Page 19 of Kidnapped By the Wolf

Shit. This isn’t how this was supposed to go.

I decide to focus on the more pressing problem — what I’m going to do about the McGregors.

“As I’m sure you’re aware, your father’s bears have been encroaching on my pack’s territory for years. When our old alpha passed and I took over, I thought it would be best to ignore it as he had.”

I pause for a moment, deciding how much to tell her. She doesn’t need to know that I was young and inexperienced at the time, more concerned with being liked and respected than doing what was best for my pack.

“I didn’t want my first act as alpha to be to start a war. But, these last few years, things have gotten worse.”

Cassie doesn’t say a word, waiting for me to continue.

“There have been . . . incidents,” I say, rubbing my upper lip. “There was a fight with a lone wolf not far from here, as well as attacks on my own. Then your father’s pack kidnapped one of our she-wolves, and I couldn’t ignore it any longer.”

At the memory of what Fallon and those females went through, my wolf lets out a low growl that rumbles up my own throat.

Cassie’s face pales, and I know she heard it.

Fury seeps into my gut like poison, and my skin suddenly feels too tight. My wolf is pressing to the fore, hungry for retribution.

Soon, I promise him, cracking my neck and reining in the urge to shift.

“Do you knowwhyyour father’s bears were kidnapping she-wolves?” I ask in an acidic tone.

Cassie swallows and shakes her head.

My hand that’s resting on the table curls into a fist. “They were being bought by the Red Feather Lake pack to be used as breeders.”

At those words, I catch a whiff of something bitter and unpleasant. Horror or maybe disgust rolling off of Cassie. She’s stopped eating altogether.

“I . . . didn’t know,” she says hoarsely.

Truth.

My animal’s ability to detect a lie isn’t perfect, but most humans are bad at tempering their body’s natural reactions. Cassie might be better than most, having grown up around shifters, but I don’t smell the sour tang of sweat that usually accompanies a lie, and my wolf relaxes slightly.

“Would you have cared if youhadknown about it?” The question comes out harsher than I’d intended, and Cassie looks as though I just slapped her.

“OfcourseI would have cared,” she snarls.

“Really?” I grind my back molars together at the image of Fallon, beaten and bloody. “Because none of the other members of his pack seemed to take issue with it.”

“I-I’m not pack,” she chokes, pressing her fingers into her sternum.

“You’re his daughter.”

Something about that word seems to stoke her ire, and those pretty brown eyes suddenly look as though they might turn the luminous amber of a wolf’s. “I’m the human offspring of a woman he fucked. That doesn’t make me his daughter.”

“I have it on good authority that you’re meant to mate with his second.”

Dammit. The words spill out of my mouth before I have a chance to consider whether it’s wise to reveal what I know. Information is power, and giving up even a scrap of intel is an amateur move.

“Dane?” Cassie screws up her face as though the name tastes sour on her tongue, and my wolf gives a satisfiedharrumph.

But then the acrid stench of fear wafts toward me, and Cassie’s eyes dart to the side.

She isn’t being deceitful. She’s recalling something — a memory that scares her.

Terror flickers across her face, and her hand goes to her throat. Her fingers linger there as the memory washes over her. Then she seems to come back to herself, tucking her emotions away.

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