Page 90 of What a Wolf's Heart Decides

“Well good luck stopping him.” Ben bent his head and examined his chest. He rubbed at his abraded skin and winced.

“That’s all you’re going to say?”

He looked up, frowning. “What do you want me to say? He ordered us to stay here.”

How could he be so nonchalant? Her voice rose but she didn’t care. “He could barely walk after pulling me from the avalanche.” She swept an arm toward the snow-covered porch. “How is he supposed to hunt a latent in this?”

“He’s the Alpha.” Ben’s tone held a note of incredulity, as if he thought her question was stupid but was too polite to say so.

She forced calm into her voice. “He has a disability.”

For a second, he looked confused, his brow furrowed like he was trying to do complicated math in his head. Then his expression cleared and he gave a little laugh. “Huh. Yeah, I guess he does.”

It was her turn to feel confused. What kind of attitude was that? He acted like Bard’s injury was an afterthought. Were her instincts correct about why Bard went without a Beta or Hunters? Did his pack view him as expendable? Someone to clean up messes so they didn’t have to risk their own necks? Anger fired in her gut and she mustered as much sarcasm as she could. “You guess?”

Wind gusted, sweeping snow into the foyer.

Ben shivered. “Look, Haley, I’d love to stand here and argue with you, but can you please shut the door?”

“No!” Her shout echoed off the walls, and he jumped. “He needs our help! We have to go after him.”

Now Ben’s expression darkened. “Absolutely not. He gave me an order to keep you here.”

“He could be killed!”

“Not possible.”

What? A scream of frustration built in her chest. “He’s a werewolf, Ben. Not an immortal.”

“He’s an Alpha. One whose power blew out a window, in case you haven’t noticed.”

She had, actually. It was pretty hard to miss the pane exploding outward. But that didn’t change the fact that Bard had a prosthesis. Or that he spent most of his time hiding how much pain it caused him.

The wind blew harder. She turned and closed the door.

“Thanks,” Ben said.

She turned back and started unbuttoning her shirt.

His jaw dropped. “Wait. What are you doing?”

“If you want to stay inside and cower, fine. But I’m going to help Bard.” She kept working at the buttons, her fingers moving fast.

“You can’t do that.”

She kept unbuttoning.

“Bard ordered me to keep you here.”

She slipped the shirt off her shoulders and let it drop to the ground. Shifting in front of Ben was out of the question. The mudroom was right off the garage. She could crack the door, shift, and leave the house that way.

Mind made up, she gave a small nod and headed for the hall. As she passed him, he grabbed her elbow.

“Haley, hold on a second.”

Instincts flared and all her years of training rushed to the fore. Without even realizing what she was doing, she dipped her shoulder. It caught him off guard, and he lurched into her. She countered, shoving her shoulder back up and smacking him under the chin.

He staggered back, one hand clapped to his mouth. When he lifted it away, blood dribbled from his lip and stained his palm. He studied it, the bewildered look on his face almost comical. The tiny cut on his lip healed quickly, sealing itself before her eyes. He lowered his hand, anger stirring in his eyes.

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