Chapter 37

I narrowed my eyes at Joseph over Cynthia’s head, daring him to act against me. My wolf itched under my skin, primed for action. We would protect Cynthia and her pup from any threat.

Even Joseph.

No, especially Joseph.

Joseph didn’t move, except his eyes, which looked between Cynthia and me with dawning realization.

I held Cynthia tightly in my arms, where she would be forever safe. Joseph soaked in that sight.

“So that’s how it is,” he said.

I didn’t have to ask him what he meant. My actions, my posture – they spoke enough.

Anyone could tell Cynthia was special to me.

Joseph took one solid step backwards, the smartest thing he had ever done.

Gently, I led Cynthia toward my car. At the passenger door, she was reluctant to release me, her fingers clawed into my shirt.

“You will be safe,” I told her. “But I need my hands to drive.”

“Asher,” her voice shook around my name. My heart thundered wildly. I wanted to tear into that house and have vengeance on anyone who had caused her such fear.

Squeezing my eyes shut, I shook my head. My first priority had to be to get her to safety.

With a bit more coaxing, I finally convinced Cynthia to move onto the passenger seat. She held her hands clasped together on her lap. I closed the door, securing her inside.

As I rounded to the driver’s side, I glared at Joseph. Usually such a look would scare him. This time though, he only smiled like he knew a secret.

It was unnerving.

I climbed into the driver’s seat and pressed on the gas. I relaxed only when that damned house was so far behind us, I couldn’t see it in the rear view mirror anymore.

I drove much slower on the way home than I had getting there. Before, I’d broken every single speed limit by upwards of twenty miles an hour, at least. Now, I obeyed every traffic sign.

I wouldn’t endanger Cynthia or her child by driving recklessly.

She was eerily quiet on the ride back to campus. I didn’t tell her that I had worried this was what would happen when she had told me she was going to meet Joseph’s parents.

Cynthia didn’t have the type of lineage that would be easily accepted for people like Joseph and his family. They didn’t know that her courage and strength rivaled that of a person from any noble family tree.

It infuriated me how she could be looked down upon when she was the bravest person I knew.

“Thank you, Asher,” she said as I found a parking spot in front of her dorm. “I don’t know what would have happened if you didn’t come.”

“I’ll always be there for you,” I said.

She shook her head, like she didn’t believe me.

“I’m serious,” I stressed.

“You don’t have to say those kind of things.”

I stretched across the center console and took her hand in mine, bringing her full attention to me. She had the most beautiful brown eyes I’d ever seen.

“All you need to do is say my name, and I’ll come running.”

She smiled a tiny bit, but it was sad. “Because you promised Dylan.”

“No, Cynthia.” I squeezed her hand. “I don’t protect you just for Dylan. I do it because I want to.”

I wasn’t sure when I came to know this was true. Maybe it happened gradually over the course of my knowing her, learning her brightness, her kindness, her toughness.

Yet now it was an indisputable fact branded in my heart.

I wanted to protect this girl.

Not just for Dylan. Not even just for Cynthia herself. But for me.

If anything happened to her, I don’t know if my wolf or I would recover.

She was speechless, staring at me with wide eyes. Tears began to well anew. I didn’t want her to cry anymore.

“I’ll walk you to your door,” I said, releasing her hand.

She walked quietly at my side all the way to her dorm room, while stealing sideways glimpses of me that I pretended not to notice.

When we reached her door, she hugged me. “Thank you,” she said again.

“You don’t have to keep thanking me,” I said. “I don’t even need to hear it once.”

“Still,” she said.

I waited until she went inside and locked the door behind her.

My body ached to stay with her, even here outside her door, to keep watch and protect her.

But I already had other plans for tonight.

By the time I arrived at the hockey locker room on the outskirts of the arena, the rest of my team had already tied our newest player to a chair. A sock was stuffed in his mouth.

They looked at me expectantly. “Good job,” I praised. I wished I could have taken part in the capture myself, but Cynthia had needed me. She was infinitely more important.

Besides, the rest of my team could be trusted to handle the job alone.

Except this worm tied to the chair.

“Now,” I said, approaching him. I lowered my voice to a dangerous, hushed tone. “You.”

The guy’s eyes were wide. His face was nearly as pale as the tube sock in his mouth. He was trying to say something, rapid and desperate, but it came out muffled and garbled around the sock.

I towered over him, glaring down at him with the full force of my hatred.

He shivered.

“Remove the gag,” I said to one of my team. They pulled the sock away none too gently.

The new guy hacked and spit. “What the hell, man?”

I growled. “Did I tell you that you could talk?”

At once, he crumbled into himself as much as he could with his arms and legs bound.

“Better.” I crossed my arms over my chest. “I have reason to believe you were the one stealing our plays. Is this true?”

The new guy swallowed hard.

“Answer,” I demanded.

He nodded. “Yes.”

A few curses sounded around me. I’d told my team about my suspicions, and they believed me. But to hear the admission from the horse’s mouth cut like a fresh betrayal, more than my telling them ever could.

“Explain how,” I said.

“I-I wrote down what I could remember from practice. Then, when Coach was out of the room, I took pictures of the playbook with my phone.”

“And how did you give these pictures to the other team?”

His eyes shifted quickly, left and right. “I don’t know…”

“You don’t know?” someone scoffed.

“Liar,” said another.

“I swear, I don’t!” the new guy cried. “S-someone else did that part.”

Ah. There. That was the information I really wanted.

“You had a middleman,” I said.

“Not just that,” the new guy said. “This whole thing was his idea. I had to go along with it, I swear!”

I growled, sharp, and he whimpered again.

I didn’t care for his excuses. I wanted a name.

I leaned over him, baring my teeth. “Who?”

Pulling at his binds, he sunk lower in his chair.

I thought I might have to ask again. He really didn’t want me to have to do that.

I wouldn’t be so nice next time.

But then he came to his senses and answered.

“Joseph.”

My blood ran cold.