Shameful by May Dawson
15
Legacy
Lucas gotout of the car and came around to open my door. He was wearing sunglasses, and it was strange to see myself mirrored in the reflection. He didn’t hug me, but then I didn’t really want him to hug me. He hadn’t defended me earlier.
The ride was silent at first as we headed across pack territory toward the alpha’s house. Finally, he broke the silence by asking, “How are you doing?”
“Not great,” I said, my voice brittle.
“Are you healed?”
“Yes.”
“Good.”
“So you’re admitting something happened to me to be healedfrom.”
“Christ, Legacy. Really?”
“I don’t want to fight withyou.”
“Oh, you don’t? Because you were a real bitch with the alpha earlier. I was betting you’d be even worse withme.”
I crossed my arms, my jaw stiff. That bitch stung, even though I shouldn’t let it. “Well, you’re not the alpha.”
“I willbe.”
Those three little words hung between us. He pulled into the alpha’s driveway and got out of thecar.
Once again, we’d meet in the rolling hills behind the alpha’s house. Except this time, we had driven past lots of other cars. Other shifters were already arriving to hear what the alpha had to say, or maybe these cars were here for the planning meeting. I felt another warning rumble about the fact my father had been home all day. Had the alpha taken his place away as head of security? Overme?
Feeling jittery, I hopped out of the car and faced Lucas over the top of the car. “You should believeme.”
He laughed. “You want me to just believe you? Not my own eyes and ears? Butyou?”
“We’re supposed to be mates.”
“We are supposed to be mates.” Lucas nodded. “That doesn’t mean I have to take your side blindly.”
“I’m not asking youto.”
“Yeah, I think you are.” He crossed his arms, glaring at me. The distance between us felt like a canyon, like I had to shout across the void for him to hearme.
If he even did hear me atall.
“How does it look?” he demanded. “How am I going to be the alpha and have a wife that’s so irresponsible, she almost revealed our existence to humans?”
“I didn’t,” Isaid.
“No, because the pack scrambled to save your ass. You know every time we have to delete footage, terrify humans into silence, steal evidence from the police, we risk exposure all over again.”
“I know! It wasn’t my choice!” I exploded. “Where were you? I texted you. I said I had an emergency at thecafé.”
“I came right away. You were already gone, and there was no sign anything ever happened.”
“Did you trackme?”
“Yeah.”
“You must’ve smelled blood.”
“Yeah, you were hurt, that’s for sure.” He stepped toward me, and his gaze was worried. I could almost convince myself that worry was compassion. “You sure you don’t remember anything more from what happened last night?”
“I tried to tell you guys everything.” Not that you believed me. I fixed him with a look. “Why would a vamp come afterme?”
“I think you’re confused,” he said, then suddenly, his face shifted. “Unless… I killed a vamp a while ago. There was a group of them, they came onto our territory.”
The bloody shirt my dad had brought home came to mind, the one-and-only time vamps had made the mistake of coming to Crosby. Lucas must have been part of the killteam.
“Maybe they wanted revenge,” Isaid.
“Maybe,” he said, his face troubled. “Would word really spread that fast that you and I were together?”
“Supes have big mouths,” I said, thinking of how jealous the other girls had been. The thought sent an ache through me. My life had seemed so perfect, so enviable, just twenty-four hours ago. Now I felt like I’d never be the same girl, never be clean again.
“That they do,” he said, with a lightness that eased my nerves just a little. He didn’t seem so angry at me anymore.
Maybe everything was going to beokay.
The alpha called, and the two of us trudged across the hill toward the pack meeting place. Lucas didn’t touch me, but he hovered next to me. Staying close.
“You drove me so we could talk,” I said, clutching the strap of my purse. “What did you want to talk about?”
His gaze flickered toward me. “We’ll talk about it later. It’s going to be all right, Legacy.”
I was stupid enough to believehim.