Chapter 43

HAZEL

Emanuel grabbed her arm and moved her behind him. He took a protective stance in front of her, shielding her from the sinister gaze in Darian’s eyes.

I stood between the two males and watched Iliana tremble in fear behind her mate. This was not happening.

I know Iliana, she would never try to hurt anyone—let alone kill a person—why wasn’t Elise protecting her?

And here I was, having promised to protect her no more than an hour ago but feeling unusually useless standing as a shield between one Alpha and one Lycan.

It broke my heart to see her cower behind Emanuel like that. When we were kids she wouldn’t even build the pit that we trapped the girls in, she said she didn’t want anyone to get hurt so she sat and drank from a juice box while I dug the hole for two hours.

I was the one who covered the hole with leaves and I was the one who told Iliana how and where to run to make sure that they would follow and fall.

We left them there afte