Page 3 of Sasha's Wounded Wolf

“Think, Ro. Bastion James won’t let anything happen to your sister. You said it yourself. Raina is the safest she’s ever been with her mate. And Sasha. If she’s alive—”

“She is,” I interrupted.

“Then she has Nico with her. He won’t let anything happen to her. It’s time to go back, Ro. Time to let everyone know you survived. Finally flush this ghost out of the wind. And when he comes at you again, we’ll be ready.”

Maybe, I was tired. Maybe, as he’d said, I was sick of chasing the wind. But Easton was finally making sense. I’d been gone three and a half years.

“Call Bastion. Tell him you want to meet. You, E. Not me. No one knows I’m still alive until I’m ready.”

He nodded. “Whatever you want, Alpha. I’ll head in. Make the call. If we leave in the morning, we can be back in Rigton County by tomorrow night.”

“We leave tonight,” I ordered. “Arrange the meeting for two days.”

Two days. Then my whole world would change again.

Chapter Two

~Sasha~

I brushed Raine’s dark locks out of his eyes as I hummed a lullaby. My son was my whole world. The only thing that had kept me going when I’d lost my mate. I’d wanted to die. To join Rowan in whatever was next, but he’d left a piece of himself inside me. Raine would be three on his next birthday. A gift and a reminder of how long I’d been without my mate. Three years and six months. Forty-five months. One hundred and eighty weeks. Too long. Too fucking long.

Dropping a soft kiss on his brow, I finally pulled myself away, leaving his door ajar before heading back to the kitchen and the post-dinner cleanup I’d left behind to enjoy our pre-bedtime ritual. I cherished every moment with my son. The sound of running water let me know I was no longer alone.

“Hey,” I called as I cleared the doorway.

“Sit,” my brother ordered. “You look exhausted, Sasha. It’s like you forget to take care of yourself when I’m not here.”

“I’m fine, Nico.”

I’d been saying those words to him since the moment I’d pulled myself back from the edge of the madness Rowan’s death had left me in. I’d been ready to hunt down anyone and everyone to get answers. I’d wanted to burn down the world, to make them all suffer the same hell I was. I’d had to settle for killing the ones who’d come after me—or at least, the ones Nico had been able to track down. My twin was as unforgiving as I was. More ruthless and bloodthirsty most of the time.

“Sit. I’ve got the dishwasher almost loaded. Then we’ll talk.”

My gaze snapped to him, taking in the formidable male who was my other half. Just as my son had saved me, so had Nico. I couldn’t leave him alone in the world. For most of our lives, it had been just the two of us. Born to one of the few wolf packs left in Russia, our mother had snuck us out of the country as infants and raised us in America. We’d never had the security of a pack around us, but we’d had each other. That was all that had mattered. Until I met Rowan Byrd.

“You’re thinking of him.” Nico’s hand caressed my cheek before he sat at the table across from me.

“I’m always thinking of him,” I murmured.

“I know.”

There was something in his eyes that gave me pause. His expression.

“What did you find?”

Nico was always heading out to follow a lead of some sort. Though he’d tracked down the men who’d attacked me, we’d never found the person who’d ordered the attack. He’d also been casually looking into what had happened with Rowan. It didn’t help that his pack, the Rigtons, had declared it an accident. An accident! What bullshit! Trucks didn’t flip and catch fire as they did in the movies. Something had caused it to ignite. Something that wasn’t natural. I wanted vengeance for my mate. Blood for blood. My son deserved no less.

“I think it’s time we talk to Rowan’s father.”

I shook my head.

“No! Why would I talk to the man who told Rowan I wasn’t good enough for him? That Rowan should look for a woman who’d bring a strong alliance? A man who readily accepted his son’s death without question? I have nothing to say to him.”

Rowan had told his father about me prior to introducing me to the rest of the Rigton wolves. He’d wanted to wait for his sister to return before making an announcement to the whole pack. His father hadn’t wanted Rowan to settle for me, for a wolf who had no value. Rowan had ignored him. Then he’d died. I’d been attacked. When the dust had settled the only members of the Rigton wolves who’d known about me were gone. There’d been no point in seeking out the rest of the pack, so Nico had gotten me away.

“I don’t think he did,” Nico admitted, and I stared at him, searching his eyes for answers to unspoken questions. “I think he’s been lying this whole time.”

“What are you saying?”

---