2. Sawyer

Climbing on top of the truck cabin, I got a view of a thick rising column of smoke over a mile away.

/Anyone close?/ I link out to my fellow Beta Warriors. /Half an hour south of Cragstone?/

Beta Riley answers separately /Is it that black smoke in the distance?/

/We should check it out. Meet you there?/

Then Phoebe’s voice bounced into my head. Deceptively sweet and gentle for someone who hurled a rock at me the last time I tried to get her to come home.

/Sawyer, are you there?/

Goddess help me. Of course she’s finally found herself in some real trouble. No doubt the cause of that fire, I bet.

I didn’t panic until the link went quiet. The trembling fear in her voice hit me hard. Almost like the air had been sucked out of my lungs.

No mocking. Just a plea. For me.

That’s a first.

She’s called me every curse word under the sun over the past few months. Mostly amusing, sometimes seriously fucking annoying. More annoying is the blue-eyed, fussing Penelope. Like a vulture over my shoulder, constantly checking how her youngest is doing.

Fucked if I have a clue. Except I tell her that more politely.

So I rev the truck and bounce along to the black pillar of smoke swirling up high above the treeline, trying to ignore the little worm of worry burying into my chest. Most people have a wolf to comfort them in times of stress.

Mine, Nash, only shows up for the fights.

A wolf that only cares about winning, slashing and foaming at the mouth for the sensation of another man's flesh between its teeth. He’s not here for the deep conversations and musings about life.

/Not entirely true/ a deep, almost sleepy voice rumbles in the back of my brain. /I’m just waiting for when you actually want to listen to my advice./

That will be a firm ‘never’ then.

I’ll keep my wits about me for now. Having a mindlink is unnerving enough. Reminds me too much of those nights alone, trying to conjure up bedtime stories from memory.

If I shut my little eyes tight enough back then, I could hear my mothers soft voice. For a few months anyway. Then I realised relying on shit like that is the fast way to lose your mind.

“Fuck’s sake Phoebe,” I growl aloud, weaving in between the trees. Until I see the state of the fireball. Its a vehicle!

Riley had just arrived on his motorcycle as together we sprinted towards the blood-spattered sisters.

“Naomi are you injured!” Riley shouts, checking her over. I’ve got both hands clamped onto Phoebe’s slender shoulders, the heat of the fire painfully close to us all.

Phoebe gazes up at me, her pale face streaked with blood and tears. My thumb strokes up and down, knowing no words are going to help right now. Whereas Riley shouted hysterically at the pair of them, “What about Leona? Was she not with you?”

“She…she…she…” Phoebe stammered. We didn’t need Phoebe to confirm, it was clear from the smell that someone was being swiftly incinerated in the driver’s seat.

"TALK TO ME!" Riley bellowed.

"Leave it! They're in shock!" tightening my hold on Phoebe's slender shoulders.

Riley turned and stared at the huge orange fireball, transfixed by the scene. Burning pieces of paper swirled around, scattering like autumn leaves.

Someone has to keep a calm head. “RILEY! Hey!”

He snaps out of his staring, rubbing his jaw. “Get Naomi into my truck, lets get them home safe.”

I moved to help Phoebe. “NO!” she squealed sharply.

“Don’t be all precious now Sugar,” I growl, roughly trying to drag her to her feet. Only then did I notice the chunk of metal wedged into her thigh. I'm an idiot. Maybe she's not the only one in shock.

“Okay keep calm, I’ve got you, we’ve got to move, the truck might still explode.”

She doesn’t say a word, just buries her head into my shoulder. My bright white hair is tied up high in a knot. Not for the first time I notice her gentle magnolia scent. Even amongst the carnage of burning flesh, paper and fuel, that gentle, soft scent winds through to me.

I quickly wrap my hand around the metal lump and yank it straight out of her. Blood spurts but it’s not an artery, her wolf can heal that within a few hours. “Now, move. Come on.”

Limping I place her into the truck. She and Naomi sit in the back, rocking in time to the bumps of the speeding truck. Riley looks across at me with a grim expression. /What the hell has just happened?/

I clear my throat and announce, “I’m linking the Alpha. He needs to know details. Did someone come at you? Is there someone we need to be hunting down?”

Naomi said nothing. Just kept weeping, her bloodied hand on her heart, like she was searching for her own pulse. After a minute, Phoebe whispered. “It just blew up.”

“What do you mean?” Riley checked, turning around in his seat to face her.

“It blew up…I didn’t see anyone else around. I don’t know how to explain it. Could the truck have been leaking fuel? Did I make her drive over something and make her break the-” she offered softly, her petite face furrowing in confusion.

There is blood tainting the delicate white ends of her mixed copper and white plait. I’m struggling to keep my eyes on the road, when glazing up into the mirror shows so much more.

“It blew up after she turned off the engine,” Naomi states flatly out of nowhere. “It wasn’t an accident. Only bombs do that. It was murder. Planned.”

In the rear-view mirror I noticed Phoebe blush, looking down at her bloodstained white gown. Naomi returns to her spaced out weeping. Phoebe didn’t get anything wrong, she was only offering ideas.

Before I can reassure her we’ll investigate every possibility, Beta Riley reaches out his hand to take hers. “I am so sorry Phoebe. I can’t believe Leona is gone. We will find out how the humans did this. Don’t you worry. We’ll get justice.”

I tell Cillian everything over the link. Soon after, the mindlink for the whole pack is shut down whilst he investigates, and I purposely hit a pothole so hard Riley almost leaves his seat entirely.

Before long, we trundle into Cragstone.

Matilda and Penelope have already set off with Cillian, but a weeping Eleanor is waiting to greet her sisters. As discreetly as possible, we park around the back of the packhouse and help them out. “I’ll run the bath. We’ll be okay. I promise. We’ll stick together. Just like when Papa died,” Eleanor twittered.

Naomi walked towards the packhouse instead. “I’m getting Rami. Leave me alone.”

“But Naomi shouldn’t we stay together?” her youngest sister asked.

Phoebe watched her big sister walk away without even an answer. She looks so small when she folds her arms like that, almost crumpling in upon herself. There is nothing for her to do now but grieve. She’s lucky to have her family, even if Naomi isn’t in the best place right now.

For me, today is the warning sign that war isn’t over. It will soon be time to fight once more. It’s sad to have lost Leona. She was a talented fighter. Even if she did completely stop giving a fuck after Aria arrived.

“Phoebe, come on in!” Eleanor shouts, like one would summon a small child.

But instead of obeying she turns towards me. Her chocolate-coloured eyes are at odds with the stark, dark ruby blood dried onto her face. Stood on the threshold of her front door, Eleanor appears and places a hand on her arm.

I should take my leave.

“I’m guarding your house tonight,” I announce instead.

“Those your orders?” she asks.

“Yes,” I lie.

I’ve had no orders. But I want to be here.

It hasn’t been ruled out that the Kharkov family are not still targets. I’m not naively assuming Leona was the only intended victim. This could be something bigger. Humans took Gustav’s body parts and scattered them like potpourri across White Forest, who knows what else they’ll feel bold enough to try.

So I’ll stay here until Alpha Cillian returns.