Page 89 of Wulf's Pack
I grit my teeth, and Easton curses. Victor Santos needs to die. The sooner, the better.
Compartmentalize, Wulf. Stay focused. They’ll be dead soon enough.I shake myself from my internal thoughts and concentrate on the conversation. “How did you discover this?”
I get an idea when Brett pushes through the front door of the apartment and the smell of shifters hits me. Coyotes. Two of them. Females.
Easton and I follow Brett inside to a smallish living room. He gestures for us to take a seat on the couch and starts rooting around in his fridge. “The beta’s wife and daughter were doing some shopping over in Flint when they attacked. The alpha warned them through their pack link to stay away. Ashlyn said their connection to the alpha was severed first, and minutes later her mom’s mate bond was broken.”
My stomach lurches, and Easton gasps. Brett gulps, and in a lower voice says, “Melanie’s mate was the pack beta.”
I want to be sick. I don’t know this woman, but my heart aches for her. My brother, Rook, lost his mate decades ago. It nearly killed him. He lived a sort of half-life until he met Nora. If Nora wasn’t a siren with the ability to consume even the most broken of men, he would still be drowning in grief, a shell of the man he once was.
Now that I have a mate myself, I can’t imagine the thought of losing her. It would destroy me. I nearly went feral just knowing she’s in pain, and we’re not even fully bonded yet. For the woman to lose both her alpha and her mate within minutes of each other…I can’t fathom the horror she’s going through.
Brett grabs a couple of beers from the fridge, and after popping the tops open on the side of the counter, he hands one to Easton and me, then disappears into his room. He comes back dressed and holding an extra pair of clothes. While I quickly pull them on, Brett grabs himself a beer and sinks into an armchair with the weight of the world on his shoulders.
“Did the coyote woman survive the loss of her mate?” I ask, though I’m afraid of the answer. I’m honestly not sure which fate would be worse—survival or death.
Brett drags his sorrowful gaze to me. “Time will tell,” he says softly. His eyes flick toward a short hallway, where I assume the two women are staying in a bedroom. “She’s alive, but she’s not really there at the moment, you know? Sort of checked out mentally.”
I wince. A heavy silence settles over the room. Brett lifts his beer to his lips and drains it in one pull. I sip mine much slower. I’m not a fan of beer, but I could use the drink right now. I don’t care that my shifter metabolism will burn through the alcohol in minutes. It’s the thought that counts.
Easton breaks the silence. “They’re here now? How did you…”
His voice trails off, but Brett understands what he’s asking. “Ashlyn. She’s one tough girl. They were at the mall when it happened. Their alpha reached out with his warning, and they barely had time to get to their car when the pack bond was severed. They were trying to figure out what to do when Thomas was killed. Melanie broke. Ashlyn said she just started screaming and screaming. After a few minutes, the screamsturned to sobs. Ashlyn couldn’t get her to respond, but she guessed what happened. She put her mom in the passenger seat and came here, not knowing what else to do. Showed up about an hour ago.”
His worried gaze flicks toward the hallway again. I perk up my ears and notice the soft sniffles of someone crying.
Brett sinks back in his chair and hangs his arm over the armrest. The empty beer bottle dangles from his fingers. His eyes slip out of focus, and he stares off into space. His grief is obvious.
“Sounds like you’re close to the pack.”
He scratches at his bearded chin and blows out a breath. “I’ve known the pack since they showed up here five years ago, with nothing more than they could fit in their cars. I helped them get settled. Loaned Alpha Shaw the money to start up his business. Been watching out for them ever since.”
He swallows hard.
“I’m sorry for the loss of your friends.”
He meets my eyes again and dips his chin in acknowledgement of my condolences. I hate to press him while his pain is so fresh, but the longer it takes me to find and stop Victor, the more likely it’ll be my loss next.
No!my wolf growls, incensed at my dark thoughts.
You’re right. We’re going to save her.
I clear my throat, then say, “I wasn’t aware there was a pack of coyotes here. There weren’t any packs registered with the FUA in the area.”
Easton cuts me a worried glance. “If Victor’s taken over an entire pack, we’re in for a much harder battle than we expected.”
I’ve been stressing about that too.
“That won’t be a problem,” says a soft voice, hoarse from crying. A girl emerges from the hallway and joins us in the living room. This must be Ashlyn. She’s an older teen, maybeseventeen or eighteen. She’s sturdy the way most shifter women are, but her grief is so potent she appears fragile. She’s disheveled. Her clothes are wrinkled, her hair’s a mess, her nose is red and has been rubbed raw, and her eyes are puffy and bloodshot. Devastation clings to her like a second skin, but she’s powering through it.
Brave girl.
She leans back against an empty wall across from Easton and me and slides down it until she’s sitting on the floor. She pulls her knees to her chest and wraps her arms around them. “We’re a small pack,” she says. “My family, my cousins’ family, and my best friend’s family. We were part of a much larger pack in Wisconsin, but we left when our alpha developed an inappropriate interest in my best friend and me.” Her face turns green, and she whispers, “We were twelve at the time.”
My whole body stiffens, and beside me, Easton growls. As if I don’t have enough rage coursing through me right now? The thought of anyone harming children in that way is despicable, but their alpha? If I didn’t already have my own crisis to deal with, I’d be tempted to find the bastard and feed him his own dick.
Ashlyn shudders and drifts into her own head, reliving her nightmare. “We disappeared in the middle of the night during a pack run. My best friend’s dad was killed, and my uncle had to kill a couple pack enforcers before we escaped. We ended up here and have been hiding ever since. We never registered our land with the FUA because we didn’t want our alpha finding us.”
