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COLE

“ A re you okay?” Trent eyed me with concern. “You look like shit.”

He’d come over to my house the next morning to discuss the plan I’d come up with. Farrah and Avery were on the way as well, but he’d arrived early. Less than thirty seconds after walking in, and he was already giving me a questioning look.

“I’m fine,” I grunted. “Just stressed out.”

“I get that. I really do, but it’s like you’re pulling yourself too tight. Ready to snap, you know?”

I did know. My frustration with the situation was becoming overwhelming.

This—the pressure of everything and everyone depending on you—was all part of why I’d never wanted to be a pack alpha when I was younger.

Now it wasn’t even the pack, but my own son who needed me to be on top of my game to keep him alive.

It was nearly more than I could handle, but I’d never say that out loud. No alpha would.

“How would you be acting?” I asked, trying my best to keep the irritation out of my voice.

Trent looked at me for a few seconds, then made a sound that was both a chuckle and a sigh. “I suppose I’d be the same as you.”

The smallest amount of relief punched through my frustration. “Things are tense. Anyone would feel this way. We’re talking about life and death. Plus, I’m still not on Avery’s good side. She’s not showing it, but I keep thinking she blames me for Ashton’s kidnapping. I’d blame me if I was her.”

Trent opened the fridge and grabbed a bottle of water. He took a few sips before responding. “I’m going to say something, and I don’t want you to take it the wrong way, okay?”

“Shit,” I muttered with a shake of my head. “I’m not gonna like this, am I?”

“Maybe.” Trent shrugged. “You may be right that she blames you, and honestly, she’s probably not completely wrong.”

“What?” I gaped at him. “I didn’t do any of this on purpose, Trent. You know that.”

He held a hand up. “I do, but look at it from her point of view. If you hadn’t come back home, she’d never have been able to tell you about Ashton. They’d both be living a quiet life in her grandmother’s house. Instead, you met him, and by doing that, you sort of dragged them into this.”

I opened my mouth to argue, but Trent continued before I could speak.

“I’m not saying you did anything directly. Hell, Avery is showing remarkable restraint in not biting your head off at every turn. It’s nothing but really bad timing and awful coincidences. Hell, if Dallas never figured out Ashton’s your son, things might have worked out differently, too.”

At the mention of my brother, my mind skittered away from the original issue. I still couldn’t believe Avery thought Dallas had taken Ashton of his own volition.

“That’s something else that’s eating at me,” I said. “Did you hear how she was talking about Dallas? Like he’s a monster like Kyle? It’s crazy.”

Trent looked down at his shoes and ran his tongue over his teeth.

“Wait,” I said. “You’re not on her side, are you? Do you think he was complicit in all this? You were at the meeting, man. You saw how scared he was.”

Trent finally looked up at me. “What I know is that sometimes people can be good actors.”

“No fucking way,” I snapped. “Not a chance. This is different. He’s my brother, and?—”

“And you and Farrah barely know him, Cole,” Trent said, more insistent now, angrier.

“It’s like Avery said. You and Farrah have it in your heads that the guy has some weird loyalty to you and the Garrett family.

Except, by your own words, your dad was a dick to him.

Also, neither of you has been around for the last fifteen years.

A shitload of stuff can change in that time. ”

I shook my head. “But he came to me at the playground. He fucking told me about Kyle.”

“And who the hell do you think told him to do that? Huh?”

I stared at him for a long time, trying to think of what to say. Could Kyle have ordered Dallas to tell me? Was I being stupid and letting myself be blinded by family ties?

No, that couldn’t be it. My gut told me Dallas was only doing this because Kyle was threatening him. It was either follow orders, or wind up with a bullet in your head. No matter how much bad blood might reside in his heart from the past, my brother was still a good person deep down.

I said as much to Trent, only to get a stern look in return.

“Sure,” Trent said. “Maybe Kyle is forcing him, but that doesn’t change the fact that he had a hand in taking your son. Put yourself in Dallas’s place. If the situation was reversed, if Dallas had a son and some psycho you worked for told you to kidnap the kid, would you?”

The question rocked me to my core, and the images played out in my head.

Try as I might, I couldn’t picture myself doing something like that.

I’d die first. Kidnapping a child was beyond me, no matter the situation.

But I was an alpha, Dallas wasn’t. Maybe that could change a person’s outlook?

Perhaps it made me mentally stronger. But that didn’t change the fact that Trent was right.

For whatever reason, Dallas did agree to help Kyle take Ashton, and that was a fact I couldn’t overlook. Maybe Avery had a point.

My wolf raged and thrashed within my mind, thinking of the awful things Kyle might be doing to my son.

Hatred unlike anything I’d ever felt from my wolf coursed through me, forcing me to clench my fists.

My wolf seemed to be on Avery and Trent’s side.

He wanted blood, and he didn’t care if it was Kyle’s, Dallas’s, or any of Kyle’s goons.

He wanted to sink his teeth into someone and make them pay.

That same desire leaked into me, and saliva filled my mouth at the thought of tearing at the flesh of an enemy.

Our conversation was cut short by the sound of cars pulling into the driveway. Trent glanced out the window.

“It’s Avery and Farrah,” he said. Turning back to me, he raised an eyebrow and asked, “What’s this plan you’ve come up with anyway?”

“You’ll hear in a minute.”

Avery came in, and I was shocked at how exhausted she looked.

The dark circles under her eyes told me she probably didn’t get any sleep the night before.

It hurt me to see her scared and tired. All I wanted to do was to fix what was in danger of breaking between us.

But I couldn’t focus on that now. The best thing I could do was to save our son.

Farrah followed behind her, looking harried and ready to claw someone’s eyes out.

She’d only been in Ashton’s life a short time, but if there was one thing to be said about my sister, it was that she was viciously loyal.

She already saw him as part of her family and wanted blood for what had happened.

I was glad she was on our side. She could be terrifying when she wanted to be.

“Spill it, Cole,” she said as she sat down on the couch. “What do you have planned for this prick?”

“Have a seat,” I said to Avery and Trent.

Avery gave me a faint smile, which made my heart leap. I kept telling myself that things weren’t irrevocably shattered in our relationship. We were both stressed and upset, but there was still love there, and as long as we both wanted it, we had a chance.

“All right,” I began. “We know what Kyle wants. He told Avery he… uh, well, he wants her as his mate.” The very thought of that made me and my wolf both nearly lose focus, but I managed to rein in my anger to keep going. “He’ll probably contact her soon to find out what she’s decided.”

“Most likely,” Trent said.

“So, we wait for that call. Avery tells him that she’s agreeing to the request. That she’ll be his mate.”

“Ugh,” Avery muttered in disgust.

“I know,” I said, giving her a small smile. “You’ll tell him that you want to see Ashton first. Proof of safety. You’ll have him meet you somewhere secluded.”

“I’m with you so far,” Farrah said, but she was giving me a weird look, like she was worried about what I was going to say next.

“When Kyle reaches the meeting point, Avery will be in a car. Windows down so he can see into the car as he pulls up. What he won’t know is that Trent and I will be crouched down low in the floorboards.

When Kyle steps out with Ashton, Farrah will approach from the forest, and we’ll take him by surprise.

He’ll probably only have another one or two guys with him.

When all three of us attack, he and his men should be too overwhelmed to put up much of a fight of it. ”

I looked at my sister. “Farrah, you’ll be the one to swoop in and grab Ashton. If he’s able to control his shift, even better. You two can transform and run to safety.”

Now I looked at Avery. “Avery, as soon as the fighting starts, you get your ass into the car and bolt. Leave Kyle and his men to me and Trent. Once he and his guys are taken care of, we’ll meet back up here.”

Finished, I took a breath and sat back to see what they thought.

I’d expected some worried looks, but mostly I assumed they’d agree it was the best plan.

Instead, all three stared back at me with incredulous looks on their faces.

My skin grew hot and uncomfortable under their scrutiny, and I had to fight not to adjust my position or fidget.

“That’s the plan?” Farrah said, her face an unmistakable mask of derision.

“Yeah,” I said, suddenly defensive. “It’s the best possible plan of attack.”

“That doesn’t exactly sound safe,” Avery said hesitantly.

That felt a bit like a gut punch. I turned to Trent, hoping my best friend might defend me. Instead, he looked even more dubious than the others.

Trent cleared his throat. “I planned a lot of operations back in the service. None of what you just said sounds good to me.”

My embarrassment quickly turned to anger. “What part? Tell me what’s so bad about it?”

Trent took a deep, steadying breath, then the words tumbled from his mouth in rapid succession, each sentence attempting to knock my feet out from under me.