Dean left the bedroom with several emotions and things stuck in his head. Kiera, the strangers in his territory, his enforcer seeing them like that, and everything else that’s going on. “Now, details. Do we have eyes on these strangers or are they wandering aimlessly through our territory?” “I’m not sure Alpha Jonas. I was told to bring this news. The Beta sent me because he headed out as soon as the information arrived here. He was in the study doing something.” Dean rolled his eyes. They were playing telephone tag with the reports. “I believe this is where I ask you not to breathe a word of what you saw in there. I have enough damage control to do after the mess Elder Evans and his lies have done.” “Oh, I would never…” “I know how wolves talk. Please don’t promise what you can’t or won’t uphold. I just ask you to remember when you are creating the good and the bad within the story that you remember that Elder Evans’ punishment is permanent. Kie
Kiera disliked how Dean made her promise to stay here. There’s nothing for her to do. She’d missed several shifts at the Rocking Horse. Kiera wondered if she had a job to do. Then Dean avoided telling her anything about what Trisha got herself into when she went looking for her. All she could do was sit here and twiddle her thumbs. Kiera struggled not to think about how they’d ended up sleeping in the same bed. That was after she’d convinced herself that they’d not done anything more foolish than it looked like. It didn’t matter really what they did with each other when they were both wolves, but now… Now she had to remember she was a Lycan and that made a difference in everyone’s eyes. Eventually, Kiera heard a knock on her door. “Come in.” She frowned because the guards were supposedly there to keep everyone one out. The door popped open and Mary walked in. “No time for pleasantries. I got food, clothes, and keys. Get we’re getting out of here.” Behind her,
Trisha sat at the breakfast table with James, wondering exactly what happened to him. This wasn’t the guy she knew growing up. He’d already been dealing with pack issues this morning. Trisha remembered a guy who liked to party hard and have his own way in all things. He got what he wanted still. She definitely had the evidence of that. After all, she was his mate, and she didn’t remember daring to imagine this as a possibility. He’d not drunk or partied in any form. He was all business. James also had a possessive streak he’d demonstrated minutes ago. Trisha left his side to get a coffee before they sat down for breakfast and on her way there, a male wolf stopped her in an empty corridor to be a pain in the butt. He hadn’t bothered to tell her his name or even asked hers. The fool came on to her. It was his mistake; he stepped too close to her and caught James’ scent clinging to her too late for his safety. He made her feel scared, and that’s what James found
James returned to his office in the study. It was small and cramped, there wasn’t any privacy for him or Keith. So it didn’t take long for Keith to mention something. “So, having a bad day?” “You can say that.” “And it’s barely past breakfast time.” “You had to go there.” “You chose to mate with her. Want to talk about it? I heard something about you putting one of our new members in the healing centre. What happened?” Keith knew exactly what had happened soon after it had happened. He wanted James to vent on something other than himself because that’s when he did his best problem solving. “He got handsy with Trisha. How screwed up is that? He’s barely a member, and he put his paws on his Luna, my mate. I have to make sure everyone knows she’s mine, and she’s, their Luna. This is ridiculous and I feel we missed something in his background check.” “I’ll get someone on it. What are they looking for?” “I feel he’s done this before. He t
James listened to Trisha’s call to one of her friends. If what Kiera was saying and what he knew about what they found there. That body may have been a man who claimed to be a father to both himself and Dean. True or not, that complicates a lot of things. The girls discussed it so thoroughly that he and Keith only needed a look to be on the same page. The black market ring for shifter blood and now they assumed Lycan was in the wind. As was the local Lycan appeared to be. “I can’t sit on this, can’t I?” “Hey, you could have if you hadn’t mated with his sister. Now you can have her angry for listening in on her call, angry at you for not telling her what you found up there, and now you want to tell her brother where his potential mate has fled to. Honestly, you made your bed and now you have to sleep with the wrinkles.” “That’s the weirdest twisted screw up on a saying I have ever heard. But I get it. I’m stuck in a catch-22. If I don’t say anything an
“You don’t say…” Oli was chattering on the phone as Dean finished up with the mess. Someone forged the signature of their Alpha on the order or scavenger hunt document. He’d sent a copy of his signature and the two weren’t anything alike. Now Dean finished arranging a trip for the twelve fool pups to his border, where their Alpha’s people would pick them up and take them home for punishment. “Dean. Dean.” Oli put his hands over his phone. “What? I need to finish this.” “Go make sure Kiera is in her apartment. I think this is important.” “What? Now? Of course she’s there. Where would she be?” “Uh… Don’t shoot the messenger. The Jasper Spring’s Beta, Keith, is on the line. He says you both have trouble. Kiera and two other packs are in a vehicle right now and they aren’t in our territory. Trisha’s been talking to them.” “What? That can’t be true. I just left her upstairs.” “Dean, that was five hours ago.” “Really? Crap, she’s not had
James found her staring out of the window into the bright morning sunshine. The day was slowly inching toward noon. Trisha was still on the phone talking to her friends. When Trisha saw him, she said her farewells to them. But James raised his hands, and she stopped. “I need to speak to your friends right now. It’s urgent. Put it on speaker.” “Geez. Would saying please hurt you in someway?” James was getting some seriously mixed emotions from Trisha. “Next time. Right now, we have some very serious problems to discuss.” “Fine. But next time you forget the niceties, I will hang up instead. I’ll hold you to it. Girls, you’re on speaker phone and my mate here wants to tell you something. Go for it.” “I will admit Trisha was correct. Most of the time, I was listening. I’d like to thank you for the information as it’s answered a few questions. The issue I have is with which one of you thought it was smart to take a walking targ
Dean watched the second last group of enforcers head out looking for the vehicle. He’d have to thank the Gamma who headed the territory and general pack security. He’d insisted on putting GPS tracking into all their vehicles. From ATV to SUV, they were all tagged. He didn’t trust her not to be smart enough to ditch the tracking device, but right now, he’d make use of it all. He’d hoped not to need to rely on it. But James called again with the outcome and it included Kiera ditching her friends and disappearing alone. He’d be in the last group. Oli would hold down the fort while he dealt with this. Why she thought she was better off alone, he didn’t understand. This was her home, and it always was. Dean knew enough to lay the blame on the feet of Elder Evans. He’d done most of this damage. The rest was Dean’s fault for blindly believing that an elder would be honourable and loyal to him and the pack. That the elder would not use his position to further a twist a