Purity (30 page)

“She told me that he killed the ones who hurt your parents,” I said softly. “She made it sound like he murdered anyone who hurt Lia in some way.”

He nodded. “But the others let it happen. Enabled Vin. They have blood on their hands, too.”

“Don’t hurt them. Most of them are human, and they’re all terrified. It’s not their fault.” I hesitated. “Except there’s a skinhead called Dar who I wouldn’t mind having terrified into submission.”

He tensed and grunted noncommittally, but when I looked at his eyes, they were the same beautiful brown I knew and loved.

“My point is that the strongest wolves are all gone now. You won’t have to fight to the death. There are too many humans, too many people forced to be there. I know it’s hard to see them as anything other than the enemy, but if you stay calm, you’ll see what I mean.”

He laughed softly. “Stay calm? This is what I’m always going to be, Perdita. The anger is part of the package. There are some parts of me that I can’t change, no matter how much I want to.”

“I know,” I whispered, holding on to him tighter. “I can handle it. I get it, but I also know you’re a better wolf than Vin.”

His pain showed in his eyes. He kissed me, and we kept going in silence.

We found Dad quickly, and when he saw me hobbling, he hurried over to us, despite limping himself. “What happened?”

“I’m fine. I fell over like a child is all,” I said. “Dad… I mean…”

“Don’t worry about anything right now,” he said. “Nathan, the other kids are in the jeep. Ryan and your sister went back in.”

Nathan nodded. “Get them all out of here. We’ll find our own way home.”

“Good luck,” Dad said, shaking Nathan’s hand. “And thank you.”

Nathan grabbed my hand and squeezed, making sure I was looking at him. “I love you,” he said in a firm voice, more for Dad’s benefit than mine, and then he was gone.

“I didn’t hear that,” Dad said.

“Dad, about everything…”

“I love you, Perdy, and you’re safe. That’s all that matters.” He hugged me. “They’ve told me everything. I’m so sorry you’ve had to deal with all of this on your own.”

Tears came to my eyes. He didn’t hate me. He knew, and he didn’t hate me. The relief made me stumble, but Dad caught me.

“Let’s get you home,” he said, his voice hoarse with emotion.

I climbed into the jeep with Dad’s help, but I winced constantly at the pain in my ankle. Inside, Meg squealed when she caught sight of me, but Micah was pale.

“Dad scared him,” Rachel said, and she gave me a real smile for the first time.

“I can imagine,” I said. “Don’t worry, Micah. If he didn’t bite you, you’re probably okay.”

Meg giggled and reached forward to squeeze my shoulder, as excited to be free as I was. But it wasn’t over yet. We still needed our werewolves to get home.

Dad drove us back to our house. He strapped up my ankle before leaving messages for somebody to call off some search party. He evaded our questions until we had all cleaned up and eaten. We were to tell the police we knew nothing, that we had been dumped on the road, found a phone, and rang my dad to come get us. He hadn’t been able to wait for police help.

He left the others in the living room while he waited in the hallway for the police to arrive. I followed, leaning against the wall to limp after him.

“This is going to be bad, right?” I said.

“Probably, but we have you back. That’s all that matters.”

“I’m sorry, Daddy,” I whispered.

He glanced at me and shook his head. “I can’t believe you’ve been going through all of this.” He moved to hug me, holding me tight.

“You don’t blame me?”

“You? No, not you. I could happily blame it all on your boyfriend’s family, but I suppose I can’t even do that now that they’ve brought you back to me.”

Tears brimmed in my eyes. “I can’t believe you know everything now. That you believed it all. That you don’t hate me. I was so afraid this would be too much to deal with.”

“You’re my daughter. It doesn’t matter what happens. Nothing can change the fact I love you. I’m responsible for you, and I wish I had been there for you. I wish I had known the truth all along. Maybe everything would have been different.”

“I didn’t mean to hurt him, Dad. I swear I didn’t mean to. I was just trying to stop him from killing another one of Nathan’s grandparents. Lia was already dead, and Jakob was dying. He wanted to kill me and Amelia. He was…”

“I know,” he said. “They told me. You must have been terrified.” The blackness in his eyes shone through, that lingering trace of werewolf that sent his emotions into overload.

“I wanted to tell, but they wouldn’t let me. They said nobody would believe me. There wasn’t even a body. I didn’t know what to do, and I’ve been so… I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it. I can’t get it out of my head.”

“That’s normal, but I’m going to help you get through it. We can get through anything as a family, right?”

I nodded, the sense of relief dizzying. Since Dad knew, somehow I felt sure I would be okay. “Think Nathan will be safe out there?”

He sighed. “I think he’s very determined to get back to you, whether I like it or not. He’ll be fine.”

We stood there for a while, and at least one part of my life felt healed.

“Prepare yourselves,” he warned the others as the police finally arrived at the house, but I could never prepare myself for the sheer number of questions they had.

“And they just left you there?” one garda asked with disbelief. “Mr. Rivers, you didn’t call us? You let them wash away possible
evidence
?”

Dad got some lectures about that, but by the end, everyone seemed relieved that it was all over. When Gran returned, I saw wariness in her eyes, and I wondered what had been going on while I was gone.

“Are you okay?” she asked, looking me over. “I’m so… this has been a nightmare.”

“I’m fine,” I said. “Just glad to be home.”

For a second, she stared at me, but then she hugged me as hard as Dad had.

But I kept thinking of Nathan, back with the other wolves, and wondered if it was all just beginning.

Nathan

I raced back through the trees, part of me automatically relaxing since I knew Perdita was safe, part of me still anxious because my family was likely fighting without me.

Finding Perdita had been easy once we headed in the right direction. Ryan had been close enough to track where they were hiding out, thanks to my sister. Before we arrived, I had caught Perdita’s scent and followed it in a panic. The other scents were Ryan’s daughters and a werewolf who helped them. I knew that now, but at the time, I had assumed Perdita was being moved to a new hiding place. I couldn’t believe she had escaped, and seeing her injured had made wolf roar in my head, but she seemed fine, and her dad had her heading back to safety.

Unsure of what was happening, I sped up when I heard a familiar howl. Rushing through the undergrowth, I caught sounds on the wind. My stomach turned as I realised the fight wasn’t over. The werewolves were defending their territory, but at least we had what we wanted.

I came upon the camp, ready for war, and I saw… mostly ordinary people. I understood then what Perdita had meant. Werewolves circled Byron and Jeremy, but there weren’t as many as I feared. Ryan and Amelia were there, too. I joined them, darting after the circling wolves in a bid to even the score.

I smelled Perdita on a dark brown werewolf, and he was the one I attacked first. He was larger than Jeremy, and I didn’t care that he would probably destroy me—he had touched Perdita. Maybe he had been the wolf who clutched her throat. Maybe he was the Dar she had mentioned. He had to pay the price.

He was so startled by my attack that I drew the first blood, my teeth tearing his shoulder open, revealing raw flesh. He recovered quickly, jumping for my throat after finding space between us to retreat a little. A wolf like him did better when able to use his strength, but I was fast enough to get out of his way, snapping at his flank as he struggled to turn in time. I was on him before he could find me again, on his back, my teeth sinking into his skin with a ripping sound that was extremely satisfying.

I shook him as hard as I could, and he attempted to roll me off, but I clung to him, tasting his blood, feeling him weaken. Finally, he gave up, showing me his throat in a bid for mercy. I let go at his submission and sniffed at him, growling. I touched his throat with my teeth, pulling back before I broke the skin. I kept my eyes on him, and he looked away. Just the way he was supposed to. I began to understand why Jeremy was so addicted to the power that came from dominating another wolf.

A yelp caught my attention. I glanced around. Byron stood over three wolves, snarling an alpha warning. Even
I
wanted to sit down and shut up at the sight of him.

Jeremy pinned a wolf down by the throat, while Amelia sat still, staring at two werewolves who lay at her feet, her teeth only slightly bared. She turned her head, and I realised there was blood on her mouth and blood matting the fur on the throat of the largest wolf. She had been fighting. My heart sped up at the idea of my little sister fighting a werewolf that size, but it had obviously turned out okay in the end.

Ryan was having trouble. The werewolves apparently saw him as a traitor, and a number of them circled him, trying to get their taste of his blood.

I growled harshly at the wolf before me, then raced over to help Ryan. He barked at me, and we both attacked at the same time. The werewolves hadn’t even noticed me, so intent were they on hurting Ryan. One by one, we pinned the wolves. One by one, they succumbed. Some refused to give up until Byron appeared, dominating them completely.

We didn’t have to kill to win. That wasn’t the way. Too many of the wolves were low-ranking and too cowed to battle us. There weren’t enough dominant wolves. They couldn’t win alone, and their pack was too disjointed to work together.

An hour later, Byron stood in front of a crowd of people, wearing only a pair of trousers that were far too long for him. Many of the people were humans of a variety of ages. They mostly seemed terrified. Some were angry because they had watched us keep their loved ones pinned to the ground. But even so, they had provided us with ill-fitting clothes so we could speak to them.

 
Vin and Opa were still missing, and Jeremy headed out to search for them. Ryan helped Byron figure out who he could trust, who was bloodthirsty, and who had been pressured into running with Vin. Amelia flitted through the werewolves, subtly calming anyone who needed it. Eventually, they noticed, and word quickly spread via rumours.

Ryan pulled me aside. “Any sign of that wolf? Malachai?”

I shook my head. “Vin probably dealt with him already.”

He nodded, unsatisfied, but I had probably spoken the truth. Ryan returned to Byron’s side, thankfully leaving me be. I had my own wolf to search for.

I scanned the crowd, looking for a skinhead. The one I spotted was large, and his eyes kept turning black when he gazed upon my family. I had fought him already. He was covered in blood. But it was his human side that Perdita knew.

“You Dar?” I asked, closing in on him.

He glared at me, but he didn’t make a move, didn’t utter a word.

“That’s Darius,” an old woman said. “One of Vin’s favourites.”

“You put your hands on her, didn’t you?” I whispered, my entire body shaking. “You hurt her.”

He showed me his teeth in an aggressive grin, and I punched him in the face, unable to stop myself.

“Enough,” Byron said, hauling me off Darius.

I couldn’t even remember jumping on him. “I owed him one from Perdita,” I said, but my spine stopped twitching as Darius cowered on the ground, blood spurting from his nose. The old woman who had named him nodded at me, a small smile curving her lips. Apparently, Darius had only been popular with Vin.

“Leave him,” Byron said, laying an arm around my shoulder to gently guide me away. “He’ll be punished the right way.” Byron had been hurt, a horrible seeping wound on his chest.

“You need to get that looked at,” I muttered under my breath.

“After,” he said. “After we sort out what we’re going to do here.