Page 30 of Gabe's Lone Wolf

“I know,” I did my best to assure them.

I’d become pretty close with Raina and Bee, and of course with Cici and Rebbie, who I spent most of my time with. I’d even grown fond of Ivy and her mate, Cyan, who was Bas’ beta. Everyone was wonderful. They all had their own stories, and the more I discovered the greater my respect for this pack grew. That was the thing. They weren’t just a wolf pack. They were a family, and it showed in the way they treated one another. If I ever again saw the stranger who’d sent me this way, I’d give him the biggest hug and kiss. He’d not only saved my life that night, but he’d set me on a journey to a new life.

“Are you coming to the house tonight?” Bee asked. Cici and Rebbie had been talking about girls’ night at Bee’s for the last few days.

“That’s the plan. I hear there’s lots of booze and dancing.”

“Don’t forget the shit talking,” Raina added with a laugh.

“Oh, there’s plenty of that, too,” Bee agreed.

I’d never had girlfriends. I was still learning the semantics of the group. How they picked at each other and the mates. They teased and poked fun at one another and even discussed the prowess of their mates, sometimes comparing notes on who did what with the most finesse. Thankfully, they didn’t go into detail on anything. It was vague-ish. But enough info was given the guys were teased when they showed up. Not that any of them showed a bit of embarrassment.

“Wait!” Bee yelled, and I paused as I turned quickly toward her.

“What?”

I’d picked up a load of papers from the back of the Jeep and was in the process of moving them to the box Raina had given me for that purpose. Instead, the bulk of them spilled everywhere.

“I’m pretty sure I can actually see the floorboard now,” Bee stated with a grin.

“Very funny,” I groused, bending to pick up things. Raina and Bee both knelt to help.

“What is this?” Bee asked, holding up an envelope with Raina’s name written across the front.

“I have no idea. I haven’t seen that before.”

“It was in your back seat,” Bee continued then stopped talking as we both took in how pale and quiet Raina was.

Raina took the paper, running her fingers over her name on the front.

“It’s Rowan’s writing.”

“The man who sent you here?” Bee began. “He had burn marks on him?”

“No.” Raina shook her head.

Bee ignored her. “He was similar to Raina.”

“No,” she said again, louder.

“I told you my feelings on your brother’s death,” Bee warned her sister-in-law.

I tried to keep my surprise off my face. I’d heard about Rowan Byrd, former alpha of the Rigton Pack, a pack that had now been absorbed into the James Pack. Gabe had told me about the Rigton elders begging Bas to take them on, about them offering Raina to him as a mate. It was archaic but the way things had once been done. I’d also learned Raina had made her feelings on that very well known, but the two were together, so it appeared it had all worked out.

“He can’t be alive,” Raina argued.

“Why?”

“Because then it means he left us. Left our pack to the mercy of those who wanted to tear us apart. He left me! Why would he leave me?”

“Open the envelope and find out,” Bee challenged.

Raina glanced at the envelope as if it were a snake, coiled and ready to strike. She brushed her fingers over it once again then clenched her teeth and eased it open. Her face grew paler as she read. She glanced up briefly then read it again. Tears poured down her face.

“He wrote it before…”

Her voice broke, and I automatically stepped forward. I couldn’t not when she was so broken in that moment. Bee was there, too, and we just held her while she worked through her emotions.

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