Page 1 of Wicked Fate

CHAPTERONE

The ground shook underneath my feet, or at least, it felt like it did. The first time I’d trusted a vampire, andthishappened.

Betrayal.

An actual knife to the back would have been preferable to the sting that ached throughout my body and soul.

It reminded me of how I’d felt the day that Reid rejected me.

Still in my wolf form, I scanned the area, noticing that Cassi, Ryker, Briar, Kendric, Xander, and Gage shared varying expressions of disgust, and then glared at Raven as the words she’d spoken moments ago repeated in my head—I can explain.

If I weren’t so shocked, I’d have been laughing at her audacity.

She’d better explain why vampires had slaughtered Ryker’s and my packs and caused countless other deaths.

No.

Fuck that. That wasn’t strong enough.

Hellno.

There wasn’tanyexplanation that could justify their actions.

My attention was diverted to the dead vampire that had just been uncloaked at our feet. The Blackwood witch, Cassi, was still leaning over him. This was the first time we’d seen who the enemy attacking us was, and the irony wasn’t lost on me that he was the only thing between us and Raven.

The scab on my heart ripped wide open, and the grief I’d been trying to avoid coursed through me. My blood began to boil, and the warmth I’d been feeling from the invisible barrier within me seemed to vanish, leaving me even more raw.

Ryker edged closer to my side, his hand grazing my fur. The familiar buzz sprang to life between us, easing a little of the anger and grief. Even so, neither of us could tear our gaze away from the threat in front of us.

Raven’s long, dark hair framed her face and hit her shoulders, emphasizing her pale skin in the twilight. She looked ghostly instead of vampire pale, which seemed fitting, because these vampires had found a way to cloak themselves and hide in the shadows like ghosts.

Tugging on his dark locs, Kendric narrowed his milky brown eyes. "Explain what, Raven? That you’ve known about the attacks and have been lying to us this whole time?"

Her cognac eyes widened, and her crimson lips parted, but no sound came out.

Shehadknown this entiretime. Though I understood this, the logic didn’t make sense to my brain. She’d been attacked, like us. She’d been injured. She’d bled alongside us, and the vampires had shown up at the Shae pack lands and saved us from the attackers.

"We thought you were one of us.” Gage’s shaggy, dirty blond hair fell into his darker-than-normal sparkling blue eyes. "Was it all a game to you? Messing with us and my boy’s heart?"

"I wasn’t...it’s not what you think," Raven stammered.

Ryker’s fists clenched tight enough that his knuckles blanched. The golden flecks in his eyes vanished as the sheen that showed the witch’s magic taking hold glimmered, and the buzz of our connection ebbed. He gritted out, "Then tell us what it is."

Raven hesitated, searching our faces for something I suspected she would never find here—understanding, or forgiveness. Her attention landed on Kendric, no doubt hoping their romantic relationship would push him to protect her.

She should’ve known better.

After everything we’d been through, did she really think any of us would be on her side?

Frankly, her silence was answer enough.

Her shoulders finally sagged. "I protected you all too." Her voice was strained, almost broken.

A bitter laugh escaped me, sharp and humorless. It channeled all my rage and hurt and felt like sandpaper against my throat and, of course, sounded like I was coughing up a hairball in wolf form.

Briar’s head whipped around, her light copper hair swinging and her jade-green eyes widening as they met mine. Her brows furrowed like she was seeing me for the first time.

I must have come across as unhinged, which made me laugh harder. My ribs shook hard, and the laughter had the injuries on my legs and sides throbbing so hard the pain soon stole my breath. Worse, my fur felt weighted down with congealing blood, but at least that meant I was healing. The strange warm presence inside me that I’d been experiencing ever since my parents’ deaths pulsed through my body in time with the vibrations of the invisible barrier around us.

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