Shameful by May Dawson
19
Legacy
By the timeI’d separated from the barbarian who had dragged me into the car, we were almost to the edge of pack territory. I stared out the windows at the familiar scenery I’d passed a thousand times, at the pines and the cut-away through the woods that led to the lake where weswam.
I’d see it all again someday, wouldn’tI?
“Tell me that’s not your rescue party,” Rhett said with a groan. “I don’t want to have to hurt anyone today.”
“Really?” I asked acerbically. “Tell that to your friend.”
My ass still stung from his hand, not that I would let him see it. I forced myself to stay still on the seat and pressed my nose against the glass, but not before I caught the barbarian rolling hiseyes.
A familiar Jeep was pulled over to the side of the road. Tania sat cross-legged on the hood, her face sad; Courage stood beside her. The two of them raised their hands. Not a wave—but a salute. A goodbye.
I nodded to them, not trusting myself as tears stung at the back of my eyes. I’d never been a crier, but being rejected and carried away from home so abruptly stung deeper than anything I’d ever experienced.
“Pretty cold,” The driver said. “Seems like no one’s putting up much of a fight to keep youhere.”
“Shut up,” I said fiercely. “Those are my best friends.”
He whistled. “Do they know that? From family to friends, seems like a pretty poor showing today.”
The one next to me snorted. I glanced over at him. Maybe they weren’t strangers; they reminded me of boys I used toknow.
“West?” I asked, the memory of the most dangerous fighter within the cubs coming back to me. I glanced at the front seat, trying to remember the name of his brother, the flirtiest and youngest conman in the state. His name had always suited him, it had something to do with southern belles and rebels and… “Rhett.”
They were even bigger than they’d been when we were teens.
“And here I thought you might not remember us, the way you put up a fight,” Rhett said, glancing in the rearview mirror. Mischievous, bright blue eyes metmine.
“Maybe I put up a fight because I do remember you,” I shot back, and Rhett chuckled, though it was probably out ofpity.
West, on the other hand, was grim-faced. I was pretty sure he never feltpity.
The three of us were silent as Rhett drove. He seemed to have forgotten to turn on the radio, and he seemed to be the only one in a goodmood.
Although I’d known of them when we were kids, and they weren’t that much older than me, we’d never hung out. The two of them had a reputation as troublemakers. Rhett was infamously good with his hands—and tongue—according to the girls in the pack. I didn’t know what the hell they’d done to get sent to Reject Island, but honestly, with their reputation I’d assumed they’d done something heinous.
Now, I wasn’t so sure. Maybe I wasn’t the only one being sent to Reject Island for ridiculous reasons.
“So,” I said. “What’s Reject Islandlike?”
West snorted. He was fingering his jaw. “Listen to the girl. She wants to have a nice conversationnow.”
“Not with you,” Rhett answered. In the mirror, he said to me, “He’s never a very nice conversationalist.”
“I was getting that vibe,” I answered drily.
West’s jaw was beginning to bruise. I’d nailed him good, and I wasn’t particularly sorry. I still didn’t know why he had decided to pick me up. I’d been perfectly capable of walking out of the alpha’s house on myown.
And I still couldn’t believe he had spankedme.
His behavior was disgusting.
Strangely enough, outraged though I might be, something between my thighs throbbed. I’d never felt that turned on before that fast, and I shifted in my seat, unsure what to make of the sensation. Fucking brute.
No one had answered my question. “Going to leave the details about Reject Island for a fun surprise?”
West didn’t answer. He was looking out the window, although his body felt tense, as if he were still prepared for me to dive out a window.
Rhett said, “There’s not much to tell. There’s the main island, where processing happens. There’s a bunch of other islands I’ve never been to that houses other shifters. Then there’s our island. Castle Island. It’s got a derelict mansion, broken down tennis court, the world’s ugliest indoor pool, occasionally it’s got electricity when we get the generator going. And it’s gotus.”
Castle Island? I hadn’t imagined I’d be living in a castle on Reject Island, and I frowned, trying to picture the castle they sent us to as punishment.
He seemed to think. “And it’s got Killian.”
“Killian?” I echoed. I remembered Killian. He’d been my first crush, four years older than me, and my crush on Lucas paled in comparison to the way I’d trailed Killian around. All the girls had; even as a boy, he’d been more than handsome, kind and charming. He’d given off this sense of power and confidence that was intoxicating. When I thought about seeing him again, my mouth went dry. I’d always felt tongue tied around him. No one else I’d ever met stole my confidence and left me bumbling like that girlhood crushing.
Maybe there was another Killian. When he’d disappeared from the pack, I thought he’d gone off to do great things, like Cyrus claimed.
“Oh, and the island is haunted.” Rhett added cheerfully.
“Hauntedhow?”
Rhett shrugged his shoulders. “You’ll have to see for yourself. I’m not in the mood to be disbelieved.”
“I’d believe you,” I said. “I’m pretty sick of everyone thinking I’m lying when I try to tell them about the vampire.”
West turned toward me for the first time, with an expression that I couldn’t quite read. “Vampire?”
His tone was skeptical.
I sighed under my breath. “Nevermind.”
West and Rhett exchanged a look in the rearview mirror. Rhett shrugged.
The two of them didn’t believe me either.
Part of me almost doubted my own story now. Lucas had told me that I’d made it all up so confidently that some strange part of me almost believed him. Wouldn’t it be easier to believe there was something wrong with me than with the rest of my pack? Didn’t it make more sense to doubt myself than all those other people?
But I knew the vampire was real. I closed my eyes and clung to the painful memory of him tearing into my body, of the fight for survival.
Because if he was still obsessed with me, I might have to fight him again.
And if I won, if I proved he wasreal…
I could go home to mypack.