Her words were cold, but Eli saw the conflict in her eyes. She wasn’t a killer, but a protector. Only, she couldn’t protect everyone, not this time.

  “I’ll go to my mother’s former pack.” Sweat broke out on his brow as he pleaded for his life. “My uncle offered me a place there.”

  Eli decided to give him a chance to prove himself. “What do you think, Cyrus?”

  Cyrus scratched his head. “I’d rather kill him now and be done with it, but I trust your judgement.” A look of understanding passed between them.

  Eli tossed the shotgun to Cyrus, who caught it and headed back up the mountain, vanishing in the thick woods. “You’re free to go,” he told Ridge. “Come back and you’re a dead man.”

  “I won’t. I promise.”

  Eli turned his back and started to walk away. It was no surprise when he heard Ridge racing toward him. “Look out!” Kinley yelled, but he didn’t need the warning. Anticipating such a move, he spun away, grabbed Ridge by the neck, and lifted him off the ground.

  “Guess your word is as good as your alpha’s.” He unleashed his claws. Blood gushed from Ridge’s throat. He clawed at Eli’s arm, trying to escape, but it was no use. “You should never have threatened Kinley. I’m one of the Seven Deadly Sins. I am wrath. And this is my vengeance.” Bones crushed as he squeezed his fingers. Ridge went limp and gave a final sigh. Rather than drop him, he yanked him in close and snapped his neck to ensure the job was done.

  The body hit the ground with a heavy thud. Blood seeped into the dirt, staining it. “It’s the first time blood has been spilled on the mountain.”

  “I’m so sorry.”

  He hadn’t realized he’d spoken aloud until Kinley answered. He turned toward her. “Not your fault.”

  “It is.” Tears rolled down her cheeks.

  “He gave me no choice.” Did she see him as a murderer? He’d always stood for right and justice. As far as he was concerned, he still did. He’d done nothing he was ashamed of, felt no remorse. Not even satisfaction for a job well done. It was a task that needed doing, no more, no less.

  “I’m sorry he put you in the position of having to do that. I’m sorry he broke his word. I’m sorry—” Her voice hitched and she took a breath. “I’m sorry I come from such a dishonorable pack.” When she laid a hand on his arm, he jerked away.

  “I’m bloody.” He wiped his hands on his jeans, not wanting her tainted with the evidence of his violence.

  Ignoring him, she wrapped her arms around his waist. “I don’t care.” Her acceptance shattered the ice that had encased him. Swearing under his breath, he dragged her closer and buried his face in her hair.

  “Don’t mind me. I’m just going to dump the body somewhere it won’t be found before it disintegrates.” The same genetics that allowed them to live longer and heal faster also meant their remains turned to dust relatively quickly. Cyrus lifted Ridge off the ground, threw him over one shoulder, and walked away. “Get back to the house. A storm is coming and we need to be ready.”

  Kinley gave a broken laugh even as tears trickled down her cheeks. “He needs to work on his timing.”

  “He does.” It had been a deliberate reminder to Eli that they weren’t safe out here. There was no telling how much of what Ridge had told them was true. They couldn’t afford to believe any of it. A shudder racked his big body and he squeezed her tight. “God, Kinley. I was...” He swallowed heavily and took a breath. “I was afraid you’d go with him.”

  Chapter Eleven

  The truth would hurt, but she wouldn’t lie. “I considered it.”

  “I knew it.” His embrace bordered on painful, but rather than pull away she burrowed closer. “I knew you’d sacrifice yourself for me ... for us.”

  “I didn’t want to go.” It was important to her that he understood that. “And it was only for a split-second. I knew it was a lie as soon as the words were out of Ridge’s mouth.” Ridge, who’d been a childhood friend, had become as corrupt as her uncle and the rest. It made her question her daddy, and that hurt her heart. “And if he wasn’t intentionally lying, I knew my uncle would never honor his promise.”

  Eli pressed a kiss to the top of her head and released her. “We need to get going.”

  She wouldn’t put it past Cyrus to detour back this way to move them along. “It’s all so unreal.” The body of a man she’d known her entire life, one she’d once called a friend, was being dumped somewhere out there on the mountain. Within days, only his clothing would remain. Assuming Cyrus didn’t bring that back with him.

  With a final glance over his shoulder, Eli motioned for her to go ahead, guarding their backs as they started toward home. Toward his home. It wasn’t hers. She was homeless and packless. But I’m alive. As long as there was life there was hope.

  “Some men aren’t smart enough to know when to walk away.” His boots made no sound on the ground. For a huge man, he was silent, an apex predator. She had no idea how he’d taken Ridge by surprise, but it hadn’t been a challenge. He hadn’t even broken a sweat when he’d executed him. And it had been an execution. One that could have been avoided if only Ridge had shown some sense.

  A glimmer of hope sprang to life. If all his brothers were like him, maybe they did have a chance at defeating Uncle Duke and the others, but it would come at a huge cost for both sides.

  Reaching back, she grabbed his arm and gave it a reassuring squeeze. The deep gouges on his opposite arm had already vanished and the dried blood was flaking away. There probably wouldn’t be any scars. Seems he healed as phenomenally as he fought.

  “You did what you had to do. He would have killed you if you hadn’t.” It was a hard pill to swallow. “I didn’t know him at all. Not really. I remember what he was like as a boy. Somewhere along the way he changed.” When she started to release him, Eli took her hand and twined his fingers around hers.

  They skirted a giant boulder and continued their upward hike. The pace was leisurely compared to the earlier race. Sunlight filtered through the thick canopy, creating patches of light and shadow. Birds began to sing. Several squirrels darted in front of them and ran up a nearby tree trunk. A rabbit scampered into some thick undergrowth to hide. The peace and calm surrounding them was a hug of a different sort.

  “What he became was always inside him. It was nurtured by those around him and the alpha.”

  “Daddy tried to temper Ridge and the others, but Uncle Duke almost always took their sides in any dispute.”

  “Then he should have either challenged Duke for the alpha position or taken you and left. Any alpha who won’t support his second in command is sowing the seeds of dissent and asking for trouble.”

  Anger flared at the criticism but died as swiftly. She couldn’t fault Eli for saying the very thing she’d thought many times. Much like his oldest brother, he didn’t mince words or sugarcoat things. After years of being surrounded by deceit, she found she actually liked his bluntness.

  “He was my daddy and I loved him, but he was shortsighted when it came to his brother.” It was something she’d never understood. “He was several years older than Duke.”

  A frown marring his face, Eli stopped. “Then why didn’t he challenge for top spot?”

  “He never told me, but I heard whispers. The old alpha was alive when I was born. My mama died in childbirth.”

  “Damn, I’m sorry.” He gave her a brief hug and got them moving again.

  She put one foot in front of the other. “Me too. It’s rare, but it happens.” She couldn’t say she mourned the woman who’d given her birth as she’d never known her. It was more that she mourned what might have been, the mother she’d never had. “When it became obvious my eyes were going to remain blue, people began to whisper about her ancestry. They speculated that at some point in her family’s past there had to have been a mating between a human and wolf that resulted in a hybrid child, and that’s where my eyes came from.”

  “So what? I don’t understand the nonsense about pure blood. It’s bigotry, plain and simple. Maybe it’s a rare recessive gene or a birth anomaly. They happen.”

  She gave a half laugh. “They’d rather cling to their prejudices than listen to reason. Daddy knew he’d spend all his time fighting off challenges if he was alpha. If something happened to him, I’d be on my own. I think even then he didn’t trust his brother to take care of me.” She was done calling him Uncle Duke. He wasn’t family. Not anymore. Maybe never had been.

  “That makes sense, but he should have taken you and gone.”

  “Where?” She dug in her heels until he stopped. “It’s easy to judge when you’re surrounded by a loving family who’d lay down their lives for you.” They’d shown more loyalty in the time she’d been here than she’d witnessed in her pack during her lifetime.

  She pointed at her eyes. “These are a liability. Some packs view them as a curse. He made inquiries. I wasn’t supposed to know about it, but I overheard a phone conversation between him and a pack out West. The answer was they’d welcome him but not me.” And that hurt ... deeply. “He might be alive if it weren’t for me.” She swiped angrily at the tears on her face. She’d cried more this past week than she had in her entire life.

  “Kinley.”

  “No.” She shook her head. “It’s easy to talk about walking away, but a wolf alone in the world is easy prey. One with a child like me is a target. He stayed for me. The pack was far from perfect, but it offered me protection.”

  “Until he died.”

  “Yes.” Her heart ached with a hurt that might never heal. “Once he was gone, I lost everything.”

  Eli huffed out a breath and drew her into his arms. “Your daddy made his choices. I’ll concede he did what he thought was right.”

  “But it’s not what you would do.” The certainty went straight to her core. Eli would walk away from any pack that threatened his family. Or maybe not. He’d be as likely to battle his way to alpha and eliminate his enemies.

  “No, it’s not. But you have to understand something.” He tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. “You’re not responsible for your daddy’s death. After all he did to try to protect you, he wouldn’t want you feeling guilty. What happened to him?”

  Her breath caught in her throat. “I honestly don’t know.” And that haunted her. “I was told he’d died and I was to mate with Holden. No explanations, no details. I didn’t wait around to ask questions.” She rested her cheek against Eli’s chest, soothed by the steady beat of his heart.

  He’d killed a man today. Like the fight she’d witnessed at the club in Chicago, he’d done it calmly and methodically. The only reason he’d given Ridge the opportunity to walk away was because of her. If she hadn’t been here, he wouldn’t have hesitated to mete out his brand of justice.

  He was far from perfect, but perfection was overrated. Eli was a real flesh-and-blood man, a wolf with a black-and-white sense of right and wrong. He was a man you could depend on when things got tough. He’d never back away from the hard things but face them head-on. He was also handsome as, well, sin. Cliché but true.

  She slipped her hands up his back, marveling at the muscles beneath his shirt. A low rumbling growl escaped him. His wolf was close to the surface. She’d seen the ripple beneath his skin earlier, knew he’d fought to keep his wolf contained. And what a wolf it was—massive with thick fur in every shade of brown imaginable with those distinctive black eyes. Her own wolf gave a happy growl.

  She wanted to run free with him by her side and explore every square mile of Sin Mountain. That wasn’t going to happen anytime soon, if ever. But they were here now, and had a moment or two to call their own. They were almost back to the house. Once they were there, there’d be no time.

  Gripping the ends of his hair, she tugged his head down. There was a slight resistance before he lowered it. When he went to speak, she shook her head. “Give me this. I need it. I need you.” Going up on her toes, she kissed him with every ounce of passion inside her.

  His arm tightened around her waist and lifted her off her feet. At five-ten with plenty of lean muscle, she wasn’t small, even with the weight she’d lost, but there was no fear he’d drop her. It wasn’t only because he was strong. She trusted him. It was scary but also freeing.

  He angled his head, deepening the kiss, probing the depths of her mouth. Moaning, she welcomed him, her tongue tangling with his. Heat radiated from his big body. She rubbed against him, drawing a deep groan.

  “Oh, for fuck’s sake. Will you two give it up and get to the damn house?”

  Like a bucket of cold water, Cyrus’s voice washed over her. She buried her face in the crook of Eli’s neck and tried to catch her breath. Eli swore and slowly set her back down on her feet. Heat crept up her cheeks. Talk about embarrassing. Dangerous, too. Distraction could be costly. If it had been Duke or Holden instead of Cyrus, the situation could have been dire.

  ****

  Eli had never wanted to murder his brother before but was sorely tempted. He’d heard Cyrus heading their way—it wasn’t as though he’d tried to hide it. It was also a stark reminder that his brother had been disposing of a body, something that should have been his job, while he’d been locked in a kiss with Kinley. That was bad enough, but the fact Cyrus felt the need to issue the warning stung.

  Being aware of his surroundings at all times had been drummed into him since birth. It had never been a problem until Kinley.

  Give me this. I need it. I need you. Her words echoed in his head. “We’ll be right there.” He gave a hard jerk of his head toward the house, hoping his brother would take the not-so-subtle hint. Cyrus frowned but refrained from saying anything more as he sauntered away. It was a temporary reprieve. He’d have plenty to say about this later.

  “I’m so embarrassed.” Kinley’s voice was muffled against his throat.

  He rubbed his hand up and down her spine wishing they hadn’t been interrupted. “Don’t mind Cyrus. He’s always hyper-focused on safety.” As Eli should be until the threat was dealt with.

  She lifted her head and took a step away, tugging the hem of her shirt into place and fixing the cuffs, even though they didn’t need it. “He’s right to be concerned. I distracted you. That was wrong of me.”

  He hated hearing her regret their kiss. “You weren’t the only one who needed the contact.”

  “No?” He wasn’t sure why it seemed to surprise her.

  “We’re both wolves. It’s natural to seek touch for reassurance.”

  “Oh. Sure.” She rubbed her hands over her face. “I get it.” When she started to walk away, he grabbed her hand to stop her.

  “What do you get?”

  “Cyrus will be back if we don’t get to the house.”

  “He can wait another minute.”

  “Fine, but don’t blame me if he comes stomping back here.” She looked up at the sky and all around, everywhere but at him. “I understand that a fight gets the testosterone pumping. I get that’s all it was. Let’s not make a big deal out of it. It was only a kiss.”

  It was much more than “only a kiss,” at least for him. To hear her speak of it in such a nonchalant way was downright irritating. “Let me get this straight. You think I was aroused because of the violence and that’s why I kissed you?”

  “Look, it’s a perfectly normal reaction to want to reaffirm life when faced with death.”

  “Is that why you wanted to kiss me?”

  She went pale and shoved his hand away. “No.”

  “Why? Because you’re female and I’m male.” He was doing his best not to be insulted, but it wasn’t easy.

  She threw her hands up in the air. “It sounds stupid when you put it like that.”

  “I’ve fought more times than you can begin to comprehend.” It was a way of life for him and his brothers. “Violence is nothing new. It’s bred into my bones and runs through my veins. Not once have I been so overwhelmed with lust that I forgot my surroundings and did something as stupid as I just did.” She flinched as though he’d struck her. “Fuck, I didn’t mean it that way.”

  “We both agree the kiss was a mistake. Can we please move on?” Both her voice and body were stiff.

  “I kissed you because I wanted to.” His wolf was snarling, not happy with how he was handling the situation. “No other woman can make me forget where I am and what I should be doing. Only you.”

  “Eli.”

  He cut her off before she could continue. Cyrus’s patience wasn’t limitless. He was in enough shit as it was without adding to it. “No. I shouldn’t have allowed myself to be distracted. There’s too much at stake. I won’t risk your life.” Done with talking, he started up the path but stopped and waited, unwilling to leave her out here alone.

  “You’re confusing. You know that? For a man who claims to be attracted to me, you don’t seem to like me much right now.” She stomped past him.

  “And for a woman who claimed to need my touch, you don’t seem to like me much right now either.” That drew a small laugh that loosened the tightness in his gut.

  “Guess our timing sucks.”

  He grunted in agreement. There might never be a right time for them. That wasn’t helping his black mood. So much could go wrong. Either of them could be killed. If they survived, there was no guarantee she’d want anything to do with him once the threat was past. For now, he was a safe port in the storm. It wasn’t that he thought she was intentionally using him in that way. He was the one who’d had to convince her to stay. But it was her only real option if she wanted a chance to survive. Running off on her own would only get her dragged back home or killed and they both knew it.

  He was emotionally in over his head. If he allowed himself to get in any deeper and she walked away in the end... It was probably best for both of them to back off while the situation was dire and focus on staying alive.

  One problem at a time. It’s how he dealt with any job. He clenched his hands by his sides to keep from reaching out to Kinley. She was more than a mere job. That was the problem.