Page 14

Stacy

“What’s on your mind?” Greyson asks, eyes on me as we eat the reheated chicken dinner sent over by his mom and sister.

I finish chewing what’s in my mouth and dab with a napkin as I swallow before I shoot my shot and ask the question plaguing my mind.

“Would I be able to … make a phone call?”

He drops his napkin. “Of course.”

I swallow again, heart beginning to race as I watch him move to the counter where his phone is charging. No hesitation. No questions. Just… of course .

“To who?” he asks belatedly, setting the phone down beside me.

“My brother,” I reply, wondering how many times he’s called my phone, which is in my backpack, definitely out of battery by now. And maybe out of minutes.

He gestures to his phone and sits down again. “You know the number off by heart or you need your phone?”

I nod. “I know it.”

I hope this is the right thing to do. I know I have to do something, so… here goes nothing …

I shakily dial Wyatt’s mobile number. It rings once and goes to voicemail. I hang up and call the salvage yard’s office line. Greyson fingers a lock of my hair. “If he wants to talk to me, feel free to pass the phone.”

I nod, though I’m not being entirely honest by doing so. Because I’m only calling now because I’m sure he’s not going to answer.

The phone rings four times and mercifully goes to the voicemail greeting, which is my voice.

“You’ve reached Silver Hills Salvage. Kindly leave a message and someone will call you back as soon as possible.”

It beeps.

“It’s Stacy. Things went a little crazy and um… we need to talk about it. Can you hang tight until I’m able to call you back? Don’t do anything, okay? I need to talk a couple of things out with you. Believe me… it’s worth your while to hang tight and wait to hear from me. Okay? Sorry to be vague but it’ll be worth it. I’ll call you back as soon as possible. Thanks.”

I didn’t get time to think over the best way to approach that but looked at the clock and knew it would likely be the best time to get his voicemail. To buy time. I had to try both numbers or he’d know I’m avoiding him. I’m so very glad he didn’t answer the phone and pummel me with questions and demands. I’m hoping he won’t do anything stupid. That he hasn’t already done something reckless. Hopefully, my dangling it being worth his while to wait will mean he doesn’t do any of the things he threatened to do. And that it’ll make him more open-minded. To what, I don’t know yet. What my next move will be is a mystery for the moment, too.

Heart pounding hard, I hand Greyson his phone. And he doesn’t miss that my hands are shaking.

“Think it’s time you explain things to me,” he states. And his eyes are hardening a little.

My heart is still racing, so I blow out a breath. “Well…”

He looks me over, scrutinizing me for a moment. “Your brother?”

I nod. He knows. It’s obvious.

“He’s the alpha,” Greyson states.

I nod again.

“What should we prepare for? What do you think is coming down the pipe? I can feel the tension coming from you here .” He thumps his chest with his fist, “As well as see it. Trying to be patient, wife, but I do need answers, and you’ve got me thinking I need ‘em sooner than later.”

He feels me. The confirmation of it and the fact that I know I’m also feeling him rocks my world in the best way, but I can’t linger on this because of the intensity in his gaze.

“I’m hoping that message will help, Greyson.”

His jaw muscles flex before he replies.

“Stacy, you’re my priority, but I can’t forget my pack. I need answers.”

He’s being so wonderful, so patient with me. I don’t want to skirt anything important. I don’t want to handle this wrong. I also don’t want him to get angry. How do I make sure things don’t go wrong? I’m just so… lost on how to handle things.

“I can’t say there’s nothing to worry about. I don’t know what’s up his sleeve, but I am hoping that phone call will help.”

He steps closer to me and takes my face into his hands. “Talk to your mate, woman. Now. Please.”

I blow out another slow exhale and he speaks again.

“I know you don’t know me yet, but you will. I’m meant to be yours as much as you’re meant to be mine. Give me your burdens. Let me help. It’s what I’m here for. To provide for you. Protect you. Let me do that while also protecting my pack. Our pack.”

He thinks of his pack as ours, but I know he can’t possibly feel that way about the Silver Hills pack. It’s nothing like this pack.

“What am I here for?” I ask, emotion welling up inside me.

“To help me build us a good life, a family,” he says softly. “To be the source of comfort and pleasure I get after every day out there protecting and nurturing you and our pack.” He touches my face. “You’re my reward. I’m gonna try to be yours by giving you everything that’s mine, supporting your wants and needs however I can. But I need to know what we’re dealin’ with here. Don’t put me in a spot where my pack will come to harm because you’re afraid to level with me.”

“And my pack?” I ask.

“I’ll do everything I can to minimize damage. Promise.”

I blow out a breath. Is it possible that I actually got this lucky?

“You’re right. So I’m gonna spit it out,” I tell him. “Because you’ve been so incredibly wonderful to me so far. And I want you to know I feel incredibly lucky that I met you. That I get to be your-” It feels so strange to say the word, “mate.”

Warmth seeps into his features and he whispers, “Good,” as he squeezes my hand and drops a soft kiss on it. “Lay it on me. We’ll figure it out.”

I take a big breath. “I don’t want anything bad to happen. To you. To your pack. To the innocent people in my pack.”

“Of course.”

“Yes, the alpha is my brother. I just called knowing he wouldn’t answer if I called around this time of day because he’s a creature of habit and I know where he probably is right now means he wouldn’t have his phone with him. I wanted to try to buy time. I don’t know what he’s going to do next and I’m… worried. About people there and people here.”

He doesn’t look surprised.

“And he’s…scary,” I say.

“Not remotely scared, Stacy. You don’t need to be either.”

“If you’re part of that pack, you have to do what he says or… it’s bad. I had to do what he told me to do. I hate the idea of hurting anyone. I loved the job in the diner because it was so much better than living in the wreckage, the junkyard that’s our home. But I also felt really bad about loving the job and staying at the motel because I knew how much people back at home were suffering. Our pack is suffering because he’s awful and they’re not getting what they need, and he thinks the answer to that is to take your territory. He wants to command this large pack and use all the resources you’ve all worked so hard for himself. And Greyson, I don’t know what he’ll try to pull next. He’s unpredictable. Often illogical. But he’s going to do something to try to take down this pack’s leadership so that he can lead himself. And he’d lead it all straight into the ground, believe me. So, I want you to know that whatever you have to do to stop him, you have my full support. Whatever you have to do, Greyson. That might sound like I’m disloyal to my family, but he’s not a good guy. He would not hesitate to hurt all of you. To sacrifice any or all of his people to get what he wants, to feed his own ego. I just ask… and I have no right to ask but I need to…”

“Ask.”

“I ask that you try not to harm any of the women and children there. That you’re careful about harming the men. There aren’t that many good ones left but there are some.”

Hardness overtakes his expression. And I feel like there’s a hard knot in my chest right now at the sight of it.

“He told you to take out Tyson specifically?” he demands.

“Tyson specifically, yes.”

“Why?”

I wince.

“To hurt the rest of us since we only just got him back?” he tries.

“Maybe some of that but Wyatt says it’s because Tyson murdered our father.”

Greyson’s eyebrows fly up in surprise.

“I don’t know the details,” I explain. “My father wasn’t a good guy either; he was our alpha before my brother. For all I know, Tyson Savage feels it was warranted. I just… don’t know.” I shrug.

“What were you tasked to do here? Specifically?”

I haul in a big breath. “Weaken your pack with a mixture of herbs that a witch told us would prevent shifting. And I knew that’s what they’d do because he tried it out on some of his betas. I’m assuming he wanted the strongest weakened so he could take over without them having the ability to fight back. He didn’t like it when I couldn’t tell him how that went. I was told to learn all I could about you. To try to find a way to get into the village, draw maps, give him important facts. I told him I didn’t think it was possible, and he wasn’t happy about it, but then out of nowhere I got revised orders from my cousin Jimmy with the delivery of a gun telling me to find a way to take Tyson out as quickly as possible instead. I only served the poison when I had to, when Jimmy was there at the counter watching under a scent mask, like the day you were there. I wouldn’t do it if he wasn’t there and I put less than I was told to. I embellished when I told them that several alphas came in from your pack and got the herb over a period of the past few weeks. I’m sure he thought I gave it to more than three. I think Jimmy thought I gave it to the three of you that day.”

His jaw muscles flex while I try to slow my heartrate.

“I made it sound like I’d done more than I’d done because he made threats. And he expects when he tells you to do something, even if it’s not logical, for you to just make it happen. And if you don’t…” I give him a severe expression.

“Let me get this straight. Your alpha brother ordered you to take vengeance on your father’s… also his father’s murderer?”

I nod.

“And he was okay with tasking his sister with the elimination of the man he feels is responsible for his father and alpha’s death?”

I nod again.

He’s having to work to wrap his mind around these facts and I’m not shocked about that based on what I’ve seen from him so far. Greyson Blackwood isn’t the kind of alpha I’m accustomed to. He’s clearly driven by different factors than Wyatt’s motivations. Of course an alpha would leverage his pack members for certain tasks that would benefit the pack, but I suspect this man’s protectiveness would never see him assigning dangerous tasks to females.

I haven’t been raised around capable alphas. And my father didn’t hesitate to delegate, but I wasn’t close enough to see the inner workings and management of our pack until Wyatt took over and put me in the office doing his old job. My brother believes in delegation, in putting himself first, that everyone around him isn’t his to protect, they exist only to serve him.

“His omega sister,” Greyson surmises with a mutter and a shake of his head.

Am I omega? I guess he would know.

“Where is your pack based?” Greyson asks.

I pull in breath and hold onto it, puffing out my cheeks.

He takes my face into his hands. “Where?”

I exhale slowly as his eyes bore into mine.

“There are innocent people there who might get caught in the crossfire. Children. Old people.”

His jaw muscles flex. “We don’t harm the innocent.”

“They could be trying to hurt you because he tells them to. Not because they want to. Like me.”

“We’ll keep all of that in mind,” he says gently.

I chew my cheek. If it comes down to it, Wyatt will use them as shields.

“Now, babe. Answer me,” he demands, this time more firmly.

“Silver Hills.”

“Thought that’s what I heard on the phone. The only pack I know of out there is John Meadows’ pack, right?”

“My father. You knew him?”

“Met him once.”

My face goes even hotter. The look on his face says he didn’t think much of him.

“Your brother says Ty killed John Meadows?”

I nod. “According to Wyatt, yes, but we weren’t allowed to tell outsiders any of those details. We were told if approached by anyone outside the pack that we had to send them to Wyatt for answers to their questions.”

“When did your father die?”

“Eight and a half years ago. Wyatt says he wants this territory for our pack, for a legacy to honor Father who had always wanted it. Figures he’ll take control of your pack and make all your people bow to him while he takes it. To say my brother has delusions of grandeur is an understatement.”

“What ammo does he have?” Greyson asks. “More potions?”

“Possibly. The witch he kidnapped and got them from escaped, so I don’t know what he has left. He doesn’t trust anyone, so nobody really knows, except maybe Jimmy, his lead beta.”

“This Jimmy a good guy?”

“He’s my cousin, but he’s also Wyatt’s henchman, so no, not a good guy. He’s been delivering all the orders to me, checking up on me. He would’ve been looking for me after I shot Tyson. He said he’d wait at the motel for me, would have more masking agent for me to get out of town, but he might have gone back to report to Wyatt by now, or be waiting for Wyatt to come to the area. I don’t…” I swallow and shrug. “I just don’t know.”

“Right. I’m gonna talk to the boys really quick. We’ll clean this up afterwards.”

“I don’t mind cleaning up by myself,” I say and move toward the sink.

My knees wobble. I’m shaking.

He stops me. “It’s gonna be okay,” he assures, then steadies me by wrapping his arms around me, putting his mouth to my forehead briefly. “Promise,” he vows then squeezes my hand quickly before leaving the room with his phone.

I barely register what I’m doing as I put the food away and wash the dishes. I can’t stop the overwhelming feeling that something terrible is going to happen.

To Greyson?

To the innocents in my pack?

To all of us?