Page 20 of Crossed Fates

Hell, I never wanted to reminisce.

This wasn’t my life anymore.

I glanced at him in brief acknowledgment of his presence, only for him to gesture through the open living area to the corridor beyond it.

Like I didn’t know where the main bedroom suite existed in my former residence.Dick.

I swallowed a responding growl of annoyance and walked by the lanky, shaggy-haired enforcer without a word.

Hardt, the pack beta, met me outside the doorway of the master bedroom. He dipped his chin in subtle greeting. I ignored him as well, focused on the scene inside.

My parents barely paid me a glance as I walked through the threshold.

Makayla lingered in the hall behind me, her scent an abiding caress to my senses that helped me focus on the scene before me.

Tyler.

Pale.

Weak.

Dying.

His eyes were closed, his skin damp with sweat. The pack physician stood beside him with a grim expression. I didn’t need to ask to know the verdict. I could see it in the shallow rise and fall of my brother’s chest.

The strong alpha I knew resembled a broken skeleton on the bed, his chest exposed and covered in ash-colored lines.Silver, I thought, swallowing.That’s how they know he was poisoned. It was evident in the discoloring of his veins. It went all the way to his arms and down to his wrists.

A machine beeped beside him.

An IV bag hung next to it.

But one look at the bed confirmed there was no coming back from this.

I checked him for signs of injury or a puncture wound and found nothing. “How did he become infected?” I asked, my voice gruff.

Maybe it wasn’t the right thing to say.

Maybe I should be focusing on saying goodbye and telling my older brother how much I used to look up to him as a kid.

But I hadn’t slept in over forty-eight hours, thanks to the hybrid asshole situation. And all I wanted to do was find out what the hell had happened to Tyler.

“We don’t know, but Alpha Warren and Alpha Hendrix have both fallen ill with the same condition.” My father’s blue eyes lifted to mine, his emotions guarded. I expected nothing less from the man who’d led this pack for thirty years before transitioning the reins to his firstborn. He’d always told us growing up that an alpha’s job was to maintain order and unity among the wolves. Emotions played a large part in that leadership, but it had to be regulated. And sometimes, being in charge came at the cost of our own hearts.

We couldn’t be seen as weak or crumbling in the face of a broken pack.

“Were they all together today?” I frowned. No, not today, but… “Yesterday.” My brother had phoned me to say he’d be in the city. He’d wanted me to stop by for breakfast at a hotel up in Manhattan. I’d intended to meet up with him.

Alas, the whole hybrid situation had happened, and I’d ended up chained to a chair in the basement of Blood Thirteen. After escaping, I’d spent the morning and afternoon tracking the prick who’d bested me, completely forgetting about meeting up with Tyler.

A decision I very much regretted now. Would I have been able to save him? Or would I have ended up just like him?

“They met for lunch to discuss the disappearance of Gloria Mansfield.” My father’s tone told me it was a sore subject.

Not surprising. Gloria Mansfield was Alpha Warren’s daughter. “I didn’t realize she was missing.”Just like Valaria Crimson,I thought, wincing. I hadn’t found her in time, the hybrid and his lackeys having finished her off before I’d had a chance to locate her. He’d made it personal with that gruesome scene, the invitation clear.

Come out and play, slayer.

The bastard had even carved my initials into her foot, just to ensure I received the message.