Chapter 2

The tightness in Elaine’s jaw and her narrow gaze fixed on the road ahead of them. She was worried. Josh didn’t kid himself that it was about him. The only person that could make her worry was Silverbane. Not even her own son, Bryce, would get that much emotion from her. The last thing Elaine wanted to do tonight was to track down Josh. Her place was at her brother’s side. That was just the kind of knowledge Jessica had known how to use to her advantage, and even though Josh didn’t have a tenth of his mother’s skill, he had to try.

“I’ll just run away again.” His heart thumped hard against the seat belt strap. “Which means you’ll spend more time chasing after me than by Silverbane’s side.”

Risking Elaine’s wrath would be worth it if he could provoke her. Elaine would do whatever it took to protect Silverbane and his rule. Her loyalty went beyond that of a sister, or even a twin. Nothing was worth more to her, not her life or even the life of her own husband.

“You can’t keep me in Wolf Creek,” Josh continued. “Even if you lock me up at the house, I’ll find a way to escape. Without his second by his side, Silverbane will respond to any challenge personally. What if something happened to him when you weren’t there to do your duty?”

Elaine veered the car down a road that was little more than an overgrown dirt path. Once they were out of sight of the main road, she slammed on the brakes and jumped out of the car. Josh watched in anticipation and dread as she stalked around to the passenger side. She wrenched the door open and pulled him out like a rag doll. Without a word, she threw him on the hood of the car. The engine whirred beneath his back.

Elaine’s gray eyes held an eerie glow in the dark. Her breath was ragged and short. Josh tried not to tense while he prepared himself for the worst.

“You are a disgrace to the Silverbane name.” Elaine’s clenched jaw muscles pulsed with every word. “If it were up to me, I’d have you beaten until you appreciated your birthright.”

“That will never happen.”

“Then I would make sure you were sent to join your mother.” Elaine punctuated her sentence by crushing Josh into the hood. The hot metal burned his back. “At least Jessica knew her place.”

Josh took a sharp breath despite the fresh waves of pain.

“Yeah, beneath Silverbane, just like everyone else.” The words hurt even though it was Josh saying them. The truth in them re-opened a wound that he could never heal. It was the same truth that he saw reflected in the eyes of nearly every pack member when they looked at him with derision and revulsion. The truth he heard every time he was berated whenever one of the pack needed to blow off steam.

Even though his mother had extolled the importance of words, more often than not she used her body to subdue the passions of the pack males. No one claimed her or Josh because the truth was that any one of half a dozen men in the pack could have sired Josh and none of them wanted to admit it. Not in a pack that valued family and heritage. Josh was a mutt without lineage, little better than the rogue his mother had been when she convinced Silverbane to take her into the pack in exchange for her services as a mediator.

Josh’s heart twisted at the thought of his mother’s tactics. Elaine hated what Jessica had done almost as much as Josh did. Instead of finding a mate of his own, Silverbane used Josh’s mother for his pleasures and left the pack without an heir. The pack wouldn’t necessarily follow Elaine if something happened to Silverbane. Josh knew Elaine resented her brother for not ensuring the future of the pack because of his attraction to its lowest member. That was exactly the sore spot Josh could use to put Elaine off-balance. Maybe even enough to give him an opportunity to make his escape.

“Ungrateful bastard,” Elaine’s voice barely rose above a whisper but carried a dire warning. “My brother made a mistake when he allowed your whore of a mother to join the pack. He should have just let her die. If it weren’t for her abilities, she would have met the fate she deserved and you would not exist.”

“Maybe that would have been for the best,” Josh said.

Adrenaline numbed his body. It was the only thing that kept him from shaking. Every muscle and sinew hummed with a strange energy, kinetic and unpredictable. Somewhere deep within him was the ability to use his words to push Elaine into a rage that would end his suffering. If only it was as easy for him as it had been for his mother. She could manipulate and control even Silverbane to a certain extent. But that was a pathetic existence of groveling and cajoling that sickened Josh to even think about, so instead he focused on the release he so desperately needed. Even if it meant death.