Page 23 of Wolf Forsaken

"Cole is an excellent pilot. It's really the only way to get out of here quickly and without them following us." I took a pair of pants and a shirt from Eli and pulled them on. It seemed pointless to get dressed since it seemed all we did was shift and ruin our clothes. It was something we needed to work on. "I admit that at first, I thought he was full of shit about being able to fly a helicopter, but he's really quite good."

"So, you admit that I know what I'm doing." Cole smirked and opened the pilot's side door. He started to climb in, but a door opened, and a man with a long beard came out, rubbing his eyes.

"Cole?" The man stopped dead in his tracks and stared at Cole with wide eyes. "I thought they locked you up for killing... the woman." His eyes landed on me.

"Well, it turns out that I didn't killthe womanand Dante's a liar." Cole handed Eli the keys and stepped toward the man who I assumed was Ryan. "Is that what he told everybody?"

"He sent out a pack email last night telling us he was taking over as alpha because you'd murdered Ivy for challenging you." He looked me up and down. "What is this? Why are you taking the helicopter?"

Cole put his hand on the man's shoulder. "We're getting away from here for now. But I'll be back once we figure out what we're dealing with. Don't tell Dante that we were here, or that we took the helicopter."

"But…"

I stepped forward, already annoyed he had believed Dante. "When the storm clears and the sun shines again, whose side are you going to be on?" My hands formed fists against my sides, the anger I felt for Dante threatening to spill over onto this man. "Are you going to be on the rightful alpha's side or on a treasonous beta's side? A beta who shot and poisoned your alpha and tied a woman up and threw her in the river?"

The man's jaw ticked, and he looked at me seriously. "I'll kill him myself."

"Not yet. We don't know how many people are involved, and he's already caused enough deaths." I didn't know the three wolves he had killed already, but my heart ached for them and their families.

He nodded, and Cole cocked his head to the side, observing our interaction. I knew what was running through his head because it was running through mine too. The pack members were responding to me as if I was their leader.

Feeling the need to lighten the mood, I cleared my throat. "Do you have any food that we can take with us?"

Cole chuckled and put his arm around my waist. "Yeah, get the woman some food before she kills another deer."

He followed the man, which put me on edge, but he came back a few moments later, carrying a bag of beef jerky, a can of nuts, and a large bottle of water.

Eli started the helicopter and drove it out into the snow. I was suddenly hit with nerves. Not because we were flying, but because of where we had decided to fly to.

The West Arbor Pack was the closest, and with me acting as a neutral party, we could use their help to get our own pack back. They also had access to the server Eli needed to protect the pack's assets and to track down his sister. The nearest pack after them was too far away.

Xander stood off to the side, shaking his head as he watched the blades of the helicopter spin.

"Are you going to be okay?" I took his hand as we walked out to the helicopter, the snow instantly freezing my feet. "We can have a little snack in the back while we let Cole and Eli navigate. How does that sound?"

Xander had retreated into himself, and his gaze was glossy, staring straight ahead at nothing. He nodded briefly and allowed me to lead him to the back door of the helicopter. We strapped in and took the snacks from Cole.

We lifted off, Eli looking back at Xander's hand clutching mine for dear life across the space between our seats. He gave us a reassuring smile before turning forward again, the sky in front of us a mix of dark grays and whites.

After letting go of Xander's hand once we were moving toward our destination, I opened up the bag of beef jerky and offered him a piece. He stared at it as if he wasn't seeing it at all.

Since we didn't have headsets and yelling would be too distracting for Cole, who was navigating during a snowstorm, I focused on talking to Xander through my thoughts."It might help to busy yourself with something." I took a bite of the dried meat and groaned."It's no deer, but it'll do."

Xander looked over at me and blinked."You eat deer?"

I shrugged."My wolf seems to like them a lot, even though I would rather not kill them. Cole makes some mean venison too."

"Deer are sacred."He shook his head and stared past me out the window."Some packs don't believe they are, but mine did."

"Then what should I eat?"I popped a few cashews in my mouth and shut my eyes. I really couldn't stop thinking about deer.

"Anything except deer."He reached over and took the can of nuts from me, appearing to have returned to normal, or as normal as he could be."My dad always told me that eating a deer was equivalent to flipping off the gods. It’s what I grew up believing."

"The gods?"I popped a brow."Like Poseidon and shit?"

"We're about to land. Hold on, it's going to be a little rough." Cole interrupted our conversation, his voice loud over the sounds of the blades, and the helicopter shook like it was hitting turbulence.

I knew it was normal depending on the conditions, but Xander didn't and dropped the nuts, spilling them all over the floor. He gripped his seat and shut his eyes.

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