Page 30 of In Your Eyes
“No.” I shook my head even though he couldn’t see me. My head pounded and my heart raced. I felt like I was missing something important, but I didn’t know what it was. What I did know was that a male couldn’t mate with another male. It wasn’t possible. “Males have to tie with females in order to hold on to their human halves. That’s—”
“Bullshit.”
I was going to say it was basic biology. “What do you mean?”
“Tying isn’t about males and females. It’s about connecting with someone who can better you, someone who can give you what you’re lacking, someone who can fulfill you and make you whole.” Zev sighed. “We tie with our mates on all levels—physical and emotional—so we can become the best versions of ourselves. That’s what makes us complete, and then we’re stable enough to bind both our forms—wolf and human.”
“That isn’t in the writings,” I mumbled, more to myself than to him.
“The writings are old and incomplete. They were written by shifters who had a very narrow view of our people and a dangerously bigoted view of nonshifters,” he said in disgust. “It’s our job as Alphas to help our packs grow past those mistakes, to teach them that shifters can be stronger by living in the world instead of apart from it, and that we can follow our instincts instead of being limited by rules created by those who are long gone.”
The way he spoke, with conviction, passion, and not a small dose of frustration, led me to believe it wasn’t the first time Zev Hassick had given that speech. It was a lot of information to process in a short period of time and it left me reeling. So much so that I forgot the reason for my call. Apparently, I also forgot to speak.
“Didn’t Korban explain this to you?” Zev asked when I’d stayed silent for too long.
I suddenly understood that when Zev asked whetherhehad told me, he’d been referring to Korban rather than my father. In some ways, it made more sense. The interactions Zev and my father had were at interpack council meetings, where mates weren’t present and were unlikely to be discussed. Plus, if for some reason my father had learned the information, he surely would have shared it with me. But what didn’t make sense was why Zev would think a man I was planning to kill would tell me anything.
“Why would Korban—”
A pained cry rent the air and stopped me midsentence. It was closely followed by two more screams. I didn’t know who was making the noises or why, but I knew they were coming from behind my house. Where Korban was locked up. Had something happened to Korban?
I dropped the phone and ran out of the room, down the stairs, and out the back door. Shouts were coming from the workshop. With my heart slamming against my rib cage, I flew in that direction.
The door was open. Why was the door open? Had I forgotten to lock it? I got my answer when I saw the padlock lying on the ground. It had been cut off, which terrified me, but not as much as the silence. Screams were bad, but sudden silence afterward was worse. Within seconds I was skidding into the workshop, prepared to defend Korban.
How strange was that? I was going to defend the man I was supposed to kill. The man I was holding captive. The man I kept assaulting. Defend him from who?Iwas Korban’s biggest threat.
The first thing I registered when I entered the workshop was blood. Korban was covered in it. With a wail, I lunged toward him, forgetting that my presence was sure to cause him fear rather than comfort.
“Samuel,” he said, sounding relieved, Lord knew why.
“Where are you hurt?” I ghosted my hands over his skin, not sure where I could touch without damaging him more.
“I’m fine.” He glanced down at his body and then back at me. “The blood isn’t mine.” He flicked his chin to the side. “It’s theirs.”
I followed his gaze and saw Rick Collins and Jason Clemson slumped against the wall. Based on the way they were holding their faces and the blood streaming down their chins, I gathered their noses were broken.
“What are you doing here?” I growled at my pack members as I stepped toward them. “I made it clear you were supposed to leave.”
“We wanted to see if you finally killed the tribute or if you were too weak,” Rick said. He might have been going for tough, but with his nose full of blood, he sounded like a goose. Plus, he was trying to stand while he spoke, and he couldn’t get his feet under him, so he kept slipping around on nothing. “We saw you leaving earlier.” He braced his hand against the wall and finally rose to his feet. “We know what you did to him,” he sneered.
My stomach dropped and then rolled. I didn’t know what to say.
“It wasn’t my idea, Alpha,” Jason said. “I didn’t know where we were going when he brought me here.”
“Leave,” I said hoarsely. “Leave now.”
I didn’t know what Rick saw in my face, but amazingly, he didn’t argue or try to show me up. Keeping my attention on him, I watched as he stumbled out of the workshop, holding his arm over his stomach and limping on his right leg. Jason was close behind him, and based on his gait, he wasn’t doing any better. When their footsteps faded away entirely, I sighed.
“It’s not safe for you out here,” I whispered without looking at Korban. I had put him in an untenable position and I had no way to fix it.
“So far mine isn’t the safety that’s been compromised.”
Glancing up at him, I furrowed my brow in confusion. “Huh?”
“My knuckles hurt a little.” He grinned, rubbed his palms over the backs of his hands, and tilted his head toward the door. “But unless I’m wrong, those guys have worse problems.”
If the scuffle I’d interrupted had been the only issue, he would have been right. But I knew for a fact how badly he had been compromised. After all, I was the one who had done it to him. I didn’t know how he could be so lighthearted about everything.
