Page 94 of To Hunt A Wolf
Better to leave some of the mystery alive.
Wrapping the sheet like a makeshift dress, I tuck the ends together and then stand ready for whoever Thiago has summoned.
Kari steps into the open doorway, and I forget all about the sheet or trying to hide my vulnerability.
She’s here. Alive.
That’s all that matters.
“Kari,” I breathe, relief threatening to buckle my limbs. I rush forward and wrap her in a tight hug. “I was so worried. Are you okay?” I pull back to study her. The dark circles underneath her eyes. A scratch along her left cheek that’s just beginning to scab over. And a bruise along her jaw that’s faded to a dark purple. All of these are recent. They have to be, considering how fast wolves heal.
“Did he—”
I can’t even finish my sentence. My rage for Thiago is so completely beyond the ability to form words.
“I’m okay,” Kari says.
Behind her, Thiago closes the door, offering us a moment of privacy. I’m surprised by the generosity, but then my worry for Kari takes over, and I drink in the moment, knowing it might be my last. Or hers.
“Come here.” I pull her back to the bed, and we sit. “Tell me everything. I saw the video he made. He tied you up. I just… I’m sorry I took so long getting back here. But I found him.”
It makes me sick to say the words—like they’re the solution instead of an entirely new horrific problem.
“Who?” she asks, eyes lighting with hope.
“Levi,” I say, cringing at what I’m offering here.
But seeing Kari battered and bruised at the mercy of a monster like Thiago leaves me no choice. I can’t just leave her here. She doesn’t deserve this. No one does.
“Levi?” she repeats, frowning.
“Yes, Thiago said I had to find your father’s killer. He’s the one I saw in that warehouse.”
“Levi didn’t kill my dad.”
Her words startle me. How would she know? “That doesn’t matter. Thiago has to honor our arrangement,” I say. “He’ll let you go.”
“And what about you?”
“What about me?”
Her hands grip mine tightly. She leans in, eyes beseeching me. “Thiago wants Jadick,” she says. “If you just give up where in the city he’s hidden himself, when he plans to strike, I know Thiago will let you go.”
“He doesn’t plan to strike,” I say.
“Mac,” she says, her chin wobbling with the threat of tears. “I don’t know what he’ll do if you keep lying to him.”
I shudder, my gaze flicking to the bruise along her jaw.
He’ll do that and worse, I have no doubt.
“But I’m not lying. Jadick wouldn’t come. He said it was too risky. That we needed more time, more men—”
“Dammit, Mac.” The hardness in her voice stops me more than the words. “Don’t you want to save me?”
I stare at her, shocked. “Of course I do. That’s why I brought Levi—”
“Oh, screw Levi. He’s as hell-bent on protecting you as you are of him.”
