Page 30 of Wolf Crowned

He waved his hand at me. “Then surely they’ll take them out. Let the FBI go in guns blazing and ask questions later. They’ll be doing us a favor.”

He grasped my shoulder and shook me. “I already have men positioned to catch the runaways too, so they’ll be taken care of. Divide and conquer.”

I forced a smile. “Seems like a good idea, Dad.” I couldn’t keep the hesitation from my voice.

He arched a brow. “But?”

Little did he know we were planning to bring the fight to him. A plan I was afraid we were going to need to move up the timeline for. I just hoped Sloane and Lincoln were going to be ready for it.

I heaved out a sigh and shook my head as I looked at the well-worn boards of the front porch. “I just worry about exposing the shifter community to outsiders. We keep ourselves a secret for a reason. I wouldn’t want to do anything that could blow back on us. We don’t need that attention.”

It was a general rule. Don’t involve humans. There were rare exceptions like in my Uncle Bobby’s case. Otherwise, no one knew about us and it was an unspoken rule for all to keep it that way.

Dad squeezed my shoulder. “Don’t worry about that, Sawyer. It’s all going to be taken care of.”

That’s right. He wanted to take over the world. “What about if they turn their guns against us?”

He narrowed his eyes and his lip curled up. “They won’t.”

He sounded so sure. I wanted to ask how he knew all this, but the way he was digging into my shoulder let me know he was done with my questions. His hand was partially shifted and his nails were tearing into my flesh.

I ignored the pain and the sticky warmth dribbling down my back as I leaned forward. “What do you want me to do to help prepare?”

He released his death grip on my shoulder and clapped me on the back hard enough to make me wheeze. “Just keep training the men. I want everyone to be ready when the time comes.”

I rolled my shoulder back. It burned. My shirt clung to me where I was bleeding. I rotated my arm again. “We will be ready.“

I wasn’t talking about the men here, though; I was talking about Sloane and Lincoln. They were already working on things, finalizing plans I didn’t know about, and maybe it was for the best. At least for some of it.

My dad opened his mouth like he might say more, but the screen door creaked open and Angel stepped out.

Her eyes lit up, and a wide smile graced her face. She looked like an angelic snake.

She clutched the door as she peered around it. “When are you coming to bed?”

My dad motioned toward the door. “Soon, Angel, soon. Go upstairs and wait for me.”

She batted her eyes at him and then gave a sultry wave before slipping back inside. The door clapped shut behind her and I stared at my dad, lifting a brow.“I thought it made you ill to be with another woman?”

That’s what he’d told me not that long ago. What had changed?

He closed his eyes and rubbed his neck. “I don’t...I can’t. It’s not like that.” Red tinged his cheeks as he stumbled over his words.

Dad blew out a breath. “But she’s carrying my pup and I can’t ignore that. You know how clingy some women can be when they’re in that vulnerable state. I don’t want her to feel neglected or give her any chance of losing the child.”

I sighed. “I can understand that.”

Not really, but okay.

Dad hit my back again, giving me a little shake. “You know it scares me to be a dad again, Sawyer. After Hannah and Mikey...”

He licked his lips and closed his eyes as his shoulders hunched. “I’ve lost so much. The only thing that keeps me going is knowing that you are here and that we’re going to get our revenge against Luna for betraying us.”

I still didn’t understand why he blamed her for the actions of the shooter at the mall. It was something I may never understand. I couldn’t imagine the loss of Sloane or Lincoln or that of a child, even. It had been horrible enough when it was my mom and sister. Who knows, maybe I would feel the same.

I shook that thought away. I would never harm people. Ever. My dad probably thought the same way at one time. It was a horrifying realization.

Dad gave my shoulder another shake, drawing me from my dark thoughts. “We haven’t seen much of each other lately. There are a lot of things we need to plan and discuss.” He rubbed his hands together and a wicked glint lit his eyes. “The end of this conflict is near, Sawyer. Let’s meet up first thing in the morning. We need to prepare.”

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