Page 43 of Hunted

But already, Aerin is shaking her head. “I know Shane. He’s not the type to watch from a distance. He’s way too impatient. If that was him, and I’m still not sure I didn’t just imagine it, he would have grabbed me when he had the chance.”

I fill everyone in on the earlier conversation with Moses about the Dacres dealing with the fallout of Iain’s death and Bree unveiled as his killer. We don’t know that for sure is what set off the fighting, but ever since Bree and Shane left Winter Lake, I’ve known someone would eventually find out what she did and it would all blow up in their faces.

“Shit.” Bennett sits back in his armchair, frowning first at me, then at Aerin. “She literally killed his dad. How can he still want anything to do with her?”

“Maybe he doesn’t,” Chris says quietly. “Maybe he walked away and what’s happening down there is Bree trying to hold the pack together on her own.”

We all fall silent to consider that. And how soon it will be before we learn the pack killed her because Iain was their beloved former Alpha. They would never accept Bree as their leader once they knew she was responsible for his death.

“I’m surprised your dad isn’t sending someone in to double check,” Penny says to Aerin, who muffles a yawn before she responds.

“My dad won’t risk anyone unless he has to and that will be when or if the fighting spills over onto his territory,” Aerin says.

“Do you think you could call him?” Colton asks Aerin.

“My dad?”

Colton shakes his head. “Shane.”

She blinks at him. “CallShane?”

Colton shrugs. “Just call the pack and see who answers. It would be the fastest way of finding out what’s happening with the Dacres without sending anyone in. If Shane answers, then great, we know he’s out of our hair in Minnesota, too busy to cause any problems here. If he doesn’t answer, then we know to keep alert in case he turns up.”

We all look at him, then glance at each other.

“Why the hell not?” I pull my cell phone from my pocket and call the number for the Dacres. I’ve only called it once. To warn Shane and his father away from Winter Lake after Iain threatened to come after Aerin.

The phone rings out.

I end the call with a shrug and a grin. “I guess that would have been too easy, huh?”

“Probably,” Bennett agrees.

“Save for us driving around and looking for Shane or any other trouble to land in our laps, there’s nothing we can do but stay alert,” I say.

The meeting goes on for over an hour. We talk about everything. The scratched tree outside the hotel and anything else that seems the least bit suspicious. And I warn everyone to be vigilant.

No going into town alone. Everyone should always be with someone who has a cell phone in case of emergencies, and all the while I wish over and over again that we all lived under the same roof.

And I look at Aerin.

I will do anything to protect her. But what if someone attacks when I’m not around, or I’m distracted?

What if I fail?

15

AERIN

I’m not entirely sure what wakes me in the middle of the night until I roll over and reach for Mack.

He’s not there.

I pry my eyes open, rubbing sleep from them as I sit up. “Mack?”

Silence.

His scent is recent, and I can hear him breathing. Just… not up here.

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