Page 8 of Kidnapped By the Wolf

“A bloody good one, I reckon,” Sebastian shoots back, jutting out his chin. “You finally have something to hold over Clint and those blasted bears to make them fall in line.”

But my pack brother has misjudged the situation — badly.

“Clint McGregor would sacrifice his ownbrothersif he thought it would do him any good,” I bellow, thrusting my finger toward the cabin. “What makes you think he cares if his human daughter lives or dies?”

“She’s meant to mate with the next pack leader. Dane something or another.”

“I don’t care,” I snarl, though the thought of the pretty brunette inside being mated to Dane Murphy sets my teeth on edge for reasons I can’t explain.

Sebastian raises an eyebrow.

“Do you realize what you’ve done?” I grit out. My wolf is dangerously close to the surface, and it’s taking all of my willpower not to shift. “You’ve gone and started a war that we can’t finish.”

“We were already fighting a war,” Sebastian fires back. “Look around, mate. The McGregors showed up at Damon’s lodge and mauled him half to death. They kidnapped Fallon and did god only knows what to Nick’s mate —”

“I’m fully aware of the McGregors’ crimes,” I growl. My skin itches with the urge to shift, and my temples throb at the mere mention of what those females went through at the hands of the Red Feather Lake pack — the wolves Clint was working for.

Sebastian averts his gaze out of respect, but he doesn’t back down. He just stares at a spot over my left shoulder, a muscle working in his jaw. “Clint McGregor might not have been the one to hurt those she-wolves, but his little side business allowed Marcus’s pack to rape and abuse dozens of females.”

My wolf growls at the memory of what we found at that compound: she-wolves in cages who’d been ripped from their packs and forced to breed with Marcus’s wolves.

I take several slow, deep breaths, trying to reason with my wolf. Sebastian might have had a serious lapse in judgment when he kidnapped that girl, but in his mind, it was justified — a small price to pay to prevent further atrocities.

“If I hurt that girl . . .” I begin, but my wolf snarls at the thought.

He won’t allow it.

I swallow. “If I harm even one hair on her head, then I’m just as bad as he is.”

Sebastian shrugs. “This is war, mate.”

His meaning hangs in the air between us as clearly as if he’d spoken it aloud: There is always collateral damage in war, andthat’s what this girl is to him. It’s moral reasoning I’m intimately familiar with, but if there’s one thing my time overseas taught me, it’s that any cost of human life is too high.

“This can’t go on,” he says quietly. “I think you’ve known that for a while.”

I don’t respond. He isn’t wrong, and yet my wolf is glowering at Sebastian as thoughhe’sthe enemy.

As alpha, it’s my duty to protect my pack, and by allowing the McGregors to exist on the edge of our territory, I’ve been putting them at risk.

Every time Clint’s bears do something to provoke my wolves, it triggers my alpha instinct to attack. To kill. The beast in me craves the McGregors’ blood, but I know from experience that war only brings suffering — onbothsides.

For years, I’ve been reluctant to put my wolves in the crossfire, but the time has come to act.

“You have the girl now,” Sebastian says, turning toward his SUV. “It’s your choice what you do with her.”

CHAPTER FOUR

CASSIE

I cometo feeling as though I spent the night throwing back tequila shots.

My head is pounding. My throat is scratchy, and my muscles ache like I took a beating.

The hard back of a wooden chair is digging into my shoulder blades, and my arms are twisted behind me at an odd angle.

I try to move, but my upper body is duct-taped, and my wrists are bound with what feels horribly like zip-ties.

My eyes fly open, and I look around. I’m in a cabin I don’t recognize. Exposed wooden boards slope toward the ceiling, and light is streaming in from the wall of windows along the back side of the A-frame.

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