Page 47 of Protection of the Pack

I sat on the sofa. Archie stared at me blankly for a long moment before he tugged clothes out of his chest of drawers and pulled them on slowly, moving as if his whole body was aching.

Before I gestured for him to sit on the sofa with me, I brushed off some splinters of wood and eyed the open doorway. It couldn’t be helped. I couldn’t hear anyone in the corridor so we were alone for now. ‘Tell me what happened,’ I demanded.

He sat down gingerly on the sofa. ‘I have no fucking idea,’ he said, frustrated. ‘The last thing I remember is the feast after the hunt. Next thing I know, I’m … lost. So fucking lost. And then my wolf found me.’ He frowned and scratched his head. ‘He pulled me back, and thenheletmetake charge. He’s never done that, not once. What the hell is going on?’

‘You were attacked. You were drugged at the feast and you excused yourself. You were staggering like you were drunk.’

‘I don’t get drunk,’ Archie muttered.

‘No. I was concerned but I thought you were just letting off steam,’ I admitted. ‘I excused myself from the party to grab some ice cream. When I was walking along the corridor, I heard a sound like you were in pain. I called to you and you didn’t answer. There was shattering glass, so I kicked down the door. Your assailant had left via your balcony door. She’d left you sliced from navel to sternum and you were bleeding badly.’

‘She?’ He frowned. ‘I don’t remember.’

‘We’ve had intel that it was a female,’ I confirmed. ‘You were tied to a chair, so I undid the knots and laid you down. You were unconscious but your wolf wasn’t, and I convinced him to turn. He took over. The shift started your healing and I called Amber DeLea for the rest.’

‘How did you convince my wolf to turn?’

I shrugged. ‘A bit of snapping and snarling. I followed your attacker’s tracks, but I lost her near a group of vampyrs. I spoke to a witness who saw a female werewolf pass that way.’

‘One of my pack mates drugged and attacked me,’ he said flatly.

‘It seems that way. Do you know who?’

He shook his head. ‘I don’t remember anything past the feast.’

‘Where you ingested the drug,’ I surmised.

‘My wolf… He let me back in control,‘ he said wonderingly. ‘What’s going on?’

‘We’ll talk about that another day,’ I reassured him. ‘For now, pack some stuff. I don’t want to leave you here as a target.’

He shook his head. ‘I don’t know why I’d be a target. It doesn’t make sense.’

‘Someone thinks you have something in common with Mark – and the only thing I know about is the black tourney you attended.’

He blanched, then sighed. ‘I downplayed it a little when we spoke earlier. I attended a couple of them with Mark.’

‘A couple or a few?’

‘A few,’ he said reluctantly. ‘But it was before my blooding and before I took my place in the pack. I was high a lot of the time in those days, as much as a werewolf can be. I was rebelling against my dad’s authority – teenage shit. Dad would have been so mad if he’d known.’ He sighed. ‘Mark paraded me like a badge, the alpha’s son at a black tourney. Eventually I got the vibe that I was being used and I stopped going.’

‘But not before everyone linked you and Mark,’ I pointed out.

He winced. ‘Yeah.’

‘Whatever Mark was into, it looks like his killer thought you knew about it.’

‘I don’t,’ he promised.

I wished I had Jess with me – then I remembered. She could truth seek on the phone if she were in Other.

I stood and pawed though the remains of my clothes, but I couldn’t see my phone in the remnants. ‘Where’s your phone?’ I asked Archie.

He blinked at my sudden change of topic. ‘There.’ He pointed. ‘Charging by my bed.’

I powered it on and passed it to him to unlock. When he passed it back, I dialled Jess’s number, which I knew by heart.

‘Lucy? Are you okay?’ Her voice was sleepy, like I’d just woken her.

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