Page 18 of The Alpha's Arranged Bride

No one had shown Castor either, and somehow, he was still a good mate to her sister. He was still gruff and probably scary to most who didn’t know him, but Prairie Rose could tell that under it all, he had a good heart and that was all that mattered. That and the fact that he tried so damn hard to make Briar May happy.

Her sister rushed across the kitchen, angling herself so that Castor caught her by the elbows. She turned a still screaming Sadie so she could see her daddy. He reached out and took his daughter, setting her against his shoulder and rubbing her back. With his half-shaved head and his massive beard and all those tattoos running every inch of his body, Castor looked like someone who would excel at murder, carnage, and intimidation, but he had a way with his child that could melt anyone on the spot. Sadie quieted immediately, even though Castor was obviously and unusually tense.

“They’re bringing them in now. I came here to tell you.”

“Who?” Prairie Rose’s stomach churned nastily. Her heart started pinging off her ribs. “Who, Castor?”

“Who?” Briar May echoed, far more gently.

Prairie Rose didn’t care about being gentle. Not when she wanted to run at Castor and grasp his shirt and beg him to tell her. She now understood why his expression looked all wrong. He knew the worst. She’d seen her sister with the same face when she’d found out that Castor had been dumped on their pack lands when they thought he was safe back in Arizona. Agnar had given his word that Castor wouldn’t be harmed, but Alexander had gone against his alpha and nearly tortured his son to death.

By all rights, Castor’s father should have been killed for what he did, but Prairie Rose remembered back to Agnar saying that it was better to keep him close. What was that old saying? Keep your friends close and your enemies closer. Had Alexander returned to seek his vengeance?

For a moment she wished she’d killed the man, the night he’d tried to kill her mate. If she had done it, would she even be standing here now? She pushed that errant thought away—she wasn’t a killer.

“Castor,” Briar May prompted patiently. “You have to tell us what’s happened. Kieran clearly sent you here because he thought it was you who needed to tell me and not him. He knew Prairie Rose was here. She’s always here with me in the afternoons.”

Castor cupped Sadie’s head as he changed her position, cradling her in the crook of his arms. If he was looking at the baby, he didn’t have to look at either of them, specifically at Prairie Rose. She was about ready to throw up, imagining the worst. She’d never seen Castor at a loss for words, but it was obvious he was going over and over in his head how he could say what he needed to say.

“There was an attack, wasn’t there? It’s my mate. It’s Agnar.”

Castor didn’t raise his head. The shaved sides sported swirling black ink that trickled down his neck and disappeared under the white woolen knit sweater he wore. She could smell the earthy, animal scent of it because it was wet from falling snow and the sweat of him as he’d split wood.

“It’s all of them.”

Briar May immediately rushed to Prairie Rose and threw her arms around her. She clung tight, but really, she was the one holding both of them up. She had to swallow convulsively to keep the bile from surging up into her mouth. She was scalded by those words. The truth in them.

“Wh-what do you mean?” she stammered. Her face was hot, and she palmed her cheeks, only to realize they were soaked with silent tears.

“There was an attack from a neighboring pack. They broke the peace. My father led it. They cut through the fencing and took out the guards and then they went from house to house in the dead of the night. Agnar’s numbers had dwindled down to no more than fifty, though there were probably less after that failed challenge. Some were killed, some banished. They were methodical, and because my father led them, they knew just where to go. There was no alarm and they maimed and killed indiscriminately.”

“No!” The cry erupted from both of them. Briar May clutched Prairie Rose harder, pressing her body against hers. She felt the warmth of her, the sweetness of motherhood that clung to her.

All those men, those women she’d seen in the cave just a little over a month ago, they were all gone? It didn’t seem possible.

“I’m afraid it’s true. The men tried to fight while the women took the children and ran to the desert, but they had men waiting. My father planned for everything. He didn’t want to spare anyone. He wanted the pack wiped out. Agnar saw what was happening and he charged towards the caves. I don’t know how many men he killed so the women and children could escape, but when he was done, he went back and tried to fight his way through, back to his men.”

Agnar was dead. He was dead, the pack wiped out, his dream vanished. The boys were fatherless now. They’d lost their mother already. She was little more than a stranger they’d been handed over to. Her whole pack was a strange place to them. They might have hidden their ache at adapting and stuffed their true feelings about the whole thing deep down, but she knew they were hurt before. How could they possibly survive this now? They had no home to go back to. The only remaining family they had was the Nightfall Pack, and they weren’t family at all. They had her, but would they want her? Could she ever be enough?

Theirs hadn’t been a match for love, but she still felt like her heart had been cut out and put on a grinding stone. It was being slowly pulverized into utter obliteration. Not even mere dust would remain.

She clutched at Briar May’s shirt and buried her face there. Her sister held her tight while she sobbed.

“The rest you’ll have to ask him, but I’m assuming he’ll tell you. He asked for you specifically and Kieran sent me straight here. He doesn’t want the boys to know anything yet, until he’s spoken with you.”

Her head snapped back and up. “What?” She hadn’t heard correctly. She was making it up in her head, her deepest wishes.

Castor nodded. He couldn’t really be nodding, could he? Was she making that up too? She felt disgustingly disoriented, far worse than the night she’d been drugged.

“Out of those forty-five or so that would have been left, there are only twelve. The pack is no more. The lands have been usurped. I know I have no right to ask this of you, but these are people I grew up with. These are friends. Men and women I trained with. They might be a hard lot, but they do have hearts. Hearts that some will never show to anyone, but trust me, they’re there. They’ve been broken over and over, those hearts. No matter how many times, they’ve always come back strong. It’s vengeance that keeps them going, sometimes because it’s all they have left. Vengeance, violence, and the warrior code,” Castor stopped speaking and shifted Sadie in his arms. He fixed her with his pale blue eyes, “I needyou to convince Agnar that it’s not the way. These people can’t do this again. They’ve been broken. I’ve seen this happen to other packs. There’s no rising from the ashes this time. Please. When you speak with him, let him see he could have a home here. Kieran has already said this can be. But Agnar, he’s been through hell, and he’s been at the helm. I need to warn you that he’s hurting in every way. He was… the way I was brought in… he’s worse.”

She was completely out of breath, Castor’s words falling like blades to cut her from every angle. How could Agnar possibly be in a worse state? When Castor was dumped on their lands, he was barely conscious and had been in and out of such a high fever from infected wounds that it had been days before he came around.

Speak to Agnar? There was nothing she could say or do that could even begin to mend this type of loss. She couldn’t even fathom the magnitude of it. She hurt for every one of those people coming in. They’d lost family. Loved ones. Fellow packmates. It was a horror that they’d relive every day for the rest of their lives. Somehow, they’d have to make a new start in a strange land with complete strangers.

“I’m so sorry, Castor.” Briar May only left her to put her arms around her mate. She rested her cheek against his shoulder, careful not to bump Sadie in his arms. It was right that she offered him comfort. He’d lost friends and probably family. He hid it well, but he had to be devastated. He wouldn’t break down because he was too well trained, but behind that careful arrangement, he had to be bleeding out.

Agnar was alpha of nothing now, but he had been alpha of an entire pack. He’d trusted and believed in peace. He’d banished Alexander instead of having him killed. And he’d been betrayed. Again.

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