Page 10 of Sasha's Wounded Wolf

“I want to be there when Easton and Lincoln meet with the James Pack. I need to see them. I need to know things only they can tell me, but—”

I held up my hand before Nico could interrupt.

“But I’d like to have that conversation quietly. Do you think they’re at Lincoln’s house?”

“That would be the logical thing,” Nico agreed. “I can go check if you like.”

I shook my head.

“I want you to stay here with Raine.”

“Sasha…” Nico began but paused when I shook my head.

“It’s my turn. I can go see if Lincoln and Easton are there, or I can go see about meeting with Raina Byrd before tomorrow’s meeting.”

“Raina James,” Nico corrected me. “I can make some calls. See if she and James would be willing to stop by tonight. I don’t like the idea of you going alone to see Easton and Lincoln.”

“Why? You know they wouldn’t hurt me.”

“I don’t know anything anymore. They disappeared right after Rowan was killed and you were attacked. No word from them. Nothing. That makes them look guilty.”

“We disappeared right after the attack,” I reminded my brother. “You tossed our cells, cleaned out our apartment and made sure we disappeared. How were they going to reach out to us?”

Nico shrugged. “You were my priority. Rowan died. You were attacked and almost killed. They disappeared. What conclusion would you make?”

“That they were searching for something. Or someone. They loved Rowan like a brother. You know that. And Rowan wasn’t the only one killed. They lost Patrick and Josh that day, too. Hell, there’s no way they even knew about the attack on me. If they left, it was to find answers to what happened to their pack brothers, to their alpha. Neither of them would ever betray Rowan. I know that. You know that.”

Nico sighed, turning and pacing across the kitchen while raking his fingers through his hair. “I want to believe that, but the truth is I don’t know. None of the men who attacked you had a clue who hired them or why. You remember those conversations. They only knew you weren’t supposed to survive. They were contacted anonymously and paid in cash left in a public locker. The key mailed to them after you were presumed dead. None of them knew anything about Rowan. No matter how many times you asked them.”

I growled as frustrated now as I had been then at the lack of answers. I still believed Richard Byrd factored in somehow. At least with me. He might not have set up his son’s accident, but the man would have gladly ordered me killed. If that was what it took to get me out of Rowan’s life, then Richard Byrd would have done it with no remorse. The man was evil. Rowan hadn’t seen it, but I had. I’d heard it when he’d told his son I wasn’t worthy of him, that I would bring nothing to the pack as if I was nothing.

A knock on the backdoor had us both freezing in place. I nodded toward the front room and slipped out of the kitchen as quietly as I could and into the main room of the house. I was creeping toward the back hallway and the bedroom I had Raine in but paused when I heard voices in the kitchen. Nico must have answered the door. Before I could move again, the front door opened, and a man stepped inside. A fraction too late, my brain processed the fact it was Bastion James. I crouched, blocking the way to Raine, claws out, a growl rumbling from my throat.

“Sasha!” Nico cried as he tore into the room with Anthony and Donovan on his heels. My brother raced to my side, placing himself between me and any danger that might come my way.

James sauntered in with a raised brow, several others following behind him. I told myself to relax, to retract my claws, but my wolf was too close to the surface and the need to protect my son was too intrinsic to override. Then a woman caught my attention. Raina James. I saw my mate in her eyes, the set of her nose. They might have different coloring, but their facial features shouted their relation to one another.

“Sasha,” Nico called, not daring to touch me but still trying to get my attention.

“Is there a reason your sister looks like she’s ready to attack me?” Bastion James asked as if he weren’t concerned at all.

Another growl rumbled in my chest. Bastion let his wolf rise within him as if the alpha animal might help me relax. Not with my son down the hall. I’d take out every bastard in the room if I needed to.

“Maybe because you walked into the house unannounced,” I snapped.

“Sasha,” Nico tried to pull my attention to him, but I wasn’t taking my gaze off the men ranging around the room in front of me. Another growl filled my chest. I knew about the James Pack. I knew them. That was to my advantage. They didn’t know me.

“Stand down. Damn it! Stand down, Sasha. They’re not going to hurt anyone.”

“Then tell them to stop edging closer.” My gaze snapped to the man inching closer to my right. “Move much closer and they’ll be cleaning your guts off the floor when I rip you open.”

I bared my teeth, letting him see how close I was to shifting.

“What the hell?”

I knew that voice. Hannibal. Before I could say anything, the woman beside him froze. Her eyes seemed to roll back in her head.

“She is vengeance. Vengeance is she. Blood for blood. One will fall. He waits for you. Out of the dark. Into the light. Two halves made whole. And the alpha will rise.”

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