Total pages in book: 115
Estimated words: 108368 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 542(@200wpm)___ 433(@250wpm)___ 361(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 108368 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 542(@200wpm)___ 433(@250wpm)___ 361(@300wpm)
If he said he didn’t do it, she believed him.
As the service ended, the crowd began to disperse. The grievers all gave Derren plenty of space as they passed—their eyes wide with fright and their mouths flat with distaste. A growl seeped out of Ally before she could stop it, making a few of them jump. Ha.
“It’s okay,” Derren told her, his voice low.
Ally looked at him. “No, actually, it’s not.”
Okay, no, it wasn’t. Derren loathed that he’d been branded a rapist—a creature that should be fucking killed on sight. Roni had almost been raped as a teenager, and the shifters here had lumped Derren in the same category as the fuckers who had attacked her. But he refused to get worked up about it right now; he had enough shit going on in his head. “Had you expected anything different?” He hadn’t.
“I’d hoped that maybe they’d developed a bit of sense at some point in the last decade and a half.”
Derren forced himself to resist the urge to touch her, not wanting to worsen her pain. “To admit that they were wrong, even to admit it to themselves, would mean accepting they’re exactly what you called them on the way here this morning—‘ignorant, easily led, thoughtless bastards.’ No one would want that title.” She just humphed, which pulled a weak smile from him. “Snippier than usual this morning, aren’t you?”
Yeah, as it happened, she was. In truth, Ally was feeling a little off-balance today. As usual, she had woken up wrapped in strong arms. What wasn’t at all usual, however, was that she’d woken up in her bed. Yep, she’d spent the whole night in bed. That hadn’t happened since . . . well, since before her childhood pack was slain. She didn’t know what that meant. Did it even mean anything? Was she overthinking it? Probably.
Nick, looking as pissed with these wolves as Ally was, turned to Derren. “Ready to go?”
Derren nodded. He’d paid his respects to the parents he’d once had as a kid. There was no longer any reason to—
“Shit, what the fuck does this asshole want?”
Roni’s words had Derren tracking her gaze to find a stout, elderly male shifter pausing a short distance away. Derren realized it was an old friend of his father’s.
“You shouldn’t have come,” the man stated firmly.
Ally waved a hand. “Yeah, yeah, keep walking.” The aging shifter blinked at her, clearly surprised. “You get to feel how you feel. You don’t get to offload those feelings on other people.” She ushered him away with her hands. “Shoo.” The male actually did.
Unable to help it, Derren pressed a kiss to her temple. “Thanks, baby.”
“Here we go again,” grumbled Roni.
Another shifter stopped close to them. It was a female this time, and Derren easily recognized her. He nodded stiffly. “Roxanne.”
“Derren.” She cleared her throat, and a brief smile flickered on her face. “A lot taller than when I last saw you.” Seeing that her mate was fast approaching, she quickly continued. “Mom and Dad . . . they had a will and—”
“I don’t want anything from them, Roxanne.” Derren didn’t speak with bitterness or anger. He was simply stating a fact. “I just came here to pay my respects.”
Her mate placed a hand on her shoulder. “Honey, it’s time we left.”
Roxanne bowed her head. “Yes, Warren.”
Warren eyed Derren suspiciously. “I’ve heard a lot about you.”
Derren would bet he had.
“I don’t know how you heard about your parents’ death or the funeral”—so Roxanne had gone against the crowd for once in her life—“but you had no right to come here.”
Derren tilted his head, his tone steady and calm. “What makes you think your opinion has any relevance whatsoever to me?”
“It is kind of odd that he expects you to care,” agreed Roni.
“They were my parents,” Derren said to Warren. “I have every right to attend their funeral. The fact that you’re shitting all over this day by causing a fuss at their graveside . . . Not sure they would thank you for that.”
Roxanne tugged on her mate’s arm. “We should leave.”
Warren sneered at Derren. “Do these wolves here with you know what you did?”
Ally spoke up. “Know that he was prosecuted for a crime he didn’t commit? Yes, we do.” She gave him a bright smile. “So you can run right along.”
Warren narrowed his eyes at her. “Blind faith can be a dangerous thing.”
“Yeah, I know.” Ally shot Roxanne a meaningful look, and she actually flushed. Apparently the female did in fact wonder if she’d done wrong by her brother. “Wondering” wasn’t enough, in Ally’s book. Roxanne should have acted on that sliver of doubt. He was her baby brother, for God’s sake.
“Let’s just leave,” Roxanne told her mate.
“Yes, let’s.” Warren straightened his shoulders. “I have no wish to be in the presence of these people.”