Chapter 8: On His Knees in the Rain

That night it rained, and a man walked alone up the Silverfen road.

I saw him from the lodge window.

No truck, no guards, no coat.

He walked with his hands open at his sides, and he stumbled twice in the mud.

"Wystan," I said.

"I see him."

The wolves at the gate stepped aside.

Wystan sent no one to stop him.

Joran Wolcott walked up to the fire pit in the middle of the compound and stood in the rain with water running down his face.

Then he went down on his knees in the mud.

The whole pack came out of the lodge and stood on the porch, watching.

I walked down the steps and stopped ten feet in front of him.

"Get up," I said.

"No."

"Joran."

"I came to say something, and I'm going to say it from here." He lifted his head.

His golden eyes were dull, rimmed with red.

His left arm was strapped across his chest, and he was shaking so hard I could hear his teeth.

"Osric's tonic did nothing, and I stopped drinking it."

The rain hissed on the coals.

"I broke the lock on the cabinet last night," he said. "Osric's records were in it. I read until my eyes gave out."

I took the leather book from under my arm and held it up.

"Verity dropped this at the creek. It says the same thing."

Joran stared at it.

"I know what the book says," I said. "I want to know if you knew."

"I didn't know."

"Would you have stopped?"

He opened his mouth, and for the first time he had no answer ready.

"I want to say yes," he said at last. "I want that more than anything. But I don't know."

The honesty hit me harder than a lie would have.

Keep reading free with an account. Start The Alpha Who Rejected His Queen from Chapter 1, then sign up free to read the rest of this chapter.