Page 61 of Wolf Marked

In the silence, Erec’s annoyance heightened. He growled and gripped the bars tightly. “How do you know my name?” His shouts echoed in the stillness around them. “What do you want from me?”

Something wicked gleamed in Jerrick’s gaze. “I want what every father wants from their son, Erec. Absolute loyalty.”

Erec couldn’t breathe. The words hit him like blows, and he stumbled back, away from the bars. He had to be in another nightmare. He had to be. That was the only explanation. He was still unconscious and locked in some kind of horrible, horrible dream.

But the pain still clinging to his body from the fight told him he was awake. This nightmare was real.

“When I saw you in the east-side pack that night, I couldn’t believe I had found you again,” Jerrick said.

“No.” Erec’s voice climbed as the fury swirled. His parents were dead. “You’re lying.”

The woman stepped forward, and Erec noticed the deep blue tint to her eyes. The same color as his. Heart hammering in his chest, he realized where the sense of knowing had come from. The more he searched her features, the more he saw himself. The shape of her lips, the color of her hair, even the arch of her nose—they were all his.

Was he hallucinating?

“It’s true…” The woman’s voice was soft and tinged with sadness. She walked over to the bars and reached a hand inside. Erec crawled farther away. “My baby.”

“No…it can’t be…” Glancing at Jerrick, Erec found his own chin and height, but thatwas all. He didn’t share any more of his looks, but the woman…he couldn’t deny the similarities he saw. They were striking. Unnerving. “My parents are dead. Mikel found me in the woods.”

The woman frowned. “It’s not true. I never wanted to leave you, Erec. He—”

“Keep your mouth shut, Eva,” Jerrick snapped, and the woman clamped her lips shut and stepped away from the cage obediently. Jerrick took her place in front of the bars. “You are my blood,” he told Erec. His gaze darkened on him. “That fool, Mikel, was wrong to tell you anything else. You’re my son.”

“I’d rather be dead,” Erec spit out.

A toothy grin stretched across Jerrick’s face. “If that’s how you really feel, that can be arranged.”

“Jerrick,” Eva gasped, touching his arm. “Please. You promised.”

He ripped her hand off him and growled loudly. She shrank farther from him, her head down. “I’m sorry,” she whispered.

Jerrick whipped back to Erec. “I have big plans for my family and my pack. We attack the west pack the morning after the Blue Moon. When their numbers have suffered from the curse.”

Erec thrust his shoulder forward, the one bearing his blue marks. “I’ll be dead before any of that. This is my last Blue Moon, too.”

Jerrick seemed unbothered by this. “I’ll get you a girl for that night. The soul mate part is just myth. Any female will do.”

He was a fool. And completely mad. Although, how a psychopath like Jerrick found his mate was bewildering, but witnessing Eva’s submissive nature, it made a little more sense. She was the calm to his crazy.

Erec had always wanted a family and a place to belong, but not this. He didn’t want to believe he shared blood—or anything—with this maniac. As much as he told himself it wasn’t true, that this was another of Jerrick’s games, the resemblance between Erec and the alpha’s mate, Eva, was undeniable. Could this woman really be his mother?

“I’m not helping you kill innocent people and overrun more packs,” Erec snarled at Jerrick. Even with all the certainties staring him in the face, he refused to admit, even to himself, that the bloodthirsty wolf was his father. “I won’t.”

Jerrick’s jaw tightened. Infuriation blazed in his eyes. “Then you can rot in here untilthe curse claims you.” With that, he spun around and stalked back into the shadows.

Eva lingered behind for a few moments, glancing back and forth between Erec and her mate’s disappearing figure. Regret weighted her expression, but not long after, she turned around and followed in Jerrick’s wake, her steps slow, almost hesitant, as she left Erec alone again.

Erec jumped to his feet and rushed to the cage’s bars. Fury taking over, he punched the metal repeatedly and yelled as loud as his lungs would allow. Frightened birds flew from nearby bushes, taking to the skies as an escape, but no other movement stirred. No one came back to the cage where he was, and his rage became uncontrollable. He struck his prison cell and shouted against the wind until the pain in his knuckles turned into nothing more than numbness and his voice grew too hoarse to produce any more sound. Then exhaustion took over, and he collapsed onto his knees, his chin tucked to his chest. Defeated.

Chapter Nineteen

Astrid stuck her nose in the air and sniffed. She, Bec, and Kalle had been following the odors of unwashed clothing, urine, and wet fur, along with Erec’s distinct scent of cedar and smoke for the last few hours, but they were fading. And quickly, now that another winter storm had begun to whip through the forest. Because the clumps of drifting snow had already blanketed the tracks from Jerrick’s men, the three of them were left to rely solely on their noses to lead them to the pack and Erec. But even smells were getting harder to track with the wind blustering in all directions and the wetness diluting any lingering scent trails.

The cold was relentless. The prickling of it across Astrid’s cheeks, nose, and ears had turned to a sharp burning, and no matter how many layers of wool and fur she had wrapped around her frame, nothing could stop her teeth from chattering. The storm was slowing them down. Every passing second felt too long, knowing Erec was still in danger. Every moment he was with Jerrick and not her, the odds of something terrible happening to him only increased.

It was too painful to think about, and so she didn’t—at least she tried not to, as best as she could, and forced her focus on the trail they were following. They trudged through the drifts in silence for some time, until the bustling wind changed direction again, coming from the south this time. The snow fell harder, blurring the forest in front of them.

Kalle cursed loud enough for Astrid to hear him over the whistling past her ears. At first, she thought it was from the harsh conditions they were fighting against, but when she sniffed the air again, she realized the true reason why. The scents they had been following had vanished, dispersed, completely lost in the storm. They all stopped and looked at each other.

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