Chapter 110

Grace

Amira came out and came back with another bag of ice and a popsicle.

"I'll take it."

Amira looked at me warily but handed it over.

"I need to speak with Eason alone for a second. Could you man the mainline for me?"

Amira glanced toward the door and nodded before turning around and leaving. I hung up on Charles and shoved the door open. Eason was half leaned over, typing with one hand while pressing the melted bag of water against his chest. I could see the last bits of ice inside melting. He had a phone trapped between his shoulder and his ear, talking to someone. I closed the door behind me, wondering if Amira was handling calls from reporters or citizens. He looked up, looked at the bag and popsicle in my hands, and clenched his jaw.

"I understand that, and as soon as Alpha Wolfe can, she'll address the city again. Thank you for your time." He hung up, and the phone started to ring again. He didn't move to answer it.

I approached him and offered him the popsicle.

"What?" Eason asked. "Not accusing me of faking it now?"

"I can only guess that there is no antidote for whatever it is, so you have to sweat it out."

"Well, you're partly right." He scoffed and took the popsicle and opened it, sticking it in his mouth whole and sliding the stick out. A few moments later, he swallowed the liquid. "You holding the ice hostage?"

"For now."

"Well, if you want this press statement done before you get on the air, I'd suggest you hand it over."

"Charles called me."

"My accomplice?" Eason asked wryly, still typing and not looking up at me.

"And depending on how you react to what he told me, someone's going to end up dead very soon, either at Charles' hands or mine."

"If he's my accomplice, what makes you think you can get him to do anything?" He smirked, his eyes darting across the screen as he typed. "I can guarantee I have better sex skills than you, divorced housewife."

I clenched my jaw. "I think my sex skills will be the least of your problems when I murder your terrorist boyfriend."

His fingers stopped. He froze in place. His face went pale even as he started sweating more.

"What?"

I almost smiled, feeling triumphant. I had him. Eason all but told us that he loved this guy. He wasn't going to risk him getting hurt. If he'd really spent time in the Clans, then he knew how ruthless lycans could be. I told him what Charles told me. My heart was racing. Just saying it felt like confirming everything I'd been fearing about Eason's involvement, his plot against me.

"Are you going to tell me the truth now?" I asked. "Or should I just kill him and save myself the time?"

I threw the ice at him, and it started to melt in the bag instantly. His eyes darted right to left across the screen. He murmured to himself. His lips twitched, and then Eason's brow furrowed. He stood.

"Let's go."

I stepped in front of him. "You aren't going anywhere without telling me the truth."

"Do I really have to spell it out for you, Grace?" He asked, taking on a pitying tone that was at once mocking and too familiar. "I know you won't be able to ever understand the decisions I have to make."

I clenched my jaw, remembering saying the same thing to him when I kicked him out of the pack house.

"Stop mocking me," I growled. "Is that what this is all about? You're still mad about Devin? Get over yours--"

"No, Grace," Eason said. "You get over yourself. The world doesn't fucking revolve around you. Some of us just stupidly still give a damn about you, and unfortunately, this isn't one of those times I can sit back and let you fall on your face. I'm going, so move or let's go."

"No," I said, standing in his way. "Not until you own up to what you've done."

"You first." He rolled his eyes, pulled out his phone, and shoved me aside, walking toward the door. "Yeah, Charles, where are you holding him? Yeah... I'll take the chauffered car. I'm burning up... Yeah. Black sweat, too. I know. I'm off-duty."

I followed him, hustling to keep up with his long stride. Had he grown taller? I don't remember it ever being this hard to keep up with him. "You're just proving me right."

"Sure, Grace," he said over his shoulder. "And I made Devin flunk out of his business program."

My jaw dropped. "You--"

"You might have terrible sex moves, but I don't, and I can cook, clean, and do laundry."

A sleek black car pulled up bearing no license plate. It was the same blacked-out car I had been riding in all this time. I grabbed his wrist before he opened the car door.

"Stop," I growled at him, holding him still. I looked up at him. "I just want the truth, Eason."

He met my gaze. "The truth?"

"Yes."

"Okay." He leaned back against the car. "You can't handle the truth."

"What?"

"You heard what I said," he said, narrowing his eyes. "The truth makes you distinctly uncomfortable when it's not what you want."

"I'm uncomfortable with the thrust?" I scoffed. "You're dating a terrorist who hates what you are and helping him terrorize your birth pack! I know you're desperate for love, Eason, but this is a new low."

"No, Grace," Eason said. "It would be easier for you if that was true, but it's not."

"Easier for me?"

"You are a coward. You pretend to be an ally, but when it comes to sticking your neck out, you never manage to because you want everyone to like you. You make excuses and hide, except this time, you can't, and it's so much more far-reaching than a fight with some random woman or being banned from recess. You're stuck right in the middle and clawing at the walls for a way out of making a stand on your own. You're defensive because you know you're guilty and you're ashamed. You're diverting blame because you're too ashamed to face who you really are and accept it. You're denying it because you're too comfortable in the way you've always been to give it up, and you disengage with anything you think is going to push you at the drop of a hat because you don't want the responsibility of stepping up."

He got closer, meeting my gaze. "You're not just running from reality. You're running from yourself."

I was speechless, staring into his unnatural violently purple gaze.

"And now that it's led you here, you're foisting off all your fear, doubt, guilt, and insecurity on me because you know without a doubt that even though you're an asshole, even though I hate the things you do, even though I should want to strangle you more than hug you, I love you, and I'm the only person you know who will always be on your side even when you treat me like shit."

He pulled back. "But I'm not going to always be here, Grace. This phase in my life where I so desperately want to cling to what little family I have is coming to an end. And it won't just be me somewhere sending you and the kids gifts because I still want a connection; it's going to be me, gone for good, no contact, no word, and you'll have no one, and you'll have no one to blame yourself."

"Why don't you just say it's all my fault?" I glared at him. "Isn't that what you're getting at?"

"Why?" Eason asked. "What good does it do?"

"You tell me."

He scoffed and opened the door. "Why don't you use that science brain and think about it? Use the Scientific Method or something. Run some experiments and get back to me."

"You're really not going to admit you want to be alpha?" I asked. "After everything you claim to have done for Mooncrest?"

"You think I give a damn about this place?" Eason asked, blinking at me. "About what Frank and Michael and all the rest?"

"Of course you do. They--"

"Grace, you give a damn about these people," Eason said. "And for some crazy reason, I still give a damn about you." He tilted his head, looking at me as if he was seeing me for the first time. "What I don't get is why that's so hard for you to believe. Admittedly, you don't deserve it most of the time, if any of the time, but you're still my sister... and I've been your munchkin since I was two years old."

I couldn't speak as he turned to face the car.

"Come or don't."

He got into the car and slid over to let me get in. I turned to climb in, but before I could even get my other leg in and close the door, something shoved me hard, sending me tumbling onto the pavement. Pain shot through me, aggravating the pain from being thrown into a wall earlier. My arm ached from when Eason had grabbed me earlier. Then, the car sped off without warning, its tires screeching against the asphalt and the force slamming the door shut on Eason's voice.

"Run!"

Panic surged through me as I heard another car behind me. My heart raced as I turned slowly to see the exact same car, slow to a stop. George stepped out of the driver's seat, and my blood ran cold.

"George..." I whispered. "The driver... that brought us here..."

"I traded out with him," George said, coming around to get me off the ground. I hissed. "Where's Eason?"

My jaw trembled. My eyes burned.

"Gone."