Chapter 1
Prisoners shouted to be let free as the four of us marched up to the holding cell that was supposed to house Troy Redwolf.
The man had spent so much of his time making me miserable. Less than a month before, he had been the alpha of the Kings. One of his first acts as alpha had been kidnapping and hurting Tavi and me. Mere minutes ago, we’d figured out that he might be behind the feral wolf attack that had devastated the Kings Pack. My pack.
Night—though he was still recovering from the injuries he’d sustained from the silver bullet shot by Evan, the wolf I’d killed—led the way to Troy’s cell. He grabbed the door handle and yanked it open.
A soft gasp slipped past Tavi’s lips.
“Fuck,” I muttered under my breath.
The cell was empty, and the only indication that it had been used was Troy’s lingering stench. I clenched my fists at my sides, and my wolf began to snarl inside me.
“The attack must have been a distraction,” Dom said, his voice little more than a growl.
“He sacrificed so many lives just so he could escape.” Tavi’s voice was a whisper but was just as angry and alarmed as Dom’s. I couldn’t say anything more.
Of course I was afraid. Of course I was shocked. Of course I was angry. But a fourth emotion coursed just as powerfully through my body: guilt. I was the alpha of the Kings, and yet I’d allowed the greatest threat to them escape while under my watch. I should have seen this coming. I should have done more. I had failed my people.
As these emotions boiled inside me, four pairs of footsteps came rushing toward us down the path. These men were meant to be guarding the cells. The moment they neared, Dom grabbed one of them by the collar and lifted him off the ground.
“You,” he growled, his eyes glowing like amber in the dark. “You let this happen.”
“Wh-what? I—” The guard sent a baffled look from Dom to me before finally looking at the open cell. His eyes widened, and the color seeped out of his face. “Wait, hold on…”
Night took a step forward, his eyes blazing green. The guards didn’t know that Night was still recovering from the silver bullet and couldn’t shift, but it didn’t matter. All they knew was that he was angry and could make them pay for it.
I moved between Dom and Night, roiling emotions taking hold of me. “Why weren’t you four at your post?” I demanded. “Why didn’t you tell us Troy disappeared?”
The guard began to babble. He couldn’t seem to form a coherent sentence with four enraged wolves staring at him, so one of the other guards stepped forward, his hands clasped tightly in front of his chest.
“Please, Alpha,” he said. “We didn’t know! When the attack started, we left our posts to help the pack.” Behind him, the other guards nodded emphatically. “No one has ever broken out of the cells before. The walls are so thick, escape is supposed to be impossible! We were trying to make sure everyone was safe and didn’t even think to check on the prisoners.”
Dom dropped the guard to his feet. He stumbled back against the wall. Fear seeped from the man’s pores, but that didn’t mean the guards weren’t involved in Troy’s escape. I wanted to believe their intentions had been good, if a bit misguided and shortsighted. But they would need to be questioned.
“How many prisoners are here?” Night demanded.
“We usually only have a handful,” the guard responded. “The cells are only supposed to be used when an outsider trespasses onto our territory. But with Troy, that number increased.” He gestured around us to the rock walls and torches. “This area is reserved for the most dangerous wolves. The cells are supposed to be impossible to break out of, and he wouldn’t be able to shift while inside.”
I turned away from them. This conversation was getting us nowhere. “We need to start looking for Troy.” I looked at Tavi. “We need to send out a search party and drag him back here.”
“Right,” she said.
“I’ll put a party together,” Night said in a tight voice. He was so angry, his fists shook at his sides. I couldn’t tell if his anger was directed at our situation or if he had also realized it was my fault Troy had escaped.
We left the holding facility with the guards in tow. Clear azure skies greeted us. It seemed wrong for the sun to shine so brightly on the day we discovered Troy missing.
The elders, the council, and a few of the Kings’ top fighters and trackers had left the meeting room. It seemed they were on their way to meet with us, which was good timing. Night must have called his wolves because he and Dom separated from Tavi and me to speak to them. They were probably getting the search party together. While they took care of that, Tavi and I informed the elders and the others of the situation.
“We were right,” I said. “Troy is gone.”
A ripple of shock passed through them. Even Dana, the only female council member, was surprised enough to hold back her snide comments.
“Those four guards were supposed to be watching the holding facility but weren’t at their posts. I want them questioned.”
Theodore, one of the Kings’ top fighting wolves, nodded. Night had kept his son safe during the ferals’ attack, and that was enough to make him loyal to us. “I can make sure that happens, Alpha Hunter.”
I stopped myself from shifting awkwardly on my feet. It still felt so strange to hear the word “Alpha” before my last name. I doubted I would ever get used to it, especially when I would only be alpha for a few more weeks.
“Thank you, Theodore. I don’t want them harmed until we know for sure whether they were involved in Troy’s escape.”
He nodded again. “I understand.”
As he and his men took the guards to be questioned, I addressed those who remained. “Finding Troy must be our priority, and we need to find more information on the ferals and why they’re working for him. Some of you mentioned that there are banished wolves who might not be as insane as a typical feral. Do we have any records of those wolves? Any records of the wolves that have been banished from our pack?”“Of course we keep records of that,” Elder Queene said, his wavy dark hair lifting in the breeze. “But we have no idea if they became feral. After all, they might have been accepted into another pack after banishment.” His voice was a low monotone, his expression grave.“Well, I’m willing to bet that at least some of them were within the feral pack,” I said, crossing my arms. “Why else would they have helped Troy escape?” Harlon and Samson were both deeply loyal to Troy. They had arranged for the ferals to do what they wanted, and I was positive they were working under Troy’s orders
“What are you going to do when we find him? We can’t leave him in a cell. He just proved he can get out.”My temper flared. Night had no idea how difficult it was for me to keep myself in check. “No. Troy proved he can escape if he takes the entire pack by surprise. When we find him, he won’t have that same chance. And even if he tries to pull that shit again, I’ll be ready for him. My pack will be ready for him.”Night continued to frown. “Bryn, I know you want to avoid as much bloodshed as possible, and I know you don’t want to rule with violence. Your compassion is one of the many things I admire about you. But sometimes, if a wolf is too dangerous and a threat to the whole pack, you have to kill them because leaving them alive puts everyone at risk.”I shook my head. “You say you understand, but if you send a hunting party after Troy, you will show me you don’t. Gregor was a violent alpha who ruled over the Kings with an iron fist; then they had it even worse with Troy. I need to
Our disagreement about what to do if—when—we found Troy hadn’t helped with things. Bryn’s decision to keep him alive would never make sense to me. I would have thought that killing him would be a no-brainer after everything he had done to her. I’d heard what she had to say and tried to understand what she wanted for the future of the Kings, but I just didn’t get it. It irked me that we couldn’t see eye to eye about this, considering how important it was, but Bryn was stubborn and determined. I couldn’t just ask her to go along with what I wanted to do.I spotted Dom talking with a smaller group of Kings. After sending out the search party, I had him patrol the territory on his own. Given the unusually messy state of his blond hair, he must have just gotten back.“I’m going to catch up with Dom,” I said to Bryn.“That’s fine.” She didn’t look at me, keeping her eyes on her list of facilities that had suffered the worst damage. “I’m going to find Tavi and discuss the damage. Maybe we’ll
He looked behind him to his men, and they all nodded reluctantly. “Alright. We’ll watch the borders.”I nodded. “Do it in shifts. Everyone at the border needs to be as alert and aware as possible.”He nodded before he and the wolves with him went to do as I said.I released a long sigh and turned to Dom.“I didn’t think you’d be able to calm him down,” he said. “A couple of times while speaking to him, I thought he might shift and make a mad dash into the forest.”“Luckily, we avoided that.” I ran my hands through my hair. “But I can’t say I don’t get where he’s coming from.”“Yeah, I know exactly how he feels.” Telepathically, he added, “Are you sure a search party is what we want? I think everyone would feel better if they were ordered to kill Troy on sight.”I appreciated my beta’s discretion. “Believe me, there’s nothing I’d like more than to send hunters out there, but Bryn doesn’t want to order his death.”Dom frowned. “She just wants to put him back in a cell?”“That’s right.”
Guilt gnawed at me, even though I’d expected that update. I was still recovering, but I felt like I was neglecting my pack. “What about ferals? Or Troy?”“As far as we could tell, there has been no increase in feral activity around our territory. And no signs of Troy lurking anywhere near our borders. Things have been normal.”“That’s a relief,” I said. At least I didn’t have to worry about the ferals and Troy on top of everything else on my plate. “Anything else to report?”“Yes, actually. It’s about the council.”My brows shot up. “Do they want to meet with me?”“Yes, they do, and it sounds pretty serious,” he replied. After a moment of hesitation, he reluctantly added, “They didn’t seem very happy.”I was glad to know Troy was leaving my pack alone, but hearing about the council set me on edge again. I wanted to visit my pack ASAP to assure myself that things were okay, but I would much rather avoid seeing the council. We were on good terms, but they were more traditional than I ca
“Thank you.” The awkwardness returned, but I wouldn’t let it linger this time. “Bryn, can we just…talk about this? I don’t want to leave you with this hanging between us.”She crossed her arms, still not looking at me. “I don’t think we’ll ever see eye to eye on this particular topic, Night. You want to kill Troy; I want him back in prison. I don’t see how we can compromise.”I sighed.“But…” she said, glancing at me through her long lashes. “I think we can at least call a truce for now. I don’t want you to be thinking about our argument while you’re checking on the Wargs.”My heart beat hard with love for her. I appreciated her kindness and understanding nature. She always thought about others before herself, even when she was irritated with me.“If this is a truce,” I said, walking closer to her and offering my hand, “maybe we could shake on it?”Her eyes fixed on my hand before traveling slowly up my arm to my face. An easy smile spread across her face. “You’re going to be gone a f
“Um…hello?”I jumped, almost dropping the small stack of papers. A sense of something else lingered at the edge of my mind, another presence, a sense of magic. With that feeling came a voice, but it wasn’t mine, and it wasn’t my wolf’s. It sounded a bit like…“Tavi?” I asked. “Is that you?”“Bryn!” Tavi responded. “Yes, it’s me. I felt…another person in my mind, and I thought I was going crazy. I had no idea that was you.”“But how are we…how is this happening?”“It’s part of our bond!” She had so much excitement in her voice that she almost sounded like the old bubbly Tavi from before Troy had kidnapped her. “Alphas and betas can communicate like this, but I didn’t think we would be able to do this because this was supposed to be temporary.”“This is amazing!” I had tingles. Despite the setback of Troy’s escape, the fact that I had an alpha connection to Tavi made me feel like it hadn’t been a series of misunderstandings that had led to me being alpha. “I was just thinking I could us
I laughed. Being able to talk to each other at any time would take some getting used to, but I was glad for it. Having Tavi in my mind wasn’t unpleasant at all. In fact, it was as comforting as having my wolf.“Sounds good. We’ll catch up later.”The walk to my mother’s cabin took about fifteen minutes. The morning air was clear and fresh, and the sky a bright azure. As I walked through the compound, nobody jeered at me or sent me strange looks as they had after I beat Troy in the alpha ceremony. It seemed to finally sink in that I was their alpha. You’d think nearly killing Troy right in front of them would have been enough. At least they’re giving me some space now.One familiar face stood out to me from a group of male wolves near one of the rebuilding sites. He looked around my age, with short, wavy auburn hair. He was very muscular, maybe even bigger than Night or Dom, and had sky-blue eyes tinged with silver when the light hit them. He didn’t look like the type who would sell wa