As Darkness Falls by Riley Storm

Chapter Fourteen

Ididn’t realize I’d raised my voice until Johnathan started cringing away from me.

That was another thing that had changed in Shuldar. He no longer had a hold on me, true, but I had changed. I was stronger. Not physically or anything, but mentally. I knew my strengths, I knew my weakness, and I wasn’t going to let Johnathan intimidate me ever again.

Around us, the others paused their conversations to watch. I didn’t know how much they’d heard, and I didn’t care. This didn’t involve them. It was between Johnathan and me, and he was going to tell me everything I wanted to know. Starting with what the fuck his father did to my parents.

No Alpha command was going to save him now. That wouldn’t work on me. I didn’t think he was going to try it anyway, but I got to my feet and stared down at him. My wolf was right there with me, the she-bitch firmly on my side, lending me her strength and her ferocity as we glared down our nose at the weakened shifter before us, demanding he submit.

“Answer me,” I snarled when he didn’t immediately speak.

“I’m sorry,” he said. “I’m so sorry, Danielle. I didn’t want to do it. My father, he told me to. He made me do it.”

“Do what?” I growled, the sound filling our little campsite.

No one else spoke. No one moved or offered to help Johnathan. Nobody tried to restrain me. They knew better.

“Lars forced me to,” Johnathan whispered. “Said we needed to do it. I didn’t know. I thought…I thought he was right.”

“Tell me what you did,” I said, taking a step toward him; my wolf disgusted with him as he cringed deeper at our approach. “Now.”

“Didn’t mean to,” he blabbered. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know. I should have known, but I didn’t.”

I was on him in a flash, pinning him to the ground, my teeth on his throat, a ferocious snarl bubbling up as I shook him.

“Enough!” I roared once he’d submitted. “Words. Use them, damn you. Use them now before I tear your throat out!”

It wasn’t a threat, of course. I needed him alive to tell me what his father had done to my parents. If I killed him, I’d never know, but in his current state, I doubted Johnathan was thinking straight.

“Made me do it,” he kept whispering, shaking his head. “Mistake. It was a mistake.”

We were losing him. He was retreating back into his comatose state, the guilt and fear too much for his mind to handle. Angrily, I hauled back a hand and slapped him across the face.

“What mistake?” I bellowed.

Johnathan stared up at me, eyes wide.

“Jo,” he whispered.

I stared at him in shock. “Jo?” I whispered.

Slowly, I slid off him, falling back onto the ground, my arms shaking as they tried to support me, to keep me upright.

Vir was there, holding me vertical while I sat.

“What did you do to Jo?” I asked nervously, not sure I wanted to hear the answer.

Johnathan’s blubbering had subsided now that he’d gotten the answer out, and he spoke with tired resignation. “I took her,” he said. “On the night after the Wild Moon. After you escaped. He said it was for when you came back. I’m sorry, Danielle. I’m so sorry.”

I stared at him, stunned. “He kidnapped my best friend because he truly believed, after I’d escaped, that I would somehow return before the Wild Moon? What? Out of the goodness of my own heart and my desire to submit to him as Alpha?”

Johnathan shook his head. “He’s the Alpha, Danielle. You know that.”

“No shit. He lords it over everyone like he’s God’s gift from the heavens or something,” I snapped. “What does that have to do with anything?”

“Because,” Johnathan said, recovering enough to sit up, though he didn’t try to move, “as Alpha, he’s used to being obeyed. He doesn’t expect disobedience. And lately, he’s been, I don’t know, different.”

“Different how?” I demanded, fear for my best friend stabbing its icy needles deep into my stomach.

“I’m not sure how to describe it,” Johnathan said uneasily. “Aggressive. Unstable almost.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, he wanted me to kidnap your best friend,” Johnathan pointed out, looking away, his face filled with guilt and regret. “But more than that. He’s been demanding obedience instead of loyalty. To the point where he no longer cares what he orders someone to do. He expects them to leap to obey, even if it’s a shitty thing. He just assumes that everyone will obey his every word. And if they don’t…”

“He kills them,” I finished. “Or kidnaps them. Is she still alive?”

“Maybe,” Johnathan said helplessly. “She was when we came after you. But now? I don’t know what he’s done now. He didn’t seem like he was going to kill her. He kept talking about using her to get you to finally obey like a good bitch.”

“Yeah,” I muttered angrily. “That sounds a lot like him.”

“I just don’t know what he’ll do now,” Johnathan said. “He’s growing unstable. If he doesn’t think he can get to you anymore, if he knows that you and I are no longer–well, she might not be of use to him anymore. He might discard her.”

“Kill her, you mean,” I snapped. “This is your father. You know full well that’s what you meant. Don’t be a coward now. Speak the truth.”

“Yes,” Johnathan said, grimacing. “Kill her. He might be my father by birth, but he’s not the man who raised me. Not anymore. He’s changed, Danielle.”

“I don’t give a shit,” I spat. “He has my friend. Or he’s killed her. Either way, he’s going to pay.”