Page 45 of Wolf Claimed
Alyssa couldn’t takeher eyes off the carnage. That feeling of being in two places returned. There was a subtle admiration that one shifter could take on and defeat eight shifters by himself. That was not her, the Alyssa who’d grown up despising her dad for hating others for no reason, a dad who killed shifters, who had killed. . . Alyssa shook her head, ridding herself of the memory.
“Go, Maddox. Get her out of here,” Rafe said. His voice sounded like it was in a tunnel, far away. “She’s in shock. This was too much for her.”
“I’ve seen murder scenes before,” she mumbled, only half aware of everything they’d been saying.
“Not like this, angel.” Maddox kissed her head. “We need to go before the humans arrive.”
“Do what Maddox says, Artemis,” Rafe ordered, his voice not as gruff as it could be, but still unyielding. He gave her a nudge toward the door. “Maddox, take her somewhere safe and stay with her. I’ll find you. After.”
The way he saidaftermade her stomach turn. “After what? Where are you going, Rafe?”
“To take care of Tiernan. To keep him out of trouble.”
“You won’t hurt him, right?” Tiernan needed to be contained before he hurt anyone else. But he wasn’t himself. He didn’t deserve to be punished for what happened.
The shifters traded glances.
“We’ll go with you. To help,” she said. This was too important to leave to one person. Rafe would need their help.
“No,” Rafe said, adamant.
“Alyssa. . . Angel.” Maddox barely touched her arm, and she jumped, skittish. Too many thoughts and fears pulled at her at once. “Rafe will shift and track Tiernan in wolf form. You wouldn’t be able to keep up.”
Rafe turned her to look away from the bodies, to look at him. As serious as ever, dark eyes bore into her while dark brows pinched together. Something was troubling him. Before she could ask, Rafe cupped her cheeks. The warmth of his hands on her cheeks, the gentleness with which he held her, drove the images of the blood away.
She took a deep breath. “I’m fine, Rafe. But I’m not going into hiding. Someone murdered Graves and tried to pin it on me. And now Tiernan’s in trouble. I can’t run away to save my own ass. I have to help him.”
“The best way to help Tiernan is by leaving with Maddox. Tiernan would agree.”
“You mean farther than the dorm or gun range?”
“I mean somewhere where the DSA won’t find you.”
“Running isn’t the answer,” she protested, knowing she had to confront the situation directly.
“And if they convict you, you’ll rot in prison. Let Maddox take you to his pack, or mine, or somewhere else altogether, Alyssa. Anywhere you want to go. It was part of my plan. Now the timetable’s been moved up.”
“I don’t understand. What plan?”
“I was never going to let Gallagher drug you again. I only agreed because it gave us two days to solve this, but the situation has degraded. I have to find Tiernan before he hurts a human, and I won’t give Gallagher the chance to take you while I’m looking for Tiernan.”
“You’re doing it again, Rafe. Trying to hide me in a corner where I can’t get hurt, like with that first op. I thought I proved myself to you then.”
“This is different.”
“Because I’m being targeted? That alone is a reason for staying. Either you trust me or you don’t,” she said, her brain finally clearing of the fog. She knew what she had to do, but she wanted to do it with Rafe and Maddox, as a team.
“This isn’t the time to argue.”
“Good. We won’t argue,” she said, smiling. “You’ll find Tiernan and save him, while I deal with Gallagher.”
Rafe’s lips thinned while Maddox’s curled at the ends, but he remained quiet as he watched her deal with Rafe.
“Rafe,” she said, lowering her voice. She knew his instinct was to protect and doing anything less was hard for him. “I can’t just sit by doing nothing. Especially when I have some insight into what’s going on.”
“What do you mean?”
“Rafe,” Maddox interrupted. “Go find Tiernan. I’ll stay with her and brief you when you return.”
