Her throat ached with the need to cry. It was so hard not to tell Killian when he’d asked on behalf of Cara. Angeline didn’t know how much longer she could keep living the way she was.

As she approached her family’s home, she could hear Barthos talking to their father. Angeline couldn’t hear exactly what he was saying but the tone of his voice was clear enough that she didn’t have to know his exact words.

Barthos was like a steel poker, disturbing the fire of their father’s anger, and adding kindling to keep it alive.

Angeline entered through the back door to avoid the two even though she knew it would do her little good in their tiny home. Herro was inside the kitchen where the back door let her in. He took the bucket from her.

“What took you so long, Angeline? Mom is burning up with fever. I am supposed to be at work right now, they are going to give my job away to someone who is more dependable if I keep coming in late.”

“I’m sorry. I’ll go to mom-”

Herro poured some of the water into a pot on the wood burning stove. “No. I already had to tell them I wouldn’t be coming in today because of you. I’ll take care of mom. You need to watch over her tonight.”

This was his way of making sure that she didn’t leave, going after one of her visions. Angeline recognized this but she also recognized that Herro was doing the best he could to keep his temper with Angeline.

“I’ll make sure to watch over her tonight.”

Herro nodded and then he stepped away from the stove and gave Angeline a hug. “I was worried about you. We all were.”

She hugged him back but couldn’t say anything. She couldn’t lie and say she’d never do it again. Angeline also knew that even though the harsh outcome of her actions should make her wish she hadn’t gone, they didn’t.

Herro took the remaining water in the bucket and headed toward their parents’ room.

“Angeline.” Her father entered the kitchen. His light blond hair was long and he had it pulled back in a knot behind his head. His bushy white eyebrows were sitting low over his blue eyes. “You were speaking with one of the shifters?”

“Yes,” Angeline admitted.

Barthos came into the kitchen after their father. His mean smile fixed to his pale face. “She was practically challenging the thing.”

“Why would you do that? I told you when we found you this morning that you were to stay away from them. I’ve begged you and pleaded with you Angeline to ignore your silly dreams. Again, and again you defy me.”

Angeline wanted to argue but as if he saw it coming he took a giant step toward her so that he was standing toe to toe with her.

“What if she says something? This young woman, Unis. What if she tells her loud-mouthed father that you were the one to find her? How will you explain that you found her? Or what you were doing in the forest in the dead of night? Huh?” His voice was so loud with his last question Angeline was surprised her hair didn’t blow back and away from her face.

“She promised she wouldn’t say anything.”

“The shifters helped you get her back. They know you were there. Unis will be grateful for their help. Why won’t she tell when she wakes? You don’t think she’ll want to stop the battle that is clearly brewing between this town and the shifter pack on the mountain?”

Angeline lowered her gaze.

He was right. Too many people witnessed that she was there and it was very likely one of them if not all of them would eventually tell the truth about her involvement.

“I’m sorry, Dad.”

“Not good enough,” he said, throwing up his arms. “The murderer that you stopped from killing that girl. Did he see you?”

Angeline shook her head.

“How do you know he didn’t see you? He might have seen you in the woods helping to bring back the girl. What if he decides to target you? What if he decides telling everyone about you is going to keep his identity safe?”

“I was very careful not to be seen by the murderer.”

Barthos snorted from behind their father.

“Like you were careful not to be seen by anyone other than the girl you saved? Except for the entire wolf pack of course.”

Angeline looked down at her hands but her father grabbed her chin and forced her face back up so that she would look at him. “Believe it or not, Angeline. I’ve kept my temper dealing with you and these damn visions.”

She swallowed unsure of what this would mean. While her father had never held his tongue with her, she knew he’d wanted to strike her many times and held back.

“You mother is dying,” He pointed toward the bedroom where she lay and then directly between Angeline’s eyes. “and it’s your fault.”

Angeline already knew it was her fault her mother was sick but she never let herself believe that she was dying. Her mouth trembled as she fought back the tears and emotion that threatened to break free and reduce her to a heap on the kitchen floor.

Her father’s hand dropped away from her chin. “I can’t even look at you right now.” The cold look in his eyes as he backs away from Angeline makes her feel even more like crying but somehow, she holds it in.

“We will be low on trading marks since Herro missed work today. Barthos, go with your sister to the garden. We’ll need all the food we can get.”

Angeline opens the back door and exits the house to start working in the garden. She doesn’t want to hear any more from her father, even if she knows she deserves to hear every word he’s saying.

When the back door slams shut, Angeline knows that Barthos is watching her. She glances up from her position on the ground bent over the garden to say, “Don’t slam the door. Mom is trying to rest.”

Barthos strides toward her and she braces herself. There’s no telling what Barthos will do. He’s angry and he was humiliated by his own actions in front of Killian.

His dark gaze is focused on her middle. She knows what he’s going to do even before he does it but she doesn’t try to avoid it. If he gets a hit in right away, maybe it will be enough.

Barthos’ foot connects with her stomach so hard it nearly lifts her off her hands and knees.

He knocked the wind from her lungs with the blow. Angeline tipped over onto her side trying to draw in air, as her lungs were collapsed.

Barthos knelt down and leaned over her. “You have ruined all of our lives, do you know that? You don’t care. All you care about is playing the hero. You care about strangers in your dreams more than you care about your own fucking family.”

Angeline tried to sit up as her lungs whistled with the tiny gap of air beginning to funnel in, but Barthos slammed her back down. Her head hitting the hard-packed dirt.

“You remember Riverside, don’t you? One of the last fully functioning cities after all the human shifter fighting and somehow, we were allowed inside. They had busses and water from the tap. Dad got that job with the official’s office and we the trademarks he was bringing in meant that we were going to get to go to higher education.”

Angeline was finally feeling like she was getting a full breath. She already knew all this and knew where he was headed.

“We all were going to be trained in medicine. Do you know how valuable it is to be a fucking doctor these days? We would have lived the life of Gods.”

“You were failing all of your tests,” Angeline glared at him shoving his hand on her shoulder away. She rolled out of his reach and got up onto her feet. “You never would have been a doctor.”

Barthos stood up with his hands in fists. “I would’ve thought when you’re intervening got us kicked out of Riverside and you killed off the chance at a good future for yourself and your family you would have learned your lesson.”

“You don’t know what it’s like-”

“I don’t care what it’s like to be inside your screwed-up head. Mom’s never going to get back what you took from her.” His gaze was cruel, his words intentionally as sharpened to cut deep. “It’s your fault. And it’s going to be your fault when she dies.”

Angeline charged at him, ramming her shoulder into his stomach as she brought him down. Curling her fingers into fists she landed a hit to his mouth as something hard connected with the side of her head.

She fell off of Barthos with the world spinning in her gaze. Barthos threw his elbow catching her in the shoulder, as he got up. Angeline squinted at him as he stood over her. He was holding something in his hand as he raised it up over his head. “Everything would be better if you were gone, Angeline.”

His voice was even colder than normal. It was so dark he hardly sounded like himself at all. The object in his hand was hard, she knew that from the blow she’d already suffered. She couldn’t get her eyes to focus on his face, it was blurry.

She knew without seeing his face, that Barthos meant what he said.