Page 50 of Redeemed Wolf

Mismatched ceramic mugs of coffee were passed around, all different shapes, sizes, and colors. It looked like someone had bought out the kitchen section of a second-hand store. Silas’s mug said: Shuh Da Fuh Cup. Mine said: #1 Dad. I laughed, loving the total randomness of it all. But taking my first sip of the strong brew, there was a strange bubbling sensation inside me, like my wolf was amused too for some reason, but as hard as it was to pinpoint, it felt like I was on the outside of an inside joke.

What’s so funny?I tried asking him, angling the thought inward. I’d never really intentionally tried to interact with the wolf in my head before, but I figured it was worth a shot. While I was pretty sure he’d heard me, he clearly wasn’t ready to let me in on the joke.

Once everyone had a warm drink in hand, Shan stood, and all the noisy chatter died down.

Their leader looked somber, his arms crossed over his chest. “I know it will come as no surprise to hear that danger is coming. It’s not the first time, and it probably won’t be the last. We knew going after the lab would be like waving a red flag in front of a bull, but we did it anyway. We made the decision with our eyes wide open. The risk was worth the gain.” He looked around the room, gaze pausing on Amelia, Isaac, and then finally, me. All attention was on him, the air rippling with an undercurrent ofanxious tension. Shan sighed, his shoulders dropping a fraction. “I don’t think we can stay here.”

Several voices burst out at once, all arguments to what he’d said, but he held his hand up and waited for quiet. “I know. We’ve withstood everything before, but this is bigger than we can handle. We may have temporarily disabled them, but they know exactly where we are, and there is no doubt that they will come for us, armed to the teeth. The camp is not easily defended. Last time we lost Mary. I refuse to take the risk again.”

Shan opened up the floor to suggestions. And while there seemed to be some conflict over the where, the one thing everyone could agree on was that the children needed to be somewhere far, far away.

“We’ll take them,” Joe said, setting his hand around Jesse’s waist, sharing a look with his mate. “We’ve got the resources to keep them safe. We won’t let anything happen to them.”

Once that was decided, other ideas started to get thrown around. “Why don’t we just take to the woods?” Isaac asked.

Tristan shook his head. “Because they’ll just burn the entire forest to the ground to flush us out. Been there, done that.”

Vesta raised a hand. “I could perhaps concoct a spell that hides our presence from humans.”

Morgan, however, said, “But where would that leave me?”

Jude opened his mouth, probably to suggest Morgan could go with the kids, but the spunky human wasn’t hearing any of it. “Last time we were separated, look what happened! Forget it.” He huffed. “Besides, they had Carter brainwashed to work for them. What’s to say they don’t have other shifters under theiremploy. Blocking only humans won’t guarantee anything.”

While part of me wanted to be offended by his offhand mention of my trauma, I couldn’t discount his logic. We had to be prepared for anything.

Silas sighed, a ripple of resignation washing through the link. “We could go to Overlands,” he said quietly, as if hoping no one else could hear him.

The murmurs died down as we waited for someone to say it was a bad idea, but when no complaint came, Shan said, “It could work. Do you think your pack will go for it?”

Pacey snorted. “They have no say in it. If our Alpha makes it a command, they will obey.”

That statement had more than a few mouths turning down at the corners. Silas didn’t much care for the statement either, judging by the way his grip on me tightened, but he didn’t say anything further.

Just like that, a plan of action in place, the entire pack got to work. Joe and Jesse loaded the kids up in two vehicles—the one they’d arrived in, plus one they borrowed from the pack. There were plenty of tears from the younger kids, but Malachi put on a brave face, wrapping his arm around their shoulders. Andy remained stoic as Amelia crouched before him and promised him he would be safe. I noticed she made no such promises about herself.

The hardest farewell to watch was that of a young boy named Pax. Silent tears tracked down his face as he stood in front of Vesta. The elderly matriarch had knelt right there in the grass with the aid of her walking stick, and she took his face between her palms and rested her forehead on his. Neither of them said a word, but I could feel a world of communication pass between them.

Jesse hugged the others, one by one, before he came to stand before me, his hands clasped in front of him. “Please be careful,” he whispered.

“I will.” I could tell he wanted to hug me, and even though I wasn’t sure I was ready for it, it made me immeasurably sadto think of a father saying a final farewell to his children. So, I stepped up to him and tentatively opened my arms.

He kept it short, for my sake, but his eyes were glassy when he pulled back. “Thank you.” He wiped at his eyes and turned away before I could say another word.

The adults managed to keep their emotions under wraps until after they’d watched the vehicles disappear into the trees. The sun was fully up now, but there was still an unnatural chill to the air. I didn’t like the way it seemed to sink into my bones.

“All right, everybody. Let’s get a move on!” Shan clapped his hands, trying to instill some kind of energy into the others, but there was a pall over the group. Even though I didn’t have any children of my own, I felt it too. It took me a moment to put a name to it. Dread, unlike anything I’d felt before.

Something was coming.

“We need to move fast,” Tristan said, peeling his shirt off, “and we don’t have enough vehicles for everyone, so… I guess we’ll meet you there.” He slapped Silas’s shoulder and gave me a cheeky smile, before he dropped his pants and shifted seamlessly into a white wolf.

I stood there, gaping, as he loped into the woods with a light step. I was so busy watching him that I didn’t even see his mate shift. When I turned, there was a neatly folded stack of clothes and a lithe black panther. Dylan padded over and licked the back of my hand with his sandpaper tongue before he followed Tristan into the trees.

Even though I was logically aware that I wasn’t fully human, I still felt like I should’ve been afraid standing here surrounded by an entire pack of predators. I wasn’t, though. It felt almost like coming home.

Pure jealousy reared its head when I watched Isaac shift like it was second nature, sloughing off the years of captivity like it wasnothing. He gave an excited yip, chasing his mates and nipping at their heels like it was some kind of game.

“Will I ever have control over my wolf like that?” I asked Silas as we watched the others disappear.

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