Chapter Eight
890 Words
No one spoke.
The younger wolf's words seemed to drain the strength from the room.
"Alpha Liam Sterling."
The leader looked from his men to the stranger standing a few feet away.
For the first time that night, he wasn't smiling.
He studied Liam from head to toe.
The black coat soaked by the rain.
The broad shoulders.
The quiet face.
Nothing about the man looked threatening.
If anything, he looked too calm.
Then the leader laughed.
It wasn't the loud, mocking laugh from before.
This one sounded forced.
"So you're Liam Sterling."
Liam didn't answer.
He was looking at me.
Not at the bruises on my arms.
Not at the blood on my lip.
At me.
It made me uncomfortable.
I looked down.
My clothes were stained with mud.
One sleeve had been torn open.
My hands were shaking.
I quietly folded them behind my back, hoping he wouldn't notice.
He noticed anyway.
"Can you put weight on your ankle?"
The question surprised me.
I looked up.
"What?"
"Your ankle."
His voice stayed gentle.
"Can you stand on it?"
I tried.
The moment I shifted my weight, pain shot through my leg.
A sharp gasp escaped my lips.
I grabbed the edge of a nearby table before I could fall.
Liam took one step forward.
He stopped himself almost immediately.
He glanced at the wolves surrounding me.
Then back at me.
"Don't force it," he said.
"You'll make it worse."
Something inside me cracked.
It wasn't because of what he said.
It was because of how he said it.
Like my pain actually mattered.
I couldn't remember the last time anyone had spoken to me that way.
Kaleb certainly hadn't.
I quickly pushed the thought away.
No.
I wasn't doing this again.
One kind voice didn't mean someone could be trusted.
I'd learned that lesson already.
The leader folded his arms.
"You seem very concerned about someone you've never met."
Liam finally looked at him.
"I've met her now."
The leader gave a short laugh.
"That's all it takes?"
Liam didn't answer.
His silence seemed to annoy the man even more.
"You don't know who she is."
"I don't."
"You don't know what she's done."
"I don't."
"You don't know why her own mate threw her away."
For the first time, something flickered across Liam's face.
Not anger.
Curiosity.
He looked at me.
I wished he wouldn't.
Shame settled heavily in my chest.
The leader noticed.
A slow smile spread across his face.
"There it is."
He pointed at me.
"See that look?"
"She knows I'm telling the truth."
My fingers curled into my palms.
Every word dragged me back to the day Kaleb rejected me.
The crowd.
The whispers.
The way everyone looked at me as if I had suddenly become worthless.
I swallowed hard.
I wasn't going to cry.
Not here.
Not in front of them.
The leader took another step toward Liam.
"Take my advice."
"Walk away."
"This girl is nothing but trouble."
Liam was quiet for a moment.
When he finally spoke, his voice was calm.
"I haven't heard her say a single cruel word since I came in."
He looked around the diner.
"But I've heard plenty from you."
The leader's smile faded.
"You think you're judging me?"
"I think I'm judging what I can see."
"And what do you see?"
Liam's eyes moved around the diner.
A frightened little girl hiding behind her mother.
Old Sal with blood running down the side of his face.
Broken chairs.
Broken plates.
Customers too scared to move.
Then he looked at me again.
"I see people who were trying to eat dinner."
His voice stayed even.
"And I see people who turned that dinner into a nightmare."
No one answered him.
Not because they agreed.
Because they couldn't argue with what was right in front of them.
The leader clicked his tongue.
"You're making this personal."
Liam shook his head.
"No."
"I'm making it simple."
"You came in here looking for one woman."
He nodded toward me.
"You found her."
"You humiliated her."
"You hurt everyone who got in your way."
His eyes settled on the leader once more.
"So tell me..."
"What exactly were you hoping to achieve?"
The leader opened his mouth.
"You ask too many questions, Alpha."
"I asked one."
Liam's voice stayed calm.
The leader looked over his shoulder at his men.
None of them laughed with him.
His smile faded.
He looked back at Liam.
"You want the truth?"
Liam said nothing.
The leader pointed at me.
"She embarrassed someone far more important than you realize."
I frowned.
"I didn't do anything."
"You existed," he snapped. "Sometimes that's enough."
His words sent a chill through me.
Liam's eyes shifted to me.
"You don't have to answer him."
I stared at him.
"Why are you helping me?"
The question slipped out before I could stop it.
He held my gaze for a moment.
Then he said quietly,
"Because no one else did."
The words hit harder than I expected.
Before I could say anything, one of the wolves rushed in from outside.
He was soaked from the rain and breathing hard.
"Boss..."
The leader turned sharply.
"What is it?"
The wolf swallowed.
"We've got a problem."
"What kind of problem?"
He glanced at Liam before lowering his voice.
"I think We're surrounded."
- Writer
