Shattered Emotions by Carrie Ann Ryan Read Free Book Online

depravity of the Pack she’d grown up with and knew what they were capable of. She only hoped the Redwoods were ready.
    “What’s going through that head of yours, Ellie?” North asked as he pulled back to walk beside her. She saw the light stiffening in Maddox’s shoulders before he loosened them, not even turning back to see what was happening.
    Oh, they would be having that talk all right. There was no way she could live with herself not knowing why he didn’t want her. Sure, it would probably break her more than anything Corbin had done, but she deserved to know the truth.
    She needed to know why she wasn’t good enough for Maddox Jamenson.
    “Ellie?”
    North’s voice brought her out of her thoughts again, and she cursed. “Sorry, I’m just thinking about things that I shouldn’t be, considering I need to keep on my toes.”
    North stopped and gave her an odd look. “You know you can always tell me anything, right?”
    Ellie gave a sad smile. He’d always said that, and she believed him. Goddess, she wanted to be able to fall to her knees and weep in his arms, telling him everything that had happened so she could finally find a way to heal…but he wasn’t Maddox.
    “I know,” she whispered, her voice low. She’d already used up any backbone she had when she yelled at Maddox.
    She’d do better at that next time.
    North let out a long sigh. “But, you’re not going to, are you?”
    She looked into those green eyes that were so much like the rest of his family’s and shook her head. “I’m sorry, North.”
    North shrugged but didn’t touch her, thankfully. She didn’t like it when people touched her—other than Maddox. Yes, North occasionally did to lead her to places, but that was about as far as she could go.
    Her wolf was damaged and wanted her mate.
    Something Ellie could agree with.
    “You two done talking?” Maddox asked, something almost painful in his tone.
    Ellie turned to look at him, an odd look on her face. North wasn’t her mate, didn’t Maddox know that?
    “Sorry to hold you up,” North bit off.
    Goddess, she hated being the person standing between them. As soon as they were in a safer place, they’d have to do what their Alpha had said and get it all out on the table. She wouldn’t be responsible for breaking the bond between twins.
    She’d already lost her own twin to evil. She wasn’t about to be responsible for the brothers’ loss, as well.
    North gave her one last look then headed off through the trees, leaving Ellie to follow them. Their enemies could come at them from any side, so it was no use putting her in the middle to protect the “little woman”. She might have been damaged and, frankly, scared to death of certain things, but she would fight if she had to—if only to protect the men so they wouldn’t have to protect her.
    The scent of rain lingered in the air, the pressure changing ever so slightly, indicating that a storm was on its way. She hoped they would be near shelter when that happened, though it would have been nice to know exactly where they were going. Maddox said he knew; therefore, she’d just have to trust him. While she trusted him with her life, she couldn’t trust him with her heart. He’d already stomped on it, and there was no reason to let it happen again.
    “Other than eternal happiness , ” her wolf whispered.
    Ellie rolled her eyes. Oh, yes, that.
    She followed the brothers without speaking for another hour until they stopped for a water break. She knew they probably could have gone on longer, but they were stopping for her.
    Her nose wrinkled at that. She wasn’t the strongest wolf, not by far, but she’d been working on gaining her strength so she could fight with the best of them. That is, if she ever got over that mind-numbing fear. It’s not that she didn’t want to fight—it was just that every time she thought about fighting back she remembered how he liked her to fight back.
    North had been helping her on that,