Page 49 of Run Free

I shook my head. “I don’t think so. I ran through a large field and came to a railroad track. There was a rundown trailer park on the other side. I crossed the tracks and investigated. At first I thought it was some seedier part of Collier that Clara hadn’t shown me, but I soon discovered I was on another pack’s land. I immediately turned to leave, but there were voices, and I heard them talking about you. Some old guy, Jedidiah. That’s the Alpha. He’s not in good health, and he wants you dead.”

Thomas nodded. “Some of his wolves made a coordinated attack on both me and Cole Anderson during my Alpha ceremony. Cole was injured, but he’s okay. Somefriendshelped us along the way. They have access to a lot of high tech medicines.”

“The Verndari?” I asked.

Thomas’s eyes went wide. “What? Where did you hear about them?”

I looked confused and shrugged. “Clara and I work for them.”

Thomas sat back in his chair like all the wind had just been taken out of his sails.

“You didn’t know?”

He shook his head.

“She didn’t tell me it was supposed to be a secret or anything.” I thought back to all I knew of the humans. Yes, they were a secret organization, but I thought that was secret from the other humans, not shifters. I made a mental note to ask Clara about it later.

“Um, yeah, I’ll speak with you both on that subject later, but back to Jedidiah.”

“Yeah, sure. Jedidiah and some guy named Tamir,” I started.

“I know who he is,” Thomas interrupted and nodded, not surprised to hear that.

“Tamir was named heir to Jedidiah. Before the Alpha dies he wants to take over Collier and reunite the packs under his leadership. They have a plan in place to poison you so you’ll be weak enough that Jedidiah can finish you off himself.”

I told him the details of their plan and reaffirmed my decision to get Clara as far away as possible. He didn’t argue with me about it. I think he was still processing all I’d said.

“Oh yeah, one more thing. Do you know a Luke Larken?”

Thomas nodded. “Yeah, I know the guy.”

“If he comes to you with a different story, same ending, different scenario, don’t fall for it. It’s a trap they’re setting to test his loyalty. If you react or take precautions on it, they’ll kill him.”

Clara

Chapter 24

I paced around the living room. I had tried to explain to Mom once already that Gage was just in shock and how he had thought his mother was dead. I didn’t go into his reasons for that, but after hearing his story, I was just as surprised to hear she was alive.

Gage was acting so weird when he returned and demanded to speak with Thomas that it had scared me. I wanted to know what they were discussing. I was upset he’d keep something from me when he obviously felt it was very important.

I was stuck so far in my own head I hadn’t heard Lily come in.

“Careful or you’re going to wear a hole through the carpet there, Clara. What’s the matter?”

I threw my arms out and dramatically shrugged. “I don’t know. Gage freaked out and took off for a run and came back acting all weird and demanding to speak to Thomas alone. I don’t know what’s wrong or what he’s thinking. It’s driving me crazy.”

Lily plopped down on the couch and raised one hand into the air. “Preach it, sister! Times like this I’m jealous as hell of Lizzy and Cole’s completed bond. Kelsey and Kyle’s, too. Sure they both say, ‘just you wait. It’s not all it’s cracked up to be.’ But I think they’re just saying that to be nice, ‘cause I think it’s so awesome. Someday,” she sighed.

I slumped down next to her and rested my head on her shoulder. “I don’t know. Lizzy has to put up with a lot of really hard memories from Cole. She makes it sound terrible. Gage has a lot in his past that I know too much about already. I don’t need to relive his memories of it.”

“But you wouldn’t be sitting here guessing what he’s thinking right now,” she reminded me.

“Yeah, that’s true.”

“So, did you fight your bond?” she asked.

I shook my head. “No. It honestly never occurred to me to.”

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