Page 49 of Wolf Lost

The Holt pack? Sawyer didn’t know what to make of that. They’d seemed fine with allowing Mark to go on unchecked. Were they actually judging the man, questioning him, or was it a product of his paranoid, violent mind? Sawyer wasn’t sure which to hope for.

“If they’re worried about me, why not go back and tell them I’m fine? They don’t really care.”

Mark sneered at that, as Sawyer should have guessed he would. “You think I should tell them you abandoned your pack, and that’s fine? They’ll think they’re allowed to abandon me too. You’re coming back to California, Sawyer. Dead or alive.”

Pretending nonchalance, Sawyer looked around the cabin and quirked an eyebrow at Mark. “Then why are we here?”

“Because before we go home, you need to break your pack bonds with those feral mutts.”

“Feral...” Sawyer stared at Mark, openmouthed, for a moment. “You’re kidding right? They’re not feral, just wolves.”

Mark scoffed and waved a dismissive hand. “Three alphas living together? I know their kind. All weaklings, kicked out of their packs, banding together to cause trouble for real packs.”

It was what Mark had killed his father to avoid, Sawyer realized: a pack of necessity and convenience. Werewolves were social creatures. They needed packs, and wolves without packs found each other and clung like the last few Cheerios in the bowl. While those weren’t exactly the circumstances that made the Kismet pack, the thought wasn’t completely wrong, either.

No wonder Mark was so angry with him. Well, Mark was an out-of-control alpha prone to violence, but also, ending up like Sawyer’s pack was Mark’s greatest fear, and Sawyer had chosen it willingly over him.

Mark wasn’t paying attention to Sawyer anymore. He’d turned and started pacing again, so he didn’t see the pity on Sawyer’s face. The man was muttering about leaving the Kismet pack without a clue where to find him.

“You don’t think I told them I came from Bakersfield?” Sawyer asked, incredulous. “It was one of the first conversations we had. They know all about me.” Mark shot him a knowing look, and Sawyer rolled his eyes at the implication. “Not biblically, asshole. Only Dez gets that.”

“It doesn’t matter. We’re not going to move you back into your father’s old house, and Bakersfield isn’t as small as this berg.” Mark shivered and muttered something about icebergs, then looked back at him. “We’ll get you into my condo, and no one will ever have to see you again.”

It was Sawyer’s turn to shiver. He shook his head resolutely. “No. I won’t break my bonds with them.” He supposed he could pretend the bonds were broken, but the ruse would probably be easy to see through.

Mark’s eyes narrowed to slits, and he came to stand in front of Sawyer’s chair. “You’ve only got two choices here, Sawyer. You break your bonds with them so they can’t follow us, or I kill you so they can’t follow us.”

That was when Sawyer heard the sweetest sound he’d heard in his twenty-five years of life: the engine of Dez’s enormous truck powering up outside the cabin. It only took him a moment to reach out and feel the pack bond of who was driving it: Dez himself.

Dez had come for him.

Sawyer grinned at Mark. “I think I’ll take what’s behind door number three, Wayne Brady.”

28

Saturday Night Special

Only a handful of people noticed him on his run into town, thanks to it being off-season for tourists and so dark out. The few who noticed mostly pointed to the strange sight of a “big dog” carrying something and traveling with purpose.

They would probably forget it by the next day as nothing more than an oddity.

He pushed through the door of the cafe, and it felt all wrong. The scent of a foreign alpha had invaded his territory, and the room was saturated with that, and Sawyer’s fear and anger. More anger. He grinned a doggy grin at that. Afraid, of course, but that was his Sawyer—not going down easily.

There was no smell of blood, so that was a good start. If the alpha had wanted Sawyer dead, it would have been easy enough to cut his throat right there. Dez concentrated for a moment, afraid as always that the shift wouldn’t work, but if anything, becoming human again so close to the new moon was easier.

He leaned down to the bag, unrolled the top, and pulled his clothes out to dress.

“Oh!” Kareni Noble had come around the corner, and obviously gotten an eyeful of him naked, since her hand was clapped over her eyes. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t realize—”

“That there would be someone naked in a public place? Pretty sure I’m the one breaking the law, not you.” Dez told her, surprised he could be so amused with their neighbor, given the circumstances.

“It’s not a public place until you’re open, technically. I should have knocked.” She spread two of her fingers and peeked through. Upon finding him in his sweatpants, she dropped her hand and bit her lip. “I am so sorry.”

She wasn’t talking about seeing him naked anymore. He looked up at her and shook his head. “You did exactly the right thing. You have Gavin and Ash’s numbers too, right?”

“I do. I just thought that well, you’re the one dating him, so...” She trailed off, looking like she was rethinking the decision. “You’re planning on running off after him alone, aren’t you?”

He grinned at her as he pushed his socked foot into his second tennis shoe. “Sure am. But if you don’t mind, would you call Ash and Gavin? Tell them Sawyer’s old alpha has taken him, and I’m going after them? I may be pissed off, but I’m not out of my mind. Backup is good.”

---