Page 92 of Shadow City: Silver Wolf

"She's my fuckingmate." Griffin stepped in front of me. "Did you think that we would just be like, ‘oh well, it sucks that we lost her?’"

"In my defense, I thought she was still with Killian when I agreed the day before," Carter said, wringing his hands.

"That's a very weak defense." Sierra wrinkled her nose, looking disgusted. "It shouldn't matter whether she’s Killian's girlfriend or Griffin's mate."

"It kind of does." Carter ran his fingers through his hair and yanked on the ends. "I knew she wasn't Killian's mate, so he would get over her. When she walked in with Griffin yesterday, it completely threw me, but I was already in too deep. Randall is a good kid. He doesn't deserve to be hurt."

"And she does?" Griffin asked, shoving Carter.

"No, that's not what I meant." Carter plastered himself against the wall. "But he's myfamily."

I understood that all too well. If there had been a way I could've saved my parents or pack, I'd have been tempted to play along, too. Granted, I would've tried to find a way so no one else would've gotten hurt, but Carter clearly didn’t have leadership potential. He wasn't an omega, but he definitely wasn’t dominant; he did well managing the coffee shop, but his wolf was submissive. "Let's give him the benefit of the doubt." It was hard saying those words, but if I didn't, Griffin wouldn't calm down. "He made the best choice he thought he could under bad circumstances. Whoever we're up against is smart; think about how they managed to take out those four guards that disappeared at the start of the fight two days ago with us none the wiser."

"That doesn't make it okay." Griffin sneered. "He deserves to have his ass beat."

"Maybe, but this gives us a strategic advantage." I had to put on my fighter hat. Making smart choices was the only way we could get a step ahead of the enemy; we were in the dark right now. I faced Killian and Griffin. "Were we able to glean anything from the boat that was left behind?"

"No." Killian sat on the other end of the couch. "There was no registration or anything personal on it."

"That's how the car they used to kidnap me was, too." We'd left the car on the side of the road for someone to find. Hiding it would have raised more questions. "So I'm betting the boat and car were stolen, which strengthens my case for recruiting Carter to help us."

"How can that ding-a-ling help us?" Sierra leaned forward.

"Because they have leverage over him, and he's already proven that he's willing to do whatever it takes to save his brother." I gestured to Killian. "Even going against his alpha and the Shadow City alpha as well."

"In fairness, he doesn't think of me as his alpha." Killian pursed his lips. "I mean, I haven't really been alpha material."

"Well, it's time for that to officially change." If we were going to figure this out, we were all going to have to do things we didn't want to—like me being here, facing the death of my pack—Griffin and Killian were going to have to step up and be the leaders they'd been afraid of being. "We need to pool our resources to have a fighting chance…unless you two want to walk away?" I had to give them an out. This wasn't something they'd ever wanted, and I was asking a lot.

"That question has to be a joke." Griffin's irises darkened. "You're my fated mate. I'm not going anywhere."

"And you're my family now." Killian nodded. "We're all in, and we're going to figure this out together."

"It's about damn time that you two finally step up." Rosemary placed a hand on her hip. "There's been so much turmoil, between your families dying and you two messing around instead of taking charge. You committing to your alpha roles should, at least, cause tensions to die down among the Shadow City representatives."

"You know, sometimes it'd be nice if I could at least wonder what you might be thinking." Griffin scowled at the angel. "But you've never given me the opportunity."

"Sorry if I've ruined your fragile ego several times now." She flipped her hair over her shoulder. "But no one dares to give it to you straight, so I figured I would."

Dear God, I didn't want to listen to their bickering right now. "The point I was trying to get at is they'll wind up calling Carter again to help them out."

"You think so?" Carter cleared his throat and pulled at his collar. "I mean, you're okay with being captured again?"

"No, idiot." Rosemary huffed. "You're not actually going to go through with it."

"But my brother—"

"You're going to tell Killian—using the pack link or whatever—and we'll set it up so we catch whoever is there to collect me, instead of them actually taking me." I had to be careful or he might not be willing to help us. Instead, he could tell whomever it was that we were on to him. "How did they get a hold of you the first time?"

"Some robotic voice called my cell phone." Carter tapped his foot. "Randall must have given them the number. It told me that since you worked at the coffee shop, I got to be the lucky person to help them."

That was what I'd figured. They'd been watching me and knew that Killian and Griffin wouldn't turn me in; the only other person who had influence over me was my manager. "So, you'll be that lucky person again—which means Carter needs to get back to the coffee shop before they suspect anything." I looked at Rosemary.

"I... I can't risk Randall." Carter slumped over. "If something happens to him—"

I was trying to be nice, but it was time to lay it out for him. "They aren't going to give up your brother willingly. In fact, once you deliver on your end of the bargain, he's as good as dead."

"But they said—"

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