Page 13 of Wolf Crowned

Her eyes lit up. “Maybe you can warm me up in there, too.”

I nipped at her lips. “I like the sound of that.”

She trembled in my arms. I took a step back and grabbed her clothes, handing them to her. “Get dressed so we can get headed back.”

She took them and started tugging them back on. I scooped up my clothes.

My phone slipped out of my pocket and landed with a thud on the ground. I fumbled to pick it up and noticed the notifications on it.

My pulse spiked as I swiped it open. “No,” I whispered as I read the messages.

Sloane peered over my shoulder. “Lincoln, what’s wrong?”

I skimmed over the text as I read the email. This couldn’t be happening. How? I swallowed hard and showed her my phone as my hand shook. “It’s a notification from my web host. The DarkSide website has been taken down.”

We’d lost our way of reaching out to other packs for help.

Five

Lincoln

I smashed my finger over the return key and growled.

Sloane stopped pacing and lifted her brows as she looked at me expectantly. “Anything?”

I scrubbed a hand over my face and beat my fisted hand on the mattress. “The web host won’t restore the site. They claim there is malware in the code, which is complete and utter bullshit. My site wasn’t hacked. There is nothing malicious about it.”

This had to be my dad. But how? He didn’t have the technological knowhow. He had the connections though, and the money to make it happen. Dammit.

The bed creaked and dipped as Sloane sat next to me. She turned the computer towards her, her eyes glazing over the screen before landing on me. “Do you think you’re going to be able to do anything at all?”

I grunted and exhaled loudly. “Maybe if I call someone I might be able to talk to someone who’s competent and get them to restore it. I’m not sure yet.”

Depending on what they were dinging me for, it could be an uphill battle that would take weeks to sort out. We didn’t have that kind of time.

Sloane flipped the laptop around so it was facing me. “It’s going to be okay, Lincoln. People know that the websites are out there. People have been talking. I’m sure we can talk to Alpha Isaac and our other contacts over the phone.” She tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. “We just might need to do things the old-fashioned way.”

She was right. But phone calls wouldn’t reach as far as the interweb could. “I just hate that my dad is taking this away.”

She ran her fingers up and down my arm. “He’s doing this because he feels threatened, Lincoln. We’re getting to him. We’re doing what we need to do.”

I considered her words. She had a point. We were getting under his skin. The chat box closed itself as my inactivity timer ran out. I folded the laptop shut. “I love that you always look at the silver lining.”

She squeezed my arm. “I think I get that from my dad. Just because things aren’t going our way, doesn’t mean that we can’t make lemonade out of lemons.”

I chuckled and shook my head. “That sounds more like your mom speaking.”

Sloane giggled and rolled her eyes. “What can I say? I am my parents’ child.”

She had gotten the best traits from both her parents. I prayed to Luna every day I had more of my mom in me than my dad. Dad had been a decent person when I’d been young, but as soon as Mom and Hannah passed, he had flipped, and he’d never been the same.

Sloane patted me softly. “What can I do to help you?”

I blew out a breath and ran a hand through my hair. “I’m not sure there is much that we can do at the moment.”

I motioned to the laptop. “If we can’t get them to restore the website, I’ll either need to start over with a completely new domain and probably rebuild the site. I’ll need to find a new host too and repurchase my security certificate.”

Her eyes went wide and mouth slack. “I only understood about ten percent of what you just said right there.”

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