Page 30 of Country and Clove
“Clove, it’s Laurie.” Why was the Beta’s wife calling so early? Laurie worked as a kind of liaison and assistant to Gideon. Working for lycans often meant working at all hours of the day and night. “Are you at the complex?”
“Uh, no. I stayed at the ranch.” Clove’s eyes were already sliding back shut.
“I need you to come into the complex as soon as possible. You have a meeting with the Alpha within the hour.” Clove’s eyes flew back open.A meeting with the Alpha?
“Shit.” She jumped to her feet and nausea sent her stomach tumbling over itself. “The Alpha? Why does Gideon need to see me?”
“My job is to get you here. Gideon will brief you on everything once you arrive.” Laurie’s voice held its usual pleasant tone but Clove sensed nervousness stifled beneath.
“I’m on my way. It will take me a bit to drive in.” She hunted for the boots she’d kicked off at some point earlier in the night.
“I’ll let him know. And Clove, is Graham with you? Aria said she saw you two leaving together after training yesterday.”
Clove stilled. “Uh yeah, he’s here.” A flush of embarrassment had her chewing her bottom lip. She and Graham hadn’t done anything, but she still felt a little uncomfortable admitting she’d spent the night with the newest pack transfer. Graham’s playboy reputation preceded him.
“Great. Bring him with you. Gideon wants to see you both.” Clove’s stomach plummeted.Both of us?
“Okay, we’ll be there.”
Clove found Graham sprawled out on the far side of the hay. She gave him a brusque shove with her boot. Waking lycans was touchy—you never wanted to be within punching distance, especially when they had been drinking the night before.
“Hey, wake up. The Alpha wants to see us.”
Graham rolled away from her with a groan. “Tell him to piss off.”
“You want me to tell the Alpha, the man who controls whether or not you have a home here, to piss off?”
Graham rolled back over, squinting one eye against the daylight. “On second thought.” He got to his feet, brushing straw from his clothes. He looked as shitty as Clove felt.
“Don’t worry, we can swing by The Coop and grab some coffee on the way.” She would call Rylie and have her run the to-go cups and a couple croissants out to the car when they pulled up.
Graham gave her a sleepy grin. “In that case, lead the way.”
CHAPTER13
Aaron hadn’t slept well since he rejected Clove. It didn’t matter if he worked his muscles to failure or drank himself to the bottom of a barrel. The nights he wasn’t dreaming of Clove he was reliving the day his trainees died. Something had to give. Tonight wasn’t any different. He’d patrolled the forests surrounding the complex at least a dozen times before finally dropping into his bed. Sleep held its steady fingers just beyond his reach. The second he did drift off, he would jolt awake, heart racing, mouth dry, veins filled with fear and adrenaline. At some point in the night he would turn the lights on and sit on the edge of the bed, replaying the moments when everything had gone wrong.
He was deep inside one of the abysmal trips down memory lane when the phone rang. The clock revealed it was just past four in the morning. His heart pounded an uneasy rhythm. Whatever reason someone had for calling him in the night, it couldn’t be good.
The name flashing on the screen was Darren’s and his erratic heartbeats intensified. Darren was in charge of security for the complex. Any time he reached out outside of business hours, it was because something was terribly wrong.
“Darren, what happened?” He could hear a flurry of activity on the other end of the line.
“There’s been another attack.” Darren’s voice was somber and tense.
Aaron’s chest seized up. “Casualties?” he asked, swallowing the dry lump in his throat.
“No. Leah’s tough, she’ll pull through. I’m certain of it.” Leah was the one attacked? Aaron tried to ignore the shimmer of relief he felt when he realized Clove was safe. Why was she always the first thing to pop into his head? One of his best friends had been attacked and all he could feel was relief that it wasn’t his mate. Rejected mate. Fuck. “Meet up in Gideon’s office as soon as you can. I know this is tough, but we need you with us on this.”
Aaron was dressed and sprinting out the door before his mind could wrap itself around what was happening. Lucas emerged from next door, his expression matching Aaron’s mask of worry. The two fell wordlessly into step. The complex was eerily quiet at this hour, making their rushed footsteps echo loudly across the vast, vacant hallways and stairwells. The ghosts of Aaron’s past clung thickly to his shoulders as his mind mulled over all the morbid possibilities of what had happened.
Darren and Lance were already deep in conversation with Gideon when the two rushed into the office. “What happened?” Aaron’s voice had a desperate edge to it. Gideon’s vibrant blue eyes glowed with the power of his wolf.
“Leah was on patrol when she was attacked by a Veil Wraith.”
Aaron saw the hideous shadow creature inside his mind. Wraiths were truly nightmarish, with long tattered bodies, eyes as black as death, and circular jaws that jutted forward and housed several rows of teeth. His nightmares were filled with the sharp sucking sounds as the wraiths latched onto their prey, leeching the blood from their bodies until they were on the brink of death. How many lycans had he watched fall from the sky, bloodless and clinging to life, before their broken bodies shattered upon impact with the earth? The deafening crunch of broken spines and life-ending injuries were sounds he wished he could wash clean from his memories.
“Romani sensed her fear through their bond and located her in time.”
