Page 38 of The Price They Paid

CHAPTER 13

Suess

IT’D BEEN WEEKS AND JUSTICE still hadn’t come back. Things were going well but Justice’s disappearance created an imbalance in the pack. They looked to her to keep the community running smoothly. The new structure that she and Maddox had created was brilliant. But I’d have to keep working with Maddox to continue to build our empire with her. None of that helped the fucking ache in my heart.

“Seuss,” Maddox called out to me.

“Yeah …” I turned toward him.

“Are you going to go after her?”

“I did but she’s made her decision.” I sipped my potion at the table. It helped me to block out the call of the bond. Nothing would cure it indefinitely.

Maddox sat down across from me and I considered his posture. He had things to say but he warred with himself about saying them. I snickered and took another sip. He’d eventually say what he wanted to.

“You’re back to your growly, brooding self. She made you smile. You were happy. Hell, the whole pack heard how happy you guys made each other. What’s the real reason that you haven’t claimed her?”

“I’m not ready,” I responded.

“Bullshit. I’ve known you all my life. I know when you’re lying about something.”

I was closer to Maddox than I was to my own brothers. Not that I wasn’t close to them, but Maddox was my best friend. Sometimes I wondered if we did share the same blood.

“I told you?”

“Seuss, you never let ANYBODY call you Odysseus.” Maddox folded his arms and waited. “What happened? Something had to have happened.”

I slammed my hand against the table before I jumped over it and gripped Maddox’s shirt. My face was inches from his and it took a shit ton of will not to rip out his throat. “I still owe you for that stunt that you pulled with her in the field! Watch yourself, wolf.”

Maddox’s face was unreadable. He’d not flinched one bit, and I knew it was because of that damn charmed necklace I’d given him years ago. I could feel his nervous energy, but he’d never cower. I’d given it to him in case anything ever happened to me. If my seat on the throne was ever truly challenged, Maddox’s strength would guarantee him the win. He would be a strong Alpha without the Beta gene. I’d simply provided him with the answer. A charm that made it a non-factor.

“What happened?” he asked.

His eyes glowed signaling his wolf. It excited me more than it should have. It’d been a long time since we’d brawled. It would give me a rush to tear into him. It wouldn’t be easy though. Fighting Maddox would be no easy win.

“Let it go, Maddox,” I hissed.

“What happened?”

I pulled his shirt tighter cutting off his air supply. Still he refused to engage more than he was. I could feel the life draining from his body as I deprived him of oxygen.

“Whaaaaaat happeeeeeeened?” His words were strangled but sure.

I growled loudly as I dropped him back into his chair and threw the potion I was drinking against the wall.

“She rejected the bond!”

Maddox leaned over the chair gasping for air but paused when he heard my outburst. “She what … how?”

“At the hospital, I opened the mating bond so that I could heal her. She rejected me. She said no. She doesn’t want me!”

“There’s no way … nobody is that strong.” Maddox said.

“Obviously she is.” I cursed the entire situation. Leave it to me to have the most difficult mate known to wolf. I’d asked myself a million times how it was possible for her to deny me.

The door burst open and Alice rushed in breathless. “Seuss, we have a problem. The wards around the pack grounds have been breached. Whoever’s done this is much more powerful than any spiritual being I’ve ever encountered.”

“Where are they?” I stood waiting for her response.

Alice’s eyes turned white as she reached out to the pack lands. “They’re on the east and …” Alice gasped, then her eyes turned back to normal. She struggled to breathe, and I held her head trying to soothe her.

“What is it Alice?” She seemed to be fighting something internally.

“She’s back …” she gasped. “And she’s got Justice.”

I growled knowing exactly who it was. She’d killed my mother, but I would not let her kill my mate.

“Alice, call my father and brothers.” I didn’t say anything else as I shifted and raced through the house and out the doors. Maddox was hot on my trail as we headed to find the strongest mage I’ve ever known. And this time, she wouldn’t get away.