Page 17

16

ENDER

“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me,” I snarled at the men stuffed into King’s office at Crescent Kingdom.

Our alpha sent me a look that should’ve scared the hell out of me, but I was too pissed off to truly take it in. My brothers were acting like lovesick fools. Even Brix, the packmate who always had my back, wasn’t having a strong enough reaction to the new information about Wren.

The moniker likely wasn’t even her name. Who the hell knew what it might be? She’d probably picked it as an extra layer of manipulation. The word conjured up the image of a delicate bird when it was clear she was anything but.

Kingston held up a hand, asking for silence. “If the dragons allow her to be near their mate, they obviously trust her.”

“They do,” Brix agreed, though I heard uncertainty in his tone. “They were almost…protective of her. ”

“So, she has something on them. Something they don’t want to get out,” I argued. That was the only thing that made sense.

Puck scoffed. “If that was the case, Wren would be dead, not chilling in Crescent Creek.”

My back teeth ground together. How could he be so blind to what was happening right in front of him? “She could have a fail-safe in place. If something happens to her, information goes public.” We all knew the dragons had plenty they didn’t want getting out.

“Or maybe they’ve lost their edge. They’ve been softening since meeting their mate,” I spat. Because that’s what happened when you let someone in to that degree. They owned you.

Puck snorted this time. “Tell that to Cáel. I’m pretty sure he’d peel the skin from your bones.”

“Whatever,” I muttered.

King let out a low growl, making his frustration with me clear. But he turned his focus on Locke. “Walk us through the searches you ran.”

Locke shifted uncomfortably on the leather couch. He hated being the center of attention, but he flipped open his laptop and struck a few keys. The thing was like a shield protecting him from the outside world.

“I did all the usuals: DMV, IRS, court system, law enforcement databases. Nothing matches that name with her photo.”

It was my turn to let out a growl. “Innocent people don’t hide their identity like that.”

“Says the guy with two dozen false identities in his safe,” Puck muttered.

I glared at him. “I’m not exactly innocent, brother.”

“But she is,” he spat back.

“How can you be so sure?” I demanded. “Can you risk everything because of it?” We had a list of enemies a mile long, and they’d all love to insert a sleeper.

Puck shifted uncomfortably. “I don’t know how to explain it. I just know . It’s like there’s a certainty in my bones or something. ”

King leaned back, resting on the edge of his cluttered desk. “I have the same sense. There’s an urge to protect her.”

I scoffed. “You have the urge to protect every female with any hint of being broken.”

The room went silent for a beat, and then Kingston’s low, menacing growl lit the air. It was a damn good thing the walls were made of cinderblocks. Otherwise, the gym’s patrons would’ve thought there was a wild beast in their midst. And they would be right.

I muttered a curse under my breath. I’d crossed a line, and I knew it. We might acknowledge the fact outside of King’s presence but never in front of him. Because the truth was, he’d been through worse than the rest of us in so many ways.

We’d all lost people, been betrayed, but Kingston had been tortured on top of it. By a little thing called hope being dangled in front of him. When his sister was taken, he’d done everything he could to get her back. He would’ve paid any price, even his life.

But none of that was good enough for Red River. All they wanted was more. Power. Money. Destruction. And by the time we found Natasha, it was too late.

I ducked my head, tilting it to bare my neck in a sign of submission and apology. But I gave him the words, too, because he deserved them. “I’m sorry, King. I crossed a line.”

The alpha energy eased a fraction, making everyone in the room let out a breath.

Puck smirked. “How hard is it for you to say the s-word? Sounds like someone pulling a tooth.”

Locke choked on a laugh, and I sent him a dirty look that shut him right up. “You guys truly don’t think it’s convenient that this woman showed up right after we left to deal with the dark mages? She inserted herself into half our pack businesses without our permission or knowledge.”

“Speak for yourself,” Puck interjected. “Dina kept me in the know.”

It was my turn to let out a growl, but mine was one of frustration. I guess I should’ve been grateful that Wren hadn’t tried to get a job at Brix’s and my tattoo studio. Then again, if she’d made a home at Forsaken, I would’ve had the pleasure of ripping it out from under her.

It had to be by design that the woman had targeted two of our seemingly softer pack members. In reality, they were anything but soft, but from the outside, someone might think they were. She likely would’ve tried for Locke, too, but he didn’t work anywhere she could infiltrate.

I sent a glare in Puck’s direction. “You had no idea what was making a home in your midst.”

He rolled his eyes. “Giving a hardworking woman a job and a place to stay when she clearly needed it… How dare Dina?”

My back teeth ground together as a new wave of annoyance flared.

“Guys,” Locke cut in.

All our gazes cut to him. He rarely interrupted. It only meant the attention would be focused in his direction.

He swallowed hard. “Ender’s so caught up in her being a threat, but what if she’s running from something? What if she’s in danger?”

There was a shift in the air, rage filling it, coming from so many different directions I couldn’t pin them all down. But it was clear that my pack hated the idea.

Even if that was the truth, it still meant Wren was a risk. Because she could bring that trouble right to our doorstep.