Page 17 of Wicked Fate

“You were racing Fate,” Reid muttered, voice filled with contempt. “You actually believed you could outpace her?”

“I just wanted…” Cassi whispered.

“Don’t you fucking say you wanted to give back to the Blackwoods again.” A muscle in Ryker’s back twitched. “If you say that again, I won’t hold myself back.”

I had to agree with him there. She’d done so much damage. My wolf was trying to take control, but my newer warm magic pulsed once more, holding her back. “You made me doubt myself. My instincts. My heart.”

“And me,” Reid added bitterly. “You made me doubt everything I felt for Sun. Like maybe I was betraying some higher plan by choosing her over Ember.”

Cassi folded in on herself, shrinking under the weight of every word. “I know.”

The silence that followed was deafening.

Even though I wanted to dwell and release more anger, we couldn’t keep circling the same pain. Not with the dead still unburied and the vampires hiding in the shadows.

I sucked in a shaky breath. “Why were you in our territory that night, Reid?” My voice cut through the quiet, rough and raw.

Reid blinked like I’d yanked him back to the present. “I was coming to apologize.”

My chest hollowed, and Ryker took my hand once again. As soon as his skin touched mine, some of the anger eased.

“After the way everything happened, I couldn’t explain anything to you that night,” he continued, his words slower now, like his injury was catching up to him again. “My parents were horrified by what I’d done, and I couldn’t ignore the pull of Sun. I felt guilty about all of it.”

“Because of thatbitch,” Sun bared her teeth and glared at Cassi.

“Dad—” Reid’s voice faltered. His chest shook with a sob he had to be holding in. “We were coming to talk with you and your father. It was late, but we agreed, the longer we waited, the worse the situation would be. When we crossed the edge of our property near yours, we caught a scent—faint, but definitely wolf shifter. Not ours or yours. Dad and I called for more of our pack because something didn’t sit right with me, and that’s when we heard the howl.”

My spine stiffened. I didn’t need to hear anything else. My throat tightened, and my breathing turned ragged.

“That’s enough.” Ryker pulled me to his side and placed an arm around my waist. “She doesn’t need to relive it.”

“Yes.” I lifted my chin, knowing we had to have this discussion. We needed to know everything we could. “I do.”

I bit my lip. Briar’s emotions intensified, adding to my own, breaking through and reminding me that I was being selfish. I’d been so focused on my own trauma that I hadn’t been paying attention to her well-being. What a shitty sister and alpha I was turning out to be. “If Briar is okay with it.” This conversation would be just as hard on her.

“I’ll be okay.” Briar moved to my side, taking my other hand. “Please continue.”

My chest squeezed more, but this time from comfort. I had the two people I loved most holding my hands and standing at my side.

Reid’s fingers curled over the sheets. “Like I said, we heard a howl. Long, agonized, and laced with warning. It was meant to alert anyone within range that something was wrong.”

Inhaling sharply, Briar squeezed my hand harder as her pain merged with mine.

“We raced toward the sound and onto your pack lands.”

My mouth parted, but no sound came out. I hadn’t expected this. Everything I’d thought I understood unraveled, making me question all of it. “But I saw you lunge at Rosa.”

“Ember, we didn’t attack your pack.” Reid’s jaw clenched, guilt flashing behind his darkening eyes. “We couldn’t see the attackers—it was wild and scary. The only way we could help was to wait for someone to be attacked and try to defend the area where it seemed the attacker would have to be.”

I wanted to fall apart and curl up on the ground, but I couldn’t do that. Not now.

“Like we had to do when we were shooting guns during the last attack.” Kendric pursed his lips.

“Exactly.” Sweat beaded on Reid’s forehead. “That was the problem. The vampires were only targeting your pack. I didn’t realize why until tonight. I rejected you, claimed something was wrong with you, and our pack scent was all over the place where the Sinclairs all lay murdered. Theywantedpeople to think we were responsible. But we only engaged when we had no other option.”

Just like that, everything made sense.

I thought back to every snap of teeth, every scream, every body that hit the ground. My grief had warped my vision. My rage had turned Reid into the villain, like the vampires wanted.

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