Page 88 of What a Wolf's Heart Decides

Bard swung around, shock draining his anger. “What?”

Rupert kept his gaze on the ground. His face was pale as a sheet, the skin on his chest red and raw looking, his shoulders damp from the snow. He sucked in a breath. “Sam lost it. He attacked Joel in the woods.”

“You’re sure?”

“Haley saw it.”

Bard looked at her. She opened her mouth as wind whipped around her, sending snow into the air like glitter. Uncaring if she balked, he grabbed her above the elbow and pulled her inside.

“Hey!” She jerked her arm from his grip and went to Rupert’s side. Unlike Rupert, she met his stare, her cheeks flushed and her eyes blazing. Her gaze dipped to his hand, and a frown puckered her forehead.

He realized he still held her bra. Fuck. He stuffed it in his pocket and addressed Rupert. “Explain. Now.”

“I wanted to check on Haley after the avalanche.” Rupert looked up, then dropped his gaze again. “No one answered the phone, so I drove out.” He hesitated. “My apologies, Alpha, if I overstepped my bounds.”

Bard waved it off.

“I saw an unfamiliar wolf on the road.” He glanced at Haley. “She fell down an embankment. I followed her into the forest and that’s where we found Joel.”

Bard looked at Haley. “Well?” He kept his voice gruff so she wouldn’t notice the relief he felt knowing she hadn’t run off with Rupert.

She pushed damp hair away from her face with wind-reddened hands. “After I fell, I heard a . . . groan. Like someone was hurt. When I found Joel there was a man”—she shook her head—“a boy crouched over him.”

“It was Sam,” Rupert said.

Bard bit back a curse. “You’re certain?”

“She saw him in town. The description matches.” Rupert lifted his gaze, sorrow etched on his face. “He’s been showing signs.”

“I know.” Weight descended on Bard’s shoulders, as if the air itself grew heavier.

But there was no time for that. Later, he could mourn. Right now, he had a job to do.

He looked at Rupert. “Stay with her. She doesn’t leave this house.”

“Yes, Alpha.”

Haley glanced between them. “What? What are you talking about?”

Rupert patted the air with his hands in a “calm down” gesture.

A smile spread in Bard’s mind. Bad move, son.

Haley’s eyes shot fire at him, then she faced Bard, her hands on her hips. “What do you mean ‘stay with her?’ Where are you going?”

“I’m taking care of the problem, Miss Michaels.”

“But . . .” Her eyes darted to the window, where the snowstorm raged. “You can’t.”

Rupert made a strangled sound.

Her cheeks reddened. “I mean, of course you can. But . . .” She cleared her throat. “It’s just . . . You’re—”

“Alpha,” Bard said. Then he did something he rarely did.

He unleashed the full force of his power.

Rupert went to his knees right away. Haley took longer, but only by a second or two. Her eyes widened, then she sank to the floor and bent her head.

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