Page 59 of Rivers and Roads

There was maybe something ironic about the fact that Orion’s injuries were worse than mine in spite of me taking the blast full in the face. Or maybe it was an unintended victory for those sadistic bastards who would have loved nothing more than to hurt me in the worst way. And going after the Wolf who was soon to be my mate was my one vulnerable spot.

Of course, both of us would heal. It would take more than an explosive device and a handful of burns to do more than set us back a couple of days, and the humans knew that. This wasn’t an attempt on our lives, this was a message to all Wolves, letting us know they were amongst us. That we wouldn’t be safe because they could sneak in and out of our cities, and we wouldn’t know until one of us was lying face-down on the pavement, body on fire.

In the hours it took for Orion to regain consciousness, I paced the hallway, ignoring the impossible itch as my skin knit itself together. I spent the first hour mostly blind, but it didn’t take long for the soft parts of my body to heal. I blinked through blurry tears as the light began to return, and the moment I was able to stand, I was out of the room.

The hospital was barely functional. It felt more empty without Danyal there, and I wanted to claw the walls when they told me I couldn’t see Orion. “He needs time to recover, and he’s not conscious,” the Beta doctor told me. I recognized her vaguely from when I’d visit Danyal, and I knew she had been a medic in the war.

But we weren’t close, and I knew if my brother had been there, I’d have had access to my lover without having to beg.

It didn’t take long for Theo and Francisco to show up though, and that was at least distracting as they managed to get us a room to speak privately. Aisling was there after a couple of minutes as well, and as much as I didn’t want to trust this newcomer, I could see in her eyes, she was in this as much as we were.

“Kor briefed us before he left for Canada,” Theo said, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed.

I scratched at the bandages on my arms, feeling the way my raw skin was knitting together, and all I wanted to do was shift and hurry the process along. “I still think it’s a terrible fucking idea,” I admitted. “I’m barely together, and apparently I can’t even walk into my house without getting blown up.”

Francisco winced, and he exchanged a look with his mate, then with Aisling. “We have the area being investigated right now. One of the projects Kor had us take on before he left was setting up a more reliable security feed. Mikael put his team on it before he took off after Danyal, and they’ve gotten most of the city wired up.”

“It’s been pointed out,” Aisling said quietly from her spot near the empty hospital bed, “that our vulnerabilities aren’t within the city limits, and there are more than a few ways in and out of Corland.”

“We have them on it too,” Theo said, sounding annoyed.

I had no idea how welcome her presence was, but I knew they both hated change. Forming the Council had been difficult enough, but Kor asking them to accept another Alpha likely pushed them to the edge.

“We have a list a mile long,” I said with a quiet sigh. I scratched at some of the wounds in my face, but the scabs were starting to flake off, and raw, new skin was shining beneath them. “They’re not going to strike openly though. Not for a while.”

“What makes you so sure?” Theo asked.

I shrugged. “Because I got out. Because Orion managed to spread enough irrefutable evidence that they don’t have a leg to stand on. Even if people are willing to buy the bullshit they’re selling, at some point, they have to accept the truth and admit they’re willing to sacrifice our people for the illusion of control.”

“And not all the information has been decoded,” Aisling pointed out. “We’re getting updates daily, and Nadya’s last message said there’s video and photographic evidence of their experiments. That’s why they’re scrambling. They know what’s coming.”

I blew out a puff of air, my stomach clenching. Was it me? Did they have video of me and what I did?

I didn’t realize I was panicking until I felt Theo’s claws sink into my neck, and only then was I able to breathe. “It’s going to be me, you know. What they…what they’ve got. It’ll be all the shit they forced me to do. I can’t take Kor’s place if they…”

“Enough,” Theo said through a quiet rumble. “We’re not having this conversation right now.”

“He’s not wrong though,” Aisling said. “Our people—the people here who have suffered at the hands of these monsters, they’ll understand what happened, and they won’t question your ability to lead. But unless we can control the narrative…”

“And why the fuck wouldn’t we?” Francisco snapped.

She turned and raised a brow at him. “Because we’re not the only ones in possession of the information. You’re out of your mind if you don’t think that groups all over the world aren’t just as far as we are—maybe even further.”

I let out a trembling breath, then stepped away from Theo’s hand. “We need a contingency plan, and it might be better if I don’t take up a public position as Head Alpha.”

“I’m doing what Kor asked,” Theo said, his tone unmoving. He glanced at Francisco who didn’t meet his gaze, and I felt the betrayal there like it was a physical thing. “Fine. You want to stage a coup…”

“No one is saying that,” Aisling replied quietly.

He turned to her, his eyes flaring and narrowed. “Is that so? Are you telling me this isn’t exactly what you planned? You roll up in here and sow the seeds of discord so you can be named leader?”

She let out a rough, deep laugh. “You’re out of your fucking mind. I don’t want the position of Head Alpha. I didn’t want to be here in the first place, but I owed Kor a debt from the war. He saved my mate, and he saved me. And it’s only because I lost my entire family to these monsters that I was willing to let him cash in on this.”

Theo said nothing, and after a beat, I stepped between them. “For now, we lay low. We make no major announcements, and we wait to see if Nadya can come through before anyone else. And if she can’t…”

“Let’s say a prayer Kor finds what he needs and gets his ass back here,” Theo muttered.

I couldn’t have agreed more, but before I could voice that, the door opened, and the Beta doctor poked her head in.

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