“You called for help for your mother,” I pleaded. “You knew what he was doing to her was wrong.”
“No, I didn’t. He said I wasn’t really his, and he was going to kill me, so I just wanted to get out of the house until he wasn’t mad any more. The police found me, and they found out where I lived, and they went there and took my daddy away. Those bastards. Those bastards. Those bastards.” He was getting angrier and angrier, his eyes bulging out of his head.
Bess was sobbing so hard that her body was convulsing, and my heart broke for her. Loyal, kind Bess who’d been in love with Corwin since the first day she’d laid eyes on him. She’d been so happy when I told her about those love poems. She’d been even happier when her pack said she could marry him.
Suddenly, the forest was filled with the sound of snarling wolves. Max. I could scent Max. He’d come for me. Dozens of wolves were running towards us.
Corwin spun around frantically, raising the knife high. “Get away from us! She’s mine! You can’t have her, she’s mine, mine-urkkk-” his enraged scream ended on a gurgle, as a giant gray wolf leaped through the air and ripped his throat out.
With Corwin lying in the grass, blood bubbling from his throat, they shifted back to human form. One of the wolves was female. I gasped in shock. It was the woman who’d been in the picture with Max.
Chapter Fourteen
Max grabbed the knife that had fallen from Corwin’s grasp, and used it to slice the ropes off me. He pulled me to my feet. I fell against him, and he held me upright. My knees felt like jello.
His men freed Bess and helped her to her feet. “You came for me,” I said.
“Of course I came for you. Ever since Kray attacked you I’ve had guards watching you from a distance. They saw you run off with him, and they found those pictures that you dropped. I can explain.”
“Yes, please do. Who is she? I saw pictures of you with her! Corwin said you were having sex with her in the woods!” I said angrily.
“I most certainly was not having sex with him!” The blonde said indignantly. “I’m engaged!”
“Corwin also was apparently batshit crazy, so you might want to take what he told you with a grain of salt,” Max pointed out.
“Fair enough,” I grumbled. “But you were sneaking off to meet her, and you tried to hide that fact from me. Look at it from my perspective. Imagine I’m sneaking off to meet a hot guy, and taking his phone calls, and refusing to let you listen to the calls.”
As I said that, Max’s fur rippled and fangs thrust down. He clenched his fists, which had suddenly sprouted hair, and took a deep breath to steady himself.
“See?” I snapped. “You almost went wolf just from thinking about it.”
He nodded. “All right. I never actually lied, but I didn’t tell you everything. I couldn’t. Before I met you, I made a promise to that woman. No, don’t look at me like that, it’s not what you think. She’s Camille’s cousin, she’s a friend of mine from high school, and she really is engaged. I promised her I would help her save her cousin and help take down Kray, and I also promised her I wouldn’t tell anyone except Cody. There’s ears everywhere, Josephine. It was vital that Kray not know.”
I saw a couple of vans rumbling down the dirt road, kicking up clouds of dust as they came. “They’ll give us a ride back to the compound. I want you and your friend checked out at our clinic,” he said. “Let’s get her looked at, and then I’ll explain.”
Max sat next to me, and I sat next to Bess as we drove back, holding her hand. She stared off into the distance, her face puffy and swollen, her expression daze.
“He hated me so much,” she whispered.
“Bess, he had me fooled, he had everyone fooled,” I said. “He was obviously just as crazy as his father. I’m really, really sorry that happened. The important thing is you’re still alive, and you will heal, and some day you’ll find someone who isn’t….ahhh…”
“A psycho who wants to kill me so he can kidnap my best friend?” Her voice was hoarse.
“Yeah. That,” I agreed. “That’s definitely what you’re looking for next time.”
She managed a smile through puffy, split lips. I hated Corwin so much at that moment that I wished I could bring him back to life just so I could kill him again, myself.
When we got to the clinic, I was surprised to see a dozen women and another dozen children, crowded into the waiting room. Many of them bore visible bruises. Some of the women had marks on their wrists as if they’d been exchanged. And several of them bore a strong family resemblance to Camille. Shifters in scrubs were hovering over them, taking vital signs, cleaning cuts.