Chapter 406

"He knows." Nix’s words were soft, her eyes fully focused on the man in front of us.

"What are you talking about?" Megan turned back to us. "He’s scum."

Nix shook her head. "Look at him, Megan. Truly look, and push away your hatred towards Brandon, Vince, and well, all the male population." Megan snorted but turned back.

"What am I looking for?" Megan sighed, but focused. I stepped closer, trying to see what she was seeing.

Nix was focused on Rick. "Look at his skin. He is sweating, he’s pale, but his eyes are focused. His hand…" She trailed off.

"He’s clutching at his neck."

Megan tensed beside me. “What happened first, Rick?”

He turned his haunted eyes back to us. “What?”

Megan sighed as she crept closer. “What came first? You working with Vince? Or Abby getting branded?”

“Does it matter?” He slammed back against the wall and dropped to his ass. “It changes nothing.”

“It matters.” She growled. “It matters to me, and I know it will matter to Amy.”

“Why?” He dropped his head into his hands. “It doesn’t change that I’m a dead man, that Abby is screwed unless Amy comes back to save her, that I won’t get to watch my little girl grow up.” His voice broke, and then he did. Sobs ripped from his chest as if there was no way for him to hold them in. “I failed as a father, as a mate.” His eyes looked up and latched onto us. “As a friend.”

“What do you mean?” Megan sat back on her haunches. I could feel her softening. His words, his emotions, were breaking through her suspicion.

“I pulled Amy in. I knew. I lied to her when I said I knew nothing about magic.” He touched the back of his neck. “Her father…he had told me stories about his family. And at the time, I laughed him off. But then I met Vince.” He stopped and let out a groan that I could hear the pain in. “Have you ever met someone that you regretted? Someone if you could go back in time and never meet them, you would. That’s Vince.”

“Why?” Megan was just asking questions. “I need to know.” Her voice was firm.

"Why do you need to know if it was before or after?" Nix’s question stopped us. “We have to help him still; he has a pup, a mate.”

“Because I need to know if he betrayed Shelly. I need to know if he did this intentionally or if he was forced into it.”

“Would it change anything?” I asked her.

Megan looked back at me. “It would tell us if we can trust him.”

Nix scoffed. “A little late for that, isn’t it? We already showed him our cabin, our pup.”

The words hit me in my gut, but Megan nodded. “Exactly, we need to know if we have to move them.”

“He lured me in. He was nice at first…too nice. But I thought he was friends with Amy’s dad. I mean…” He looked at me with a pained expression and groaned. He doubled over and then shook.

“What’s wrong with you?” Megan walked as close to the bars as she could without touching.

Rick groaned and rolled over, and we all watched the rune on his neck burn bright. The skin around his neck bubbled, and blood poured from his lips. Then, like a switch, the light was gone, and Rick was left panting in a pool of his own blood.

“The rune, it was burning through the rest of the excess power. When I stop using it, it purges the rest of the magic from my system, so I can’t use it against Vince. Like a safety net.”

“It’s killing you.”

“I know…but it was the only thing I could do.”

“What are you talking about?”

Rick sighed. “Vince pulled me in, got close to me, told me his secrets, because he thought I was sold. But he didn’t know Amy’s dad was my friend, my benefactor. So when I refused to help him with her dad’s security, I woke up with the rune carved into me.”

“Then you are on his side,” Megan snarled.

But Rick just shook his head. “No…I still refused. But then Abby came home sick, and I knew I was toast. I had to play it smart. Her dad always told me to be smarter than anyone else in the room.” He shook. “I had to be, or else my little girl was dead.”

“So this was all an elaborate lie? How is Amy supposed to believe you? How is she supposed to know that you didn’t run to Vince with her secrets?”

Rick sighed. “I have no way of making her believe me. I can make a vow…I can tell her absolutely everything. Shelly already knows it all.” He leveled a look at me. “I’ve been training her to break into Vince’s system since her first day. She’s ready. She just has to find the back door I created, and then the entire system is hers.” He pushed up off the ground. “I’m really sorry you’re in here, even sorrier you’re going to die. I promise I will tell her the truth as soon as she gets back.”