Page 35 of Deception

When her tears ran dry, she rubbed the last demons out of her eyes and tipped her head back to the sun. A new day. A new start. She could begin her life all over again. With Drew.

The morning air smelled fresh and hopeful, as if spring was hiding right around the corner ready to jump out and cry,Surprise!As if every flower in the desert was about to burst out in bloom. A hummingbird zoomed by in a flash of green and gold, and somewhere in the distance, a mourning dove cooed.

She sighed and closed her eyes again. Peace. What a priceless thing. Peace outside and peace within.

She was so lost in weary relief that she didn’t immediately react to the sound of shoes scuffing the earth nearby.

“Bitch.” A voice cut the still air like a knife. “What are you smiling about?”

Chapter Nine

Summer jolted, but it was too late. One strong hand pinned her arms, and another slapped over her mouth. The overpowering scent of chewing tobacco flooded her nose.

Mett. Holy shit. Mett.

“I’ll give you something to smile about, bitch.” He half dragged, half pushed her away from the barn.

“Hurry up,” someone else grunted.

Footfalls sounded all around her. Shit, Mett wasn’t alone.

As he hustled her onward, she caught fleeting glimpses of the hate-filled faces of Gretchen’s sons. Gretchen’s not-too-bright, bloodthirsty sons. They hadn’t been among those expressing their regret at the meeting, that was for sure.

She tried digging her heels into the ground, but they just skidded along. Mett was too strong, and she was too worn out. He’d caught her at that sagging moment after weeks of forcing herself to be strong, and suddenly, she couldn’t find an ounce of energy any more.

You have to,a voice hissed at the back of her mind.You have to if you want to survive.

She bit the hand he held over her mouth, but he just slapped her.

“Traitor.” Mett dug his nails into her arms, and she cried out. “Whore. Don’t make it worse for yourself.”

Right, worse. What could possibly make this worse?

He forced her down the steep slope of a ravine then around one bend after another, moving out of sight and earshot of the settlement. Then he screeched to a halt and thrust her forward.

She stumbled, righted herself, then froze. There was Gretchen, right in front of her.

Yeah, that was worse, all right.

Gretchen slapped her so hard, Summer’s vision blurred. Something warm and sticky trickled over her chin. Blood. Gretchen had drawn blood, which immediately excited her sons.

“Show her. Show the bitch,” one of them sneered.

Gretchen backhanded her a second later, and just as Summer’s head rolled back to center, Gretchen slapped her once more.

The world blurred and wobbled around her, and Summer caught glimpses of more men. Was she seeing double, or had more arrived? She blinked her vision back into focus, and shit. The numbers of Mett’s gang had doubled. There were at least a dozen there now, all wearing hateful expressions that said they couldn’t wait to punish her. Brutally. Mercilessly.

“We worked so hard for so long,” Gretchen said, and the men nodded. “Working for the good of all shifters.”

The men murmured in agreement. “Purity. Purity.”

Summer’s stomach turned. She’d heard it all before. She’d seen the same crazed expressions on Emmett Whyte and his gang before they set off on their last ambush.

“You think we’ll let you ruin all that?” Gretchen glared. “You think we’ll let some outsider tell us what to do?”

By outsider, Gretchen meant Thomas, and there it was again — the scent of a conspiracy. Gretchen had some plan for getting rid of Thomas. Maybe not immediately, but soon. That much was evident in the old woman’s eyes. Gretchen would play along with Thomas while he rode his initial wave of triumph, but when the other wolf packs left and Thomas turned his back, Gretchen would strike.

“We are the true,” Gretchen shouted, and the men all cheered. “We will never give up our mission. And someday, shifters of all species will revere us for keeping the bloodlines strong and pure.”

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