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AVERY

S omething was wrong. A weird feeling of unease wormed its way through my stomach. Ashton was in his room, and I was sitting at the kitchen table. Cole still wasn’t back. He hadn’t called or texted. Strange.

I’d been cold toward him before he left.

My hurt at the way he’d acted most of our time away had made it hard to be more open.

I knew it was harsh, but I could only be understanding to a point.

Though, it may have been better if I’d tried to talk to him about it more openly.

Would my being short with him this morning have caused him not to check in, though?

Kyle was dangerous, and God only knew what could happen during the hand-off. The longer Cole was away, the more uneasy I became. Maybe it was all over and done, but he didn’t have the heart to come see me or make contact? How long did I wait?

The clock on the stove showed that it was even later than I’d thought. Screw it, I needed to know what was going on.

When I picked up my phone, I hesitated, thinking of calling Cole directly.

That thought went out the window almost immediately.

What if he was right in the middle of the hand-off or discussion with Kyle?

Even the thought of how awkward it would be for his worried mate checking up on him made my skin crawl.

Instead, I dialed Farrah, using the number Cole had saved into my phone.

“Hello?”

“Farrah? It’s Avery.”

“Oh.” There was such a long pause that I thought she might have hung up, then she spoke again. “What’s up? Is anything wrong?”

“Have you heard from Cole? I’m a little worried about him.”

“Uh, not in a little while. He texted me a little less than an hour ago saying he and Trent were heading to drop the cash off with that cocksucker Kyle.”

Trent was with him? That was good. It meant he wasn’t there all alone with nobody to watch his back. Still, what was taking so long? Hand over the money and come home. It should have been a two-minute exchange.

“I thought he’d be back by now, is all.”

“I’m sure everything is fine. Cole knows how to handle himself, Avery. He’ll probably be back any minute.”

As though her words were some sort of magical spell that conjured him, Cole walked through the front door at that exact moment.

“Holy hell, Farrah. He just got back. He’s here,” I said.

Farrah, who’d been putting on a remarkably brave front, sighed into the phone. “See? Told you. It would be all right. I’ll let you go.”

I hung up, having barely heard a word she said. I was too focused on Cole’s face as he walked across the room and sat heavily on the sofa.

“How did it go?” I asked.

“Fine,” Cole grunted as he stared off into space, his face drawn and strained.

“You really are the worst liar,” I said, moving to sit across from him. “What’s wrong? You look like shit.”

Cole wouldn’t meet my eyes, just kept looking down at the floor. “It was bad.”

“What does that mean?” The skin along my back rose in gooseflesh.

“We gave Kyle the money, but he sprung some news on us we weren’t ready for.”

He was being maddeningly cryptic. “And that is?” I asked.

“Kyle manipulated my father towards the end. Got him to sign over all the pack finances and the deeds to the properties in town to Dallas. It wasn’t gambling debt.

It was all a trick to get the town and the money.

My father borrowed the hundred grand when he realized there was a problem.

It’s all gone to shit, and now Kyle wants what’s his by rights. ”

Cole bunched his fists on his knees, his knuckles so white, I thought the bones would protrude from his skin.

It was like I’d been slapped. What the hell was he talking about? Dallas had helped Kyle steal everything? Was that what he was saying? Could that even happen?

“Everything?” I said. “Are you sure?”

“He showed us the will, with Dad’s signature on it. Every fucking thing has been signed over to Dallas. Which basically means it’s been signed over to Kyle. My brother was forced into it.”

I stared at him, but he still wasn’t meeting my eyes. I had the feeling there was even more to the story that he wasn’t telling me.

“What else?”

“What do you mean?”

“There’s something else you aren’t telling me. Is it about how you’re going to get the pack out of this?”

“It’s nothing for you to worry about. I’ve got it handled. I’ll fix it.”

He was tense, rigid as a steel cable. He didn’t look the least bit like he had it handled. He was scaring me.

“Maybe,” he began, and his voice took on a strangely hopeful tone. “Uh, maybe you and Ash should get out of town for a bit? Until everything has been figured out.”

That trickle of fear turned into a full-blown raging river of terror.

“Cole, if you’ve got this figured out, then why are you telling me to take Ashton and run? That sounds like the exact opposite of being handled.”

As if a stick of dynamite had gone off within his chest, Cole snapped his eyes up at me and pounded a fist on his thigh.

“Can you just do what I ask, for fuck’s sake?” he shouted. “Can’t you trust me?”

I recoiled as if slapped. Ashton’s door burst open, and he came running down the hall, snarling and growling. Ashton moved between me and Cole, leveling a finger at his father.

“Don’t you raise your voice to her. I never want to hear you shout at her again. Got it?”

Now it was Cole’s turn to look like he’d been slapped. The anger and anxiety on his face melted away under the heated glare of his son. Now, he looked ashamed of himself and sorrowful. He stood and backed toward the door.

“I’m sorry.” He shook his head hard. “We need some space.” In a miserable and apologetic tone, he said, “I didn’t mean to lose my temper with you, Avery. I’m sorry.”

Ashton’s shoulders sagged as Cole backed closer to the door and opened it.

“Why are you being like this?” I asked.

The look on Cole’s face could only be described as heartrending, as though his heart had been ripped out while still beating.

“I don’t know,” Cole said in almost a whisper.

Without another word, he vanished out the door, closing it behind him. Once he was gone, Ashton turned to me, looking so confused and angry that it broke my heart.

“Something isn’t right,” he said. “He’s not acting anything like himself.”

I wasn’t a shifter and didn’t have the enhanced senses that they did, but I didn’t need them to know that Ashton was right.

This wasn’t something as simple as Cole worrying about money.

I’d never seen Cole react like he did earlier.

He’d never raised his voice to me. Whatever was going on with Kyle was even worse than he’d let on, and he was holding it in for some reason I couldn’t fathom.

T he next day, after hearing nothing from Cole, I called Stormy and asked to meet her for lunch. We met at a small café downtown, where I explained everything that had happened the previous two days.

Stormy stabbed at her salad and shrugged slightly. “Maybe you should do what he says?”

“Leave town?” I sputtered. “Are you serious?”

“I kind of am,” Stormy said. “Cole is not someone who’s going to jump at the drop of a hat. If he’s worried, you should be, too.”

“Maybe,” I said with a sigh, nudging the club sandwich on my plate. “I wish he’d tell me what the issue is. I don’t like being in the dark. If he’s scared, then I want to know why.”

“Okay. Now that, I do get. I’d probably feel the same,” Stormy admitted.

“This has to be bigger than money and property. For Cole to be acting so weird, it’s got to be bigger.”

“Agreed,” Stormy said. “On the surface, this sounds like some shit that would get sorted out by lawyers. Do you think Kyle threatened him?”

“Possibly. Who knows,” I said. “You’re right, though. He is freaked out about something. None of it makes any sense. He wants to be with Ashton and me, so him telling me we need to leave Harbor Mills says a lot.”

“It’s been a day,” Stormy said. “Maybe he’s ready to talk. Could be he just needed some time to process.”

“True. I guess I can try again.”

After lunch, I texted Cole, asking if we could meet up and talk.

Thankfully, he replied and told me he’d be over in a little while.

I sat on the old swing, waiting for him.

I swung back and forth, letting the summer air flow through my hair as I did, wondering what Cole would tell me when he got here.

Less than twenty minutes later, I heard the telltale sound of wolf feet padding through the leaves in the forest behind me.

“Took you long enough,” I said as I turned.

I flinched in surprise as a wolf that looked wholly unlike Cole’s came rushing out of the woods and shifted. A frazzled-looking Trent came jogging toward.

“Trent? What are you doing here?” I asked.

He glanced at the front of the house, then back at me. The look in his eyes worried me.

“You need to listen to me,” he said. “Cole’s going to be here soon, and you need to know what’s going to happen.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Listen, Avery,” he pleaded with me. “I want you ready so you aren’t blindsided, and so you’ll be prepared.”

“Prepared for what?” I stood from the swing and took a step toward him. “What is going on?”

“Cole’s either gonna try to end things with you or tell you he’s leaving town. Fuck, he might do both.”

It was like a knife had been shoved between my ribs, the icy-cold blade slamming into my heart. My lips flattened into a thin line, and I nodded my head once.

“He doesn’t want to be with me. Is that it?” I crossed my arms over my chest. “I should have known. This is like before. I’m so fucking stupid.”

“Stop,” Trent said, putting a hand on my shoulder. “That’s not it. Things have gotten complicated with Kyle. I know he hasn’t told you everything.”

“He said Kyle tricked his dad into signing the whole pack and all its money away to Dallas. What else is there?”

“The what else is that Kyle gave Cole a week to leave town and accept that he controls Harbor Mills now. If he doesn’t, then he’s going to kill Dallas.

He also said he’d kill me, and you, and Ashton.

He…” Trent broke eye contact. “Well, he made some threats about what he might do to you before he kills you.”

“Murder? You can’t be serious. People don’t really do stuff like that. This is real life.”

Trent’s eyes found mine again, and he smiled grimly. “I assure you, Avery. People absolutely do kill. Most of the time, it’s for much less than what Kyle is threatening.”

A thousand emotions shuddered through me as his words sank in.

“Cole didn’t have the heart to tell you,” Trent said. “He wants you to leave him. One way or another, he’s got to get you guys to safety, even if that means he loses you. I can’t let him do that. Not without you knowing the truth about why he’s doing it.”

Of all the emotions rushing through me, the most prevalent was unmitigated anger.

“How could he keep something so important from me?” I snapped. “This is bullshit. I have a right to know the truth so I can make a decision. This isn’t his life. It’s mine and my son’s.”

Trent held his hands up in surrender. “I know. Trust me, I get it. You have to see where he’s coming from.”

“No, I don’t,” I hissed. “This is what he always does. He could have told me what was happening fifteen years ago, but he chose not to. Now he’s doing the exact same fucking thing. This is who Cole is. He’ll never change.”

Trent’s eyes widened in fear. “Wait, no. Avery, you can’t?—”

“I know what I need to do, Trent.”

He stared at me for several seconds, searching my face, trying to find some crack in my resolve, but when he saw nothing, he let his arms hang at his sides in defeat.

“Okay. All right. I get it. I know this is hard. I’m sorry I had to tell you this.

I just didn’t want you to think Cole didn’t have a good reason for it. ”

“A good reason?” I scoffed. “Well, I’ll do what he’s too scared to do. It’ll be better for everyone in the long run.”

Head hanging low, Trent walked back into the forest, and I watched him go, not looking away until he shifted and vanished into the underbrush. If Cole refused to do what needed to be done, then I would. I’d rip the Band-Aid off. Make it quick. Then we could all go on from there.

It would hurt. It would be soul-shattering, but I survived it once. I’ll survive it again.