Steve didn't follow me. I was glad. I wiped my damp cheeks and headed down the corridor without looking back.
The passageway wound into a large underground cavern. A faint light trickled down from above, and I looked up to see the moon high over the mouth of what had to be a well. Steve had been right about his theory. It made sense, the trails of water dripping from the walls. There had to be a hidden stream somewhere. Ripe muck sucked at my sneakers and my lips turned down.
A groan echoed off the walls.
"Ty?" asked.
Several small rocks crumbled and rolled on the floor, revealing a small form blanketed by shadows. She sat on the ground clutching her knees to her chest.
"Charlotte?" Ty asked. Her voice sounded weak.
"Ty!" I rushed to her side and slid down on the muddy earth, wrapping my arms around her. "You're alive. Oh, Ty. I'm so sorry. This is all my fault. I know what happened. I'm so sorry."
"Where's Aaron?" she asked.
I shook my head. "Don't worry about Aaron. He's with Liam. Liam's got him under control. He's not going to touch you."
"What?" Ty's body stiffened under my arms. She pulled back. "He's with Liam?"
Her reaction confused me. "Yes. Aaron's pack ambushed us in the woods, but I stopped them...." My voice trailed off. Ty's appearance went three shades whiter. "Ty?" I asked.
"Is he okay?"
The vision of the fight in the woods made me shutter. "It was bad. I think Liam's shoulder got torn open, but he's okay." I tried to push the image away. It reminded me that I didn't know if he was okay.
"No," Ty said, her voice more urgent. "Not Liam, Aaron. Is Aaron okay?"
"What?"
"Please," she said. "Just tell me he's okay. Please?"
I saw Liam's teeth sink into Aaron's neck. I had stopped it. What would have happened if I hadn't? "He's okay," I said.
Ty exhaled, her body nearly collapsing with relief.
"Ty. What's going on here? Why are you concerned about Aaron? I mean, remember the whole psycho stalker killer werewolf thing? He kidnapped you."
"No, he didn't," Ty said, pushing herself up to her feet. "And he's not a psycho killer. If there's any psycho werewolves around here, it's the one you're dating."
"What?" Had I stepped into an alternate dimension? "Ty, how can you say that? Liam's done nothing but try to help you and find you. Aaron was the one..."
"He didn't kidnap me," she said with a snap. "I left with him. It was planned."
"What?" I couldn't believe this.
"I'm sorry, Charlotte. The whole idea was to get you away from Liam. We knew you'd come after me. We had planned on him sneaking off with me when we got to my house, but then there was the accident. It just worked."
My jaw dropped. "He killed the truck driver and you are okay with this?"
"What? God, no, Charlotte." Ty shook her head. "That wasn't him."
"Then who was it? We know it was a wolf."
She shrugged, giving me a look that went through me.
"Liam didn't do it. Don't even think that," I said.
"Was he at the scene?"
I refused to answer. My lips turned down.
"Why would you do this? You're supposed to be my best friend."
"I do care. Liam is using you. Aaron doesn't want to hurt you. He just wants you away from Liam. He doesn't love you, Charlotte. He only wants you because of your gift. It's all about his brother. It always has been. Liam has had this need to control Aaron since they were kids. He kicked him out of his own pack, his own twin brother. If Liam has you around, Liam gets ultimate control over him. He stays Alpha and Aaron never gets to come home. Liam is afraid of losing control to Aaron."
Aaron's words to me in the woods echoed in my head. Liam had said not to listen to him. "No, he's messing with you, Ty. Aaron's a killer."
"It was self-defense, Charlotte," Ty said. "Yeah, Liam nicely left that part out, didn't he?"
"Self-defense? The guy he killed was only seventeen!"
Ty fidgeted. "Okay, that was an accident. The real Liam was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Aaron said the two older hunters had been slaughtering animals for weeks. He said it was sick how they toyed with the poor animals, letting them die slow painful deaths. He got too close one night and they spotted him. They had their guns out before Aaron even knew what was happening. He took a couple of bullets in the hip, before his wolf's instincts of survival kicked in. It happened so fast and then they were dead, all of them, including the teenage boy."
"That was what he said, huh?" I didn't believe a word of it. Ty hadn't seen the venomous glare Aaron gave me in the woods. He was full of it. I knew it. "And just when did you have this enlightening conversation with the killer, Ty? Was this before or after he kidnapped you?"
A low rumble sounded from Ty's chest and her eyes narrowed. "The night I went home with the album, he followed me. Aaron went through the book and explained everything to me that night. He also wasn't the one in your room, Charlotte. He was with me."
"Oh great. So now what? You're dating the killer?"
"Fine," Ty said with a huff, crossing her arms. "I'm not talking to you anymore. You obviously don't care about my feelings."
"Don't care about your feelings? I just risked my life coming here because of you. All I cared about was trying to help you. How dare you."
"Yeah, but you're so closed minded you can't even see what's going on around you. Did you hear me when I said Aaron wasn't the one who broke into your room? He didn't kill the truck driver either."
"Yeah, well, it wasn't Liam either."
"Whatever, Charlotte," Ty said, rolling her eyes.
"I hate you."
I turned before she could see my tears. I just wanted to get out of there. I wanted to go home.
"It was all a lie? You were never kidnapped. No one was ever following you?"
A deafening silence filled the air. I nodded and started out of the room.
"Charlotte..." Ty said. "Please don't. I didn't mean to hurt you. Look, I thought I was helping."
"By lying?" I paused without turning around. "I thought you were hurt, Ty. I thought I was going to find you dead, just like the other people." I scrunched my face up, trying to stop the tears. It hurt. "You can go to hell."
"Wait," Ty said. "What people? Charlotte..."
I didn't respond, leaving her at the base of the well. As soon as I rounded the corner, my legs stopped working. I fell backwards against the stone wall, covered my face with my hands, and sobbed.
"Are you hurt?" Liam asked.
I pulled my hands free from my damp cheeks. Liam rested his palm on my shoulder and my heart burned.
I didn't care how he got there. I wrapped my arms around his waist and buried myself in his chest.
"Hey, it's okay," he said, holding me.
I ran my sleeve across my face one more time. "How did you know where to find me?"
"Your note," Liam said. He motioned behind him and I saw Steve standing in the shadows along with the others.
"I went to go find a phone and ran into them just outside the barn," Steve said.
Liam grumbled something under his breath.
"It wasn't his fault," I said. "I didn't give him a choice in coming here." I sniffled, trying to compose myself. "What about Aaron? Ty's a werewolf."
"I know," Liam said, and brushed the back of his hand down my cheek. "Steve filled us in on the way down here. I'm sorry."
"I'm right here, darling," Aaron said, pushing in between Byron and Flynt. His auburn hair dangled over his mocking, blue gaze. My stomach turned and a ripple threaded up the underside of my arm.
Liam snarled at Aaron to stay back, but I couldn't contain my anger. "How dare you?" My body lunged for Aaron, but Liam held me back. I scrambled and struggled against his hold. He would pay for what he did to my friend.
"Charlotte, stop," Liam said.
Aaron gleamed at me from behind Liam's back.
"I told you I was fond of the cute little thing," Aaron said with a chuckle. "I'm not the brother who lies."
"Shut up," Liam said. His human jaw snapped at his brother.
"You bastard!" I yelled. My skin began to quiver. "You ruined my friend. You went and brainwashed her to your messed up psycho schemes and then turned her. How could you? You're evil. I hope Liam bans you forever!"
Never in my life had I felt so angry. I didn't even recognize myself. Aaron didn't even look sorry.
"Where is she?" Aaron asked. He ignored my rant, which fueled my rage even more. He lifted his nose, sniffing the air.
"Like you really care," I said.
Aaron's eyes flashed gold and his lips rose with a snarl. "You don't know anything about me."
"Aaron?" Ty's voice wavered, echoing through the cavern.
His nostril's flared and he turned towards the voice. Moving more wolf-like than human, he moved past us, and disappeared down the tunnel.
"Don't touch her," I said. Liam caught my arm. "What are you doing?" I asked.
"She's his mate, Charlotte. They've mated. I'm sorry, but you don't challenge for someone else's mate."
"Well I do."
This was insane. I freed myself from Liam's arms and took off after them.
I could hear Liam and the others moving behind me, but I refused to look. My legs had never moved so fast. My muscles burned as I ran around the corner into the large open cavern, but I stopped short.
Aaron sat on the muddy floor with Ty, locked in an embrace. His hands threaded up through her blonde curls as they kissed. He looked...choked up.
I was speechless.
"Are you okay? Did he hurt you?" Ty asked.
"No. Nobody hurt me," he said. Over the back of Ty's shoulder, his gaze caught mine, daring me to say something. My skin crawled, and his focus went back on Ty.
"I'm sorry, Aaron. She wouldn't listen to me."
"Shh," Aaron whispered, stroking her hair. "It's okay."
Liam growled behind me, glowering at his brother. He wrapped his arms around me, pulling me to his chest. "Was that what you intended to do Aaron, talk to her?"
Aaron feigned an innocent smile. "Of course. What'd you think I would do?"
"A bit of an elaborate plan for a discussion, wouldn't you say? What'd you plan on doing, Aaron? Get away from me, come back here, and kill her?" I could feel his muscles tensing.
"Don't be ridiculous." Aaron nuzzled his nose into Ty's soft curls. "I would never hurt Charlotte. She's a friend of Ty's."
The back of my neck crawled.
"Sure you wouldn't," Liam said, "even if she were the one thing stopping you from becoming Alpha?"
Ty's blue orbs turned up to Aaron. "What's he talking about, baby?"
"Nothing. I think my brother hit his head in the woods. Are you okay though, love?" Aaron asked, cupping Ty's chin. "How did you get those bodies in there anyway?"
"Steve told us about them too," Liam said. "Don't worry. Your friend will be safe. We'll cover up the deaths and then we'll teach her how to control her shifts. She won't hunt a human again, I promise you."
The reality of the situation crashed down on me. Ty couldn't have...
"What bodies?" Ty asked.
Aaron faked a laugh. "That's cute, honey, but seriously. We all know." He rolled his eyes. "It's okay. I wasn't here to help you through your first change and I'm sorry. It's my fault."
"Aaron," Ty said with a straight face. "I haven't changed yet."
"What do you mean?"
"I haven't shifted into a wolf. I didn't hurt anyone."
The color drained from Aaron's face. The walls of the well began to feel too close, and my image of the dank tomb haunted me. Everyone realized it at once.
We weren't alone.