as the part of me that couldn’t be reasoned with raised its head and roared.TheBeastsensed that something was coming, and he could smellVivienne’ssweet scent.Harriswas right—he would be drawn to her and would completely ignore anyone else as long as she was around.
Goddess no—please!Ibegged silently.Iswore never to hurt her—Iswore to keep them apart and neverShiftwhere theBeastcould see her!Please, let us find a way out of this!
But there was no answer…only the silvery light of the full moon as it began to rise over the horizon and touch the trees with silver.
We were trapped—or rather,Viviennewas trapped—and there was no wayIcould save her.Iwas about to break every promiseI’dever made to her and thoughIwould rather die than hurt her, pain was coming on the horizon as surely as the moon was rising in the sky.
There was no way out.
FORTY-NINE
VIVIENNE
TheAlphasdumped us into the middle of theMoonGladeand scurried back to the shelter of the trees.First, though, they unwound the yards of silver chain they’d draped aroundKorand pulled it off him.Theywere wearing thick gloves to keep from touching it themselves,Isaw—silver weakens aWere, even a strong one likeKor.
Speaking ofKor, there was a haunted look on his face—a look like a man who sees his own death coming and can’t get away.
“Vivienne, listen to me,” he said hoarsely, as he lay on his side.“Turnaround and let me see ifIcan get your hands free.Thenyou can untie your ankles and run.”
“I don’t see how we can do that before the moonlight hits us,”Isaid.Iwas feeling numb by now—Iwas more than half convinced this was just a very vivid nightmare.
“Don’t talk, just do it!”he snapped.“Getover here, now!”
His hands were bound in front of him but mine were behind my back.Idid my best to scoot towards him and then turned over, pressing my hands to his.Ifelt him working, the rough, abrasive fibers scratching my wrists.Andas he worked, he talked.
“Listen to me,” he said in a low voice, his breath hot on my ear.“Whenyou get free of all these ropes, walk away into the woods.Walk,don’trun—do you understand?Runningwill only attract myBeast’sattention.Youneed to move slowly to get away from him.”
“ButIcan’t just leave you here,”Iprotested.“IfIget away, they’ll kill you for sure!”
“I don’t care about that—do you hear me?”he demanded.“I’drather let them kill me than hurt you—than let myBeasthave you!”