Page 74 of Hunted

Dominic ran forward and grabbed her, clearly thinking of charging into her arms before realizing it might have been a bad idea and slowly embracing her in a hug instead.

To be loved and validated in this moment meant everything to her jittery, trauma-ridden mind. She broke down in tears, and could feel the strain on her lungs as she wailed. Luke wasn’t sure what to do.

He moved over toward his father—what had once been his father—and looked down at the bloodied mess with its face broken in before sitting down on the floor with his head in his hands.

“I’m sorry, Luke!” she screamed. “I didn’t want to! I really didn’t.”

He nodded and looked to be under a trance before shutting his eyes and inhaling. “That thing wasn’t my dad anymore,” Luke said. “It’s okay.”

“Breathe, Abigail.” Dominic cuddled her close. “You’re going to be okay. Just breathe.”

His fingers traced along her shoulders, moving down her back. He was either checking the state of her bones or massaging her, but either way, it was immensely calming.

Both of them had been left in shambles, covered in cuts and teeth and claw marks that would surely leave scars. Luke’s left eye was partially closed, and she could see how swollen it appeared. She wished she could take care of them, but her thoughts raced with the past day’s events.

Luke and Dominic resolved to clear out the evidence of their struggle as quickly as possible, mostly out of courtesy to the motel owners, before addressing the current pack situation. While they cleaned up the motel room, Abigail recounted the events after her capture, leading up to the very moment when she knew what she had to do.

“And I kept swinging,” Abigail said. “I’m sorry, Luke. All I could think was, what if he came after me again?”

Luke nodded. “I would have done the same thing in your situation, sweetheart,” Luke said. “You don’t need to feel bad for it. I understand.”

He kept adding on words in a futile attempt to comfort her.

Abigail, even in her roused state, could tell that Luke still hadn’t fully processed the death of his father. She knew he was doing the best he could, but it would probably come to him later, at an inopportune time. That would be something they’d have to deal with when the day came, and all she could do was ready her best apology for that time.

Luke initially wanted to dispose of the body—no need to bother the civilian population with this atrocity—but Abigail and Dominic convinced him not to. He might have been insane and cruel, but he still needed a proper burial, not only for Luke’s peace of mind, but for the good of the pack. The Crimson Claw pack would need to know what happened.

The remaining loyalists who had launched the attack were outnumbered and subdued before being locked away pending trial and deliberation. They still had some fight in them, and Abigail wondered if some of them might have been feral too, the clinking of locks and chains ringing in her mind. Luke and Dominic both decided that Abigail needed to heal from her injuries, and that the Moonstone and Crimson Claw packs should oversee that healing.

“They’re going to ask you a lot of questions,” Luke said. “And I’m sorry to ask you to relive what happened all over again, but I think you should tell them everything. Leave out no details. They need to know this wasn’t your fault.”

Three days passed, and Abigail found that the more she talked about everything, the easier it was to cope. It was almost as if rather than helping with an internal pack investigation into Christian’s wrongdoing, she was actually receiving free therapy.

Her body healed quite rapidly, mostly because as much as he had tried to hurt her, this time Christian hadn’t broken anything. She felt stronger now, having gone through this terrible ordeal, and figured that nothing life could greet her with could be any worse.

Over that time, Luke had gathered everybody in Crimson Claw who had no part in the attack. Abigail was surprised to learn that many had parted ways with the pack much earlier, even before the first signs of Christian’s mental deterioration. They’d gotten a whiff of an approaching storm, and they didn’t want to bear witness to the thunder.

The number of people who sided with Christian and helped him in any capacity was actually quite slim.

Abigail was sad that her former pack had been reduced to this. She was grief-stricken to see how much it had struggled under the weight of Christian’s coup. Even today, she barely recognized the pack she’d left behind mere weeks before.

“Thank you for gathering today and for coming back in our time of need,” Luke said to the crowd of gathered Crimson Claw members. “Many of you are unaware of what has happened these past few days, though some of you might have gotten word from Abigail, who you know and love.”

Breaking the commotion, Luke stood before the crowd today as a leader—stronger and more resolute than Abigail had ever known him. She couldn’t help but feel both a little proud of him and a deepening of her love for him. Dominic, seated beside her, looked on attentively. She could feel his hand on her leg, and even in spite of the context, it excited her.

“My father Christian created discord within Crimson Claw, vowing to seize leadership and my mate Abigail for himself,” Luke said. “He attacked the Moonstone pack and kidnapped Abigail. Lives were lost in the attack on Moonstone pack, including his own.”

There was a sudden, loud burst of commotion in the room now, but Luke managed to silence the uproar with a few simple hand gestures.

“Those who aided in the attack are being held captive, pending my judgment of the situation and a pack consensus. I’ve spoken with many of you personally, and after careful reflection, I’ve decided this mutiny cannot stand. Those who aided my father in the attack will be marked and banished, not only from Crimson Claw but from every pack that frowns upon dishonor and conspiratorial thinking.”

Abigail expected to see more dissent upon hearing this, but the angry crowd began cheering as Moonstone and Crimson Claw security began marching toward where the captives had been confined.

Luke looked like he had more to say following that but moved the crowd outside instead, where each of them was branded with a permanent bite before being moved off-territory. If they wanted to make their ways in the world, they would need to do so on their own terms.

Chapter 32

Abigail

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