CHAPTER 42

Anthony arrived when I was about half way through my eggs. He strode straight to the table, took inventory to ensure I wasn't injured, and then sent half the place packing. Presumably to look for my attackers. Alice shooed the rest of them out, switching the closed sign over once the last of them exited.

They weren't going to find them, not with how well they fit into the human world, but the look on Anthony's face suggested that I probably shouldn't mention that.

He sat next to me and raised a brow at Leon, who'd finished his meal in record time. He'd finally found the ability to stop talking and I'd been enjoying the relative silence.

Leon took the hint and moved himself to another table, just out of sight.

"How is this happening? What is happening?" Anthony demanded.

I took the last bite of my meal.

"Remember I told you about the shipping facility?" He nodded. "The vampire that attacked me there...she bit me."

Surprise and then anger flashed in his eyes.

"You didn't tell me that."

"I didn't think it mattered. The wound healed and I didn't get any weird vampire powers. But when the woman was beating in the car roof she accused me of killing her sister. Said I was marked."

Anthony didn't like that. At all. His nostrils flared, breaths coming sharply.

I put a hand on his.

"How am I supposed to deal with this?" he asked softly. "An enemy we don't know, that I can't sense. How am I supposed to keep you safe?"

He didn't say anything more, but I knew what the problem was. He saw himself as failing.

"I think our best bet is to learn more about them, what it is they want. If they're part of this whole...whatever is going on, then I need to know what I'm dealing with."

Anthony looked at me.

"You still want to pursue this? Even now?"

His voice was disappointed, though I couldn't figure out why.

"Anthony, this is why I'm here, why I came to Boston to begin with. I have to know what Thostchild is, what it had to do with why my parents were murdered."

"Don't you think they would have wanted more for you than that?" he asked. "This thing you're chasing, it's almost killed you twice now, don't you think that they would have wanted you to let it go? To live? Don't you want to live?"

Of course I wanted to live. But I didn't think we were talking about the same things. His idea of me living was running the pack, being Luna. Perhaps a family, children. Mine was...not.

"I have to know," I told him. His eyes shuttered, his face slid into a carefully neutral mask, but not before I saw the hurt there.

Guilt threatened to have me babbling, to take back what I'd said. But it wouldn't be the truth, and I couldn't live a life that was a lie. So I stayed silent.

He was silent too, for a long long time.

When he finally spoke it wasn't at all what I expected. His entire demeanour had changed, cold and determined. He stood, nodding to Micheal, Chase and Leon.

"Take her home. If there are any problems call me immediately. Someone stays with her at all times."

The men moved toward me, even Leon, the traitor.

"What are you doing?" I demanded, frowning.

"Keeping you alive."

"Anthony..."

He held up a hand. "I have three new problems to deal with tonight and I can't do that when I'm having to worry about what you're going to do. I will have some of our men look into Thostchild, but you are going to stay where you are safe."

"I wasn't asking for your protection," I told him, my frustration rising.

"You don't have to." He growled his blue eyes hard. "If I have to tie you down and have someone sit on you to keep you safe then that's what I'm going to do. It would be best if you would cooperate for once."

"We agreed to compromise," I reminded.

"Yes, when I thought you could be reasoned with. This is no longer up for discussion."

He waved a hand and the men crowded me. Micheal gestured toward the door when I didn't immediately move. I just stood there, staring at Anthony, who was refusing to look at me any longer.

"Someone with her at all times, if she gets out of sight you'll never find her again. Get her home and keep her there, by whatever means necessary."

Then he walked away and out of the diner, leaving me drowning in my own frustration. Damned stubborn wolf. I should have seen this coming, actually with his recent behaviour.

"You need to go with him," I told Micheal. "If he does find the vampires, he's going to need your help."

Micheal shook his head.

"He want's you home and that's what we're going to do."

I could take them all...probably. But I shouldn't have to.

"This is ridiculous," I told them. "I don't need to be treated like a prized pet, I'm capable of looking after myself."

Micheal and Chase shared a look.

"He cares about you," Leon told me. He was looking at me weird, like he didn't understand that I was being stripped of the only thing I had left. My freedom.

"This is not how you care about someone."

"It is for an Alpha. Alphas protect their Lunas at all costs." I didn't like how gentle Micheal's voice was. Apologetic, because he didn't intend on considering my side of things. Even Alice was nodding at me, though her face was distressed at my situation.

I stood my ground.

Micheal pulled out his gun.

"You're going to shoot me?" Why was nobody else seeing how ridiculous this was?

"If I have to. You'll heal. Alpha said by any means necessary."

No one else said anything. Had the entire world gone mad? They didn't even look hesitant about the matter. I could only think of one reason why. Anthony had solidified his hold on the pack, he was no longer a contender for alpha, he was alpha. Those who'd become true pack members would be under his control. They would obey, not thoughtlessly, because there was no need for that, they were now connected to Anthony, mentally, his emotions and reasoning influencing their own. Enough that most of the time they simply agreed with him.

My mind was whirring, trying to think of a way to break through to them, to get out of this mess. Because I sure the hell wasn't getting in that car. My phone vibrated in my pocket.

I hoped it was Anthony, because I had a thing or two...

I opened the screen up to a picture. At first I didn't know what it was, it looked like road kill, strung up on a pole...but there was something...

My heart fell through my chest. Because it wasn't roadkill at all. It was a man. And I recognized him.

Darius.