Page 19 of The Bull's Head

Damon cleared his throat. “Mal... Hyde... he....” A deep breath. “He and his people wanted to know if shifters tasted like the animals they were. This report talks about them having eaten some of them.”

The door opened again, and everyone froze. Alp entered the room, a glass in hand. He placed it down in front of Teddy, then turned to Mal. “Okay, what’s going on?”

Mal cleared his throat, but his voice still sounded scratchy. “I need you to go be with the kids, okay?”

Alp stomped his foot like an angry rabbit and glared at Mal. “No. I don’t know what’s going on, but I’m your mate, and anything that happens here is my business too.”

“Alp, please…,” Damon wheedled.

“No, Damon. I’m not some shrinking violet. If something is wrong, I can?—”

Mal handed him the folder. Teddy cringed when the high-pitched whine started a moment later. That was followed by a strangled cry. Mal grabbed for him, but Alp dodged him and threw the folder onto the floor, scattering the papers.

“Why? What the fuck? How could they do something so disgusting?”

“Alp, come here. Now.”

Mal opened his arms. Alp hesitated for only a moment before he lunged at his mate, who closed his arms tight, peppering kisses in Alp’s hair.

“It’ll be okay, baby. I have you.”

“It gets worse,” Teddy said, his heart in a vise. “One of the shifters they ate was Callum’s brother.”

Chapter 7

“I’ll talk to him,” Mal said.

“No. It shouldn’t be you. He… trusts me. I’m the one who should tell him.”

“How sure are you about this?” Alp asked. “Maybe it’s a mistake.”

“It isn’t,” Mal said, certainty in his voice. “We’ve been all throughout the base, and we’ve found everyone in it. There was no sign of another bull shifter.”

“What if he escaped?”

There was a desperate hope in Alp’s voice, but even Teddy could see he knew the truth. There was so much pain etched on his face, it broke Teddy’s heart. This was why he hadn’t wanted Alp involved. Family was everything to rabbits, and even if they’d never had the chance to meet Cooper, he was family through his connection with Teddy.

“I’m sorry, Alp.”

He buried his face in Mal’s chest. “Why? What could they possibly have gained from something so barbaric?”

Teddy bent and picked up the folder. He placed it back on the desk. “The papers say that they wondered if the meat from shifters tasted the same as the meat of other animals. They said, because they believed shifters were animals who mimicked human behavior, that everything should be the same as any other cow.”

“He wasn’t a fucking cow!” Alp snarled.

“He knows that, baby. Trust me, Teddy knows. He’s only telling us what the file says.”

“I—I’m sorry, Teddy,” Alp said, his voice cracking. “I shouldn’t have…. I’m sorry.”

“No, don’t be.” Teddy sucked in a breath, thinking about Callum. This might devastate him, and it was possible they’d lose him to his animal side forever. He’d seen it before when someone was so deep in grief, they simply gave up. “I don’t know what to say to Callum.”

“I can still do it,” Mal offered. “I’m the First of this pack.”

His mind screamed for him to say yes. Let Mal deal with it. But Teddy wasn’t about to let his friend suffer alone. He wanted to be there to console Callum.

“No, it has to be me. I don’t want to, but I know it has to be done.”

“Tell us everything you know,” Damon demanded. “I’m going to see the Council. The deeper this depravity goes, the more they’ve failed our peoples.”

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