Page 64 of Stealthy as a Wolf

I squirmed in my seat, fighting off the need to crawl into their laps like a dog seeking belly rubs. Boone didn’t even try to disguise his smirk, but he didn’t miss a beat as he continued the story.

“We dug into the case until we found the truth.” His amusement fell away as he focused on the story and continued giving my hand wonderful orgasms. “We couldn’t trust the authorities, so we contacted a friend who works for the government. They said if we could get Matty to the Summit, they would pay us a king’s ransom.”

Alarm bells went off in my head, and I stiffened. “Why would they do that?”

“The cost is just a fraction of what my drug is worth,” Matty said. “If they can get me free, get me to the Summit, then I would be able to sell my drug where it can be properly regulated and help keep people from going feral.”

The plan hinged on so many variables going right that it boggled my mind. I glared at the idiots, and I couldn’t stop from scolding them. “It’s a fucking miracle you survived this long.”

“Things went sour right from the start. The tigers managed to take over the transport—almost too easily. It was only then that we discovered the snakes had planned to do something similar,” Matty muttered, clearly annoyed with him for not working that into his plan.

“I was supposed to be shot and killed during an escape attempt. It was only our bad luck that the snakes intervened before we could get away. We would no doubt all be dead if we hadn’t stumbled across the prettiest guardian angel.” Matty stared at me, no hint of teasing in his expression.

Heat burned my cheeks, and I shifted uncomfortably at how close I’d come to leaving them. My heart threatened to shatter just thinking about what could’ve happened, and a hollow spot opened up in my chest at the thought of how close they came to dying before we even had a chance to meet.

It was enough to make me want to smack them for taking such an obviously dangerous mission.

“So all we have to do is survive long enough to reach the Summit, and we’ll be free.”

But something told me it wasn’t going to be that easy.

If we didn’t make it to the Summit, the boys would be hunted and killed, while I would be taken back to a life of imprisonment and slavery. No amount of torture had managed to break me, but I suspected that if anything happened to the guys, something inside me would fracture beyond repair.

My resolve firmed. No matter what happened, I would make sure the men made it to the Summit.

I could survive anything, as long as I knew they were alive.

* * *

GRADY

The rest of the trip to the cabin was done in silence, Maggie having fallen asleep snuggled between the twins. The men remained alert, noting every vehicle that passed us, every stretch of road, every house we passed.

We switched out vehicles twice. The twins hot-wired a car for us, but I didn’t want to be caught driving a stolen vehicle. I called one of my sons and arranged for the pack to have a vehicle waiting for us at the next town over.

Though the rest of the men didn’t like it, I trusted my pack.

They would never betray me.

Even so, I refused to take a chance with Maggie’s safety, not giving them any information about why I needed the van, and they didn’t ask.

When the sun broke across the horizon, we were only a few miles from the cabin. I glanced in the rearview mirror for the thousandth time, checking on Maggie. I wasn’t jealous of the attention she gave the twins, but my arms ached to hold her myself.

As if sensing my thoughts, Maggie’s golden eyes flickered open. A sleepy smile crossed her face, her expression so unguarded that my heart swooped at the sweetness of it.

Like she was genuinely happy to see me.

I took the curve that led to the cabin, rubbing the ache at the center of my chest. It’d been so long since I had a mate that I’d forgotten the driving need to protect her and keep her from any harm. The need to touch her every second of the day, just to make sure that she was okay, and check if she needed anything.

That there were four of us to take care of her was a relief. I suspected it would take all of us to keep our little alpha content and out of trouble.

It was obvious that she’d been badly abused, and my hands tightened on the steering wheel, struggling with the need to hunt the fuckers down. When I got my claws into them, I would skin them alive and present her with their hides.

After years of being alone, struggling to survive, she was barely hanging on. Her wolf was so feral that I was surprised she could even maintain her human form. Whether she knew it or not, she needed a pack to keep her from slipping any further away from sanity.

I caught her muttering to herself when she thought no one noticed, talking to her wolf like the beast was a separate entity. It broke my heart. I could almost feel her slipping between my fingers at times, and I was determined to do everything in my power to make sure she didn’t shatter further.

And if she needed the other men to help make it happen, then so be it.

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