Page 21

Summer POV

“What? But that doesn’t make sense, Gabriel has his own plan. He…” I trailed off.

I’d been about to say Gabriel wouldn’t do that. But obviously, he had, right? My mom’s friend wouldn’t make that up. Gabriel was getting married. And it wasn’t to me. Logically, I understood why he was getting married to Olivia. To gain WaterLock and his compound protection from the Rogues—it was the same reason he had been in an arranged marriage with Olivia when we were eighteen. But Gabriel had his own plan…

This didn’t make sense.

My head was full of racing thoughts.

I cleared my throat and blinked away tears.

“Did Sandra say anything else about the…wedding?” I asked my mom in a hollow voice.

The word “wedding” felt foreign coming out of my mouth.

“No, honey. I’m sorry. She didn’t know anything else. Sandra said that Alpha Everett held a meeting announcing that WaterLock was going to be protected thanks to Gabriel marrying Olivia,” my mom told me, her eyes full of concern.

“Gabriel’s dad held a pack meeting to tell everyone that?”

My mom nodded.

“Do you know if Gabriel was there?” I asked.

“Sandra didn’t say, honey. I’m sorry.”

My mom squeezed my hands again, but it did nothing to comfort me.

A painful ache had begun in the back of my skull, and I couldn’t think clearly. My head was so crammed with questions that it seemed like it might explode.

“What do you need right now, honey? What can I do for you?” my mom asked.

“I…need to think.”

That was all I wanted right now. Just a quiet place to organize my thoughts. And I couldn’t do that when I was in Gabriel’s house, surrounded by his things. I needed space from him.

“Why don’t you go for a walk?” my mom suggested. “You’ve been cooped up in this house for the past week. It would be good to get outside, wouldn’t it?”

“But what about Grayson…I’m sure he’ll wake up soon. After he fell into the pool last night, I wanted to be there for him this morning,” I said.

“I’ll take care of him. I’ll tell him that you will see him after your walk. Mia is at the hospital with your father. I have nowhere to be right now. Take some time for yourself, Summer. Moms are allowed to have alone time, too. Don’t feel guilty about needing some time for yourself.”

She’s right.

I hugged my mom and rested my head on her shoulder.

“Thank you, Mom. Do you mind making Grayson breakfast? I want to take a long run in my wolf form. It’s my favorite way to think,” I said.

“Of course, honey. Take your time. I’ll whip up some of my cranberry almond scones Grayson loves. You can have one when you get back.”

“You're the best, Momma.”

I hadn’t called her that in a long time.

We stayed like that for a moment longer—just holding onto each other.

Not even five minutes later, I was running in my wolf form in the woods behind Gabriel’s house. The sun was slowly rising over the trees, and my paws crunched the colorful leaves.

Strangely, I didn’t feel sad, angry, embarrassed, or heartbroken.

I was confused.

As I ran through the woods, I tried to make sense of everything.

Why would Gabriel enter into an arranged marriage with the Alpha King's daughter when he had been working on his own plan for so long? He had access to warriors that seemed to be just as good as the Royal Guard. And I knew that Gabriel wasn't lying to me about his plan to defeat the Rogues. The night I helped him with his battle strategy, I'd seen proof that his warriors were almost ready to fight.

Why would he enter into a marriage with Olivia for members of the Royal Guard if he already had his own warriors? Did Gabriel attend the pack meeting where his dad announced the arranged marriage? Did Gabriel not know about his own arranged marriage? Was that even possible?

I slowed down and considered that thought.

Obviously, I was missing information. Even if Gabriel was lying to me in some way, I needed to talk to him. I wanted to give him a chance to explain his actions and see if we could talk things through. I couldn’t run away from him. Not again. Not anymore. Because we had a son together, Gabriel and I needed to at least be civil toward each other.

And I refused to give up on Gabriel before he even had a chance to defend himself.

I hadn't been paying attention to my surroundings. I froze when I looked around me. I'd just entered a clearing with a small stream. Along the bank of the water were flat rocks…flat enough to lay down on.

It can't be…

No, this wasn't the same clearing where I had been attacked when I was sixteen. That was in WaterLock's territory—which was thirty minutes away. This was just another stream.

But that didn't stop the memories from hitting me like a well-aimed punch.

Images of the Rogue wolf lunging for me and the blinding pain as he bit into my arm jumped into my head…

But then Gabriel had saved me. Even though he’d only had his wolf for a few weeks, he fought off a fully grown wolf to save my life. After I woke up in the hospital after being attacked, it had been Gabriel I wanted to see, not Axel, not anyone else.

I needed to talk to Gabriel. I owed it to him—and even more so to myself—to talk through everything.

I dropped Gabriel's clothes I'd been carrying in my mouth. When I left the house, I planned to walk back in my human form to give me even more time to organize my thoughts. After I glanced around to make sure I was alone, I transformed back into my human form and dressed quickly.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw movement to my left.

My neck burned with anxiety as I spun around. I scanned the area, looking for a possible threat, but the woods were calm and quiet.

Why does it feel like someone’s watching me?

I needed to get home.

Should I transform back into my wolf form or was I just being paranoid?

Change back. Now.

This thought seemed to come from the animal instinct inside of me. I closed my eyes to shift back when I was tackled from the side. My head hit the ground with a crack. Pain exploded on the left side of my face, and blood filled my mouth.

What…?

I didn't even have time to finish that thought when I was roughly turned flat on my back. A man was straddling me and pinning my arms roughly above my head.

My stomach dropped.

Axel.

His blonde hair was disheveled, and his skin was paler than I’d ever seen it. Was he spending most of his time in his wolf form? His eyes were the thing that terrified me the most. They were wild and animalistic. It was like he didn’t have a trace of humanity left inside of him.

I managed to tear my gaze away from his terrifying eyes, and my fear increased as I counted over a dozen wolves on every side of me.

They were boxing me in to ensure I couldn’t escape.

Rogue wolves studied battle strategies, too.

Was it a coincidence that they happened to find me alone or had Axel been following me?

“My sweet, Summer,” Axel said and tugged on the sleeve of my shirt until the scar he had given me on my shoulder was showing.

When he traced the scar with his pointer finger, my stomach rolled.

“We enjoyed that little show you just put on,” he taunted and smirked.

A rumble went through the crowd of wolves. It sounded like the Rogues were laughing at me.

No.

They had seen me naked before I got dressed.

Hot fury replaced my fear. I didn’t care that they outnumbered me. I was going to fight.

Even though it went against all of my instincts, I relaxed my body so that I could shift into my wolf.

“Oh, no, you don’t,” Axel said and placed a white cloth over my face.

A sweet yet slightly chemical smell overwhelmed me, and I struggled against him, but the sugary scent was making me dizzy.

Had he chloroformed—

***

I woke up in an abandoned warehouse.

At least that was where I thought Axel had taken me. The floor and walls were made of cracked and dirty cement. Vulgar graffiti covered every available surface. There were random wires hanging from the ceiling, and the only source of light came from a small window to the left of me.

I was sitting in an uncomfortable metal chair with my hands tied behind my back. At least I was still dressed.

“Ah, you woke up faster than I expected,” Axel drawled and stepped out of what looked to be an office area.

I looked around, but it seemed like we were alone.

Transform and fight him! You need to get back to your son.

I hadn’t even said goodbye to Grayson this morning.

I took a deep breath, gave myself to my wolf, and waited, but nothing happened.

“Don’t even try to transform,” Axel said with a superior tone. He stood over me with his arms crossed and was dressed in a dirty white T-shirt and stained jeans. “I gave you a potion I forced a witch to make. You won’t be able to shift for a few hours.”

That bastard!

But I stayed silent. I wanted him to keep talking. That way, he might accidentally reveal a way to help me escape.

“You’re probably wondering why I brought you here,” Axel continued, putting his arms behind his back and pacing in front of me. “And it wasn’t just to reminisce on the good old days.”

My stomach rolled with nausea.

I should puke all over him. That would show him.

“Summer, you’re my bait,” Axel revealed with arrogant pride. “When Gabriel learns that I’ve kidnapped his precious little Summer, he’ll come running, and when he gets here I’m going to kill him.”

My eyes widened, and my heart stopped beating.

No!

“Yes,” Axel said as if reading my thoughts. “That’s where the rest of my friends are now, and I have even more on the way. They are on the lookout for Gabriel, and they all know that I’m the only one who has the honor of killing him.” His voice turned mocking. “Perfect Gabriel. Everyone's favorite. Even our parents.”

Axel stopped pacing and looked right at me.

“Even you,” he growled, hatred seeping through his voice. “Everyone prefers perfect Gabriel, don't they? I learned that when I was seventeen and I saw the way you looked at him.”

I gasped. His right eye was twitching slightly and the veins in his neck were bulging.

Axel looked truly unhinged. He looked…capable of anything.

“Our parents said I was as good as their son, but they lied. Why else would Gabriel get the Alpha position and I was stuck with Beta?” There was bitterness and jealousy in his voice.

My captor rolled his neck from side to side.

“No matter. That's all in the past,” he murmured, his tone grim.

He said it in a way that made it obvious it wasn't all in the past for Axel. He lived with his burning hot jealousy for Gabriel every day.

“When Gabriel is dead, it will be that much easier for the Rogues to take over the WaterLock Pack,” Axel said and took a phone out of his pocket. He tapped some buttons on the screen and then pointed his phone at me.

Then, he reared back his fist and punched me across the face.

Fuck!

My teeth rattled, and I accidentally bit my tongue.

“There,” Axel said, shaking out his hand and hitting another button on his phone. “That video should lure Gabriel here.”

Axel then typed on his phone screen for a minute, and all I could do was sit and dream up ways to kill him. All of them involved a slow and painful death.

He put his phone back into his pocket. When he looked at me again, there was a manic glint in his eyes.

“This one is for fucking my brother,” he said and punched me in the mouth.

Agony burst through me and I could feel my lip split open as blood poured from the cut.

“Oh, and I was the one who attacked your dad. I had help, but it was all my idea. I wanted to kill the Delta so it would be easier for us to take over WaterLock,” Axel revealed with a smug smile.

That was the moment my resolve broke.

“You asshole!” I screamed, and it sounded like a war cry the way it echoed around us.

I lifted my leg and kicked him in the chest, putting all of my strength behind the kick.

His eyes widened and he staggered back.

But when he recovered, a wicked smile spread slowly across his face.

“I’m going to have fun making you pay for that,” he said as he stalked toward me and raised his fist.