4

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 reconnect later.”

I watched her for a bit longer, but she didn’t return my gaze. My chest tightened when I remembered the tears swimming in her eyes during our argument and the moment she’d handed me the painkillers. Bryn didn’t use her emotions as a weapon when she was distressed. And even though she was angry with me, she still worried about me. Still cared.

That caring side of her persevered even when she felt low—it was part of what made her so amazing. As frustrated as I was with her, I still loved her deeply, which made this situation suck even more.

My wolf whined as I turned away from her. He didn’t like that we were on opposite sides of the Troy issue any more than I did. I wasn’t planning on changing my mind about Redwolf, though. I planned on living long enough to see that line die out, but if Bryn had her way, that wouldn’t happen as quickly as I wanted.

Dom nodded at me as I approached, but his attention was trained on the men in front of him. They were Kings, and from their quick, decisive gestures, it was obvious to me that they were either pissed, stressed out, or some combination of the two. Those conditions didn’t bode well for wolf shifters, but at least they were still in their human forms, which made them easier to reason with.

“I’m telling you that we’re handling this,” Dom said to the group. “We’ve got Wargs and Kings working for this.”

“What can we do?” one of the Kings demanded, stepping toward Dom.

“Hold on,” I said, moving between the two. “What’s going on?”

“We heard that Troy escaped,” the same man responded. He had a decade on Dom and me, and he, like the men behind him, had the bulky physique of a fighter. “We heard he’s the reason we were attacked. That true?”

I shared a look with Dom. “Might as well tell them,” his voice entered my mind. “If there are already rumors, it won’t be long before the entire pack finds out who was behind the attack.”

Good point. “From what we’ve discovered, yes. Troy sent the ferals to attack so he could escape.”

The King turned his head and spat on the ground. “Fuck that. Fuck him. I’ve gathered up some men, and we’re going to hunt him down.”

I arched a brow. “On whose authority?”

He raised his chin and met my gaze. “Our own.”

I narrowed my eyes, and after a few moments, the pressure of staring down an alpha got to him. He looked away. These men were serious about going out there and finding Troy. I really, really couldn’t blame them, but we couldn’t afford to have rogue groups of wolves running through the forest, covering up tracks and scents with their footsteps.

“We’ve already got people on that,” I said, looking from him to the other wolves behind him. “I know you’re all concerned, but your alpha is handling it.” Maybe not the way I would want her to, but…

“No.” He shook his head. “I can’t just sit around waiting for that. I need to do something. My mate, my pups…” His eyes flashed as he thought of his family. “They need to know I’m out here helping and making sure this doesn’t happen to us again.”

“What’s your name?” I asked.

“Donald.”

“Donald. Are you and everyone else fighters? Hunters?”

He puffed up his chest. “We’re fighters.”

“Yeah, I figured as much. You all look like you could take Troy down easily.” A bit of flattery went a long way to calm wolves, and I hoped it would work here. “But Donald, I can’t let you do what you want. There’s something else you could be doing, something more effective than going blind into the forest.”

He stared at me, waiting.

“I want you and your men to gather every able-bodied wolf you can find to stand at the border. If any of you see a feral wolf, catch it before it reaches the compound.”

“You want us to just stand around and wait for something to happen?”

“No, I want you to protect your pack. That’s what you all really want to do, right? You want to make it so that your families can sleep easily?”

The Kings glanced at each other. They had to concede my point.

“What better way to ease the worst of their fears than to watch over the territory?” I asked. “Your pack needs you and your men out there doing that.”

They were coming around, but Donald still looked uncertain. “What about Troy?”

“It’s like Dom said. We’re on it. We’ll find him.”