GARRETT
ABOUT THIRTY MINUTES into the car ride, Emily falls asleep.
Poor thing never even changed out of her diner uniform.
Learning that Emily's vampire stepmother has been feeding off her shook me to my core. So did the way she'd been verbally berating Emily, right there. Probably for a long time before that.
Financially exploiting her too.
It's abuse.
Complex, multi-faceted abuse.
It's difficult to describe the rage that hit me—hot and blinding—but beneath it was guilt, sharp as broken glass.
I should've been there sooner. Should've stopped it well before this.
The wolf inside me wanted blood, but the man in me just wanted to hold her, to keep her safe.
If not for Emily's presence, I would have likely killed the leech right there.
Instead, I drove to the mountains just beyond Tower and shifted, sprinting up the mountainside and back down again, over and over, until the bloodlust abated.
