Page 86 of Rogue Wolf

She shuddered.

“We’ll deal with this,” he said, and moved to the front.

The pack had now mostly gathered in the meeting room and they had to cram into the space around the newly sourced secondhand furniture. They were a little diminished in numbers but they were strong it was as palpable as her fear, that strength.

The air hung thick and stuffy with hints of fresh paint. And she kept skittering back to the image of an injured Kodiak in wolf form, bleeding, matted fur. Her heart wept.

Onai stood near the door with his arms folded across his chest, welcoming the others with a clipped nod as they entered.

No one spoke. The silence weighed in the air.

Tamaska wanted to scream, she wanted to lead a charge, go Van Helsing and find a pitchfork. She wanted to demand they go now.

She didn’t want to put anyone else in danger, either. What she should do is slip out and get him. And she’d do that, but she was nowhere near the door and since the vampire incident, they hadn’t, she realized, left her alone. Someone had always been with her.

Making sure she didn’t run off like she needed to. Run off and… What? Fight the vampires on her own?

Thing was, if she had to, she would.

This was Kodiak. She’d do anything to save him.

“You’ve probably heard,” Onai said, his deep voice strangely out of place.

It should be Kodiak standing here.

A lump of emotion welled inside Tamaska’s throat, hard and painful. This was all her fault. The man she was falling for, had been taken and she was responsible. She needed to go, rip out throats, sink her teeth into horrible vampire flesh she—

Had to stop that line of thought.

And she had to do something.

Onai sought her out and met her eye. “Amdis has Kodiak.”

No gasps echoed through in the room. A few shifters shuffled, shifting their weight as they waited for Onai to continue.

“He left me in charge until he gets back, and I promise you all that he will come back.”

The hairs on the back of Tamaska’s neck prickled as a shiver slid down her spine.

He will, she promised herself.

“We only have until midnight, which doesn’t give us much time to plan a rescue,” continued Onai. “We’ll—”

“No. There’s nothing to plan,” Tamaska said. “They want me for him, so I’ll accept the exchange. Kodiak needs to be here with his pack to put the vampires back in their place.”

“He would never allow that, so neither will I,” said Onai.

“I don’t care,” she said. “They want me. In return, they’ll release Kodiak, so I’ll do it.”

“I’m not asking you to do that.” He paused. “In fact I’m ordering you not to do that.”

She sucked in a breath. “But it’s the only way to ensure Kodiak’s release.”

“He won’t like it if the vampires capture you,” Onai said. “And that stands.”

No, Kodiak wouldn’t like that at all. But that wasn’t what Tamaska had in mind. And she wasn’t a member of the pack. Couldn’t be if he never returned. Because there was no way she’d be able to stay, constantly reminded of him.

But it wouldn’t come to that. She wouldn’t let it. She was smart. And she could think outside boxes. It had come with her job. And she’d been great at her job.

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