Page 139 of The Wolves of Forest Grove

His full lips tipped up at one corner and a short laugh escaped. “Done. How about I start with making coffee and breakfast. I have a couple of hours before I need to be getting to the quarry.”

My stomach rumbled loudly at his suggestion. “Only if you make those banana pancakes.”

“The ones with the chocolate sauce?”

I nodded, salivating already, and Jared chuckled. I could already feel his inner turmoil easing as we made our way back to camp.

The fire pit was just coming into view when my wolf sensed danger approaching. I tugged Jared to a stop and listened to the sounds of the forest. “Do you feel that?”

“I don’t—”

“Shh.”

I closed my eyes, wondering if I should shift, my heart lurching into my throat. There was something…

My eyes snapped open.

“Seth,” I growled before drawing on my wolf. I ran toward the east, following the faint sound of his approach. It was him. My wolf recognized the feel of his pack bond. But what was he doing out here? He should have been sleeping still.

My stomach twisted as I shifted and a yelp left my canine mouth as I barreled onward, heading straight for him.

Allie, came Jared’s voice in my mind, his wolf right at my heels. Where are you going?

He must’ve heard or sensed Seth a moment later because his voice in my mind ceased. I howled, calling to my other mate in case we needed help, my chest tightening.

I couldn’t explain it, but I just knew something was wrong. Seth was never up this early. Seth wouldn’t be running toward pack camp from the east before five a.m. He just wouldn’t. Not unless…

My eyes bugged wide as I caught sight of him in his wolf form, limping as he ran through the foliage.

Archer at his side. He must have left his patrol station on the first ring to escort Seth in case he didn’t make it.

I skidded to a stop as our paths met, my wolf wrinkling its nose at a foreign smell clinging to his broken body.

What happened? I demanded, circling him as Clay found his way to us, churning up dirt as his claws scraped over the earth.

What’s going on?

We were attacked, came Seth’s reply as he bowed his head, his sides heaving and bloody saliva leaking from his jowls. Just outside the third ring. We didn’t even see them coming.

My heart in a vise, I scanned the forest behind him, reeling, a million questions vying for dominance in my mind, but there was one I needed the answer to first. Before anything else.

Where’s Destiny?

Seth’s wolf whined, its sides squeezing in as his tail tucked low between his legs.

No.

Is she…

They took her.

Who took her? Jared growled, stamping a thick paw to the earth as his hackles rose and his upper lips curled back to reveal his canines. His white fur vibrating with malice to rival Clay’s.

I don’t know, Seth admitted with another whine, his face pained. I realized his rear right ankle was broken and had set improperly. He was mostly healed now though streaks of dried crimson still matted his fur, but that ankle would need to be rebroken before he could walk on it properly.

As much as I wanted to get him back to camp—get him properly cared for, that would just have to fucking wait.

Seth, I urged, not realizing that I’d laced the word with the authority of my alpha status. He buckled under the pressure of it, lowering into a bow.

I tried to ease up, hot breaths pushing out through my nostrils. Was it witches?

He lifted his head to meet my eyes, and I found a sadness there laced with so much guilt it made my stomach turn. It was shifters. A foreign pack.

Not Dante’s? Clay demanded, but we already knew the answer to that. Dante was too much of a coward to try anything against us. He and his pack lived peacefully beyond the third ring of our territory to the northwest. Seth had come from the east.

No. I didn’t recognize any of them.

I circled Seth again, picking up the foreign scent still clinging to his jet black fur. Clay and Jared joined me, committing the unique scent to memory.

I’m so sorry, Allie… Seth trailed off, practically shaking, and I couldn’t tell if it was the pain or the guilt that brought it on. But if he thought he was in pain now, wait until Vivian…

Vivian.

A whine pushed up my throat and my eyes burned, making my wolf shake her head to try to rid herself of the sensation. Her mate had been fucking taken. Taken by a foreign pack. But why?

Why take her. Attacking another pack to try to gain new territory wasn’t uncommon among shifters from what I’d learned, but this happened outside of our territory, and we had to assume they hadn’t killed Destiny.

Vivian would have felt it if her mate’s life had been snuffed out.

No matter the distance. But her fitful sleep last night now made a hell of a lot more sense.

Why take her? Did they plan on using her as ransom to gain some territory? Who the fuck were they?

My wolf snarled viciously as I made up my mind. There wasn’t only one thing to be done. Get Destiny back. Retaliate. Retaliate strong and fast. Strike hard. Show whoever these fuckers were that we were the strongest pack in the eastern USA and we were not to be messed with.

How many were there?

I-I’m not sure. Maybe seven?

Think harder, I growled and Seth lowered his head, flinching away at my tone, but I was beyond keeping myself in control.

He paused, sealing his eyes shut to recall the information.

Eight, he finally said. There were eight. I’m almost certain.

Where.

He explained the location and Clay stepped forward, his gaze already set on the trees due east. I know it. I can lead.

He already knew what I intended and he was on board. Good. One less person to convince.

Get a team together, I shot at Jared. Ten of our strongest and fastest. Fighters. Tell Charity I need her to bring in third ring patrol and triple patrols on the first two rings. I want everyone awake and ready in case anyone tries anything while we’re gone.

He hesitated, but only for a moment. I thought he might fight me on it, but his eyes narrowed to slits and he nodded. Don’t leave without me.

Hurry.

He took off in a flash of white and vanished through the trees.

Archer, get him to the cabin and see to it that he gets some help setting that ankle.

The new pack member brushed against Seth’s side,

getting him moving and giving him the ability to lean on him if needed. I watched them as they passed and cocked my head, considering Archer for the first time since he and his mate joined the pack no more than a couple of weeks ago now.

Since the pair of them arrived, our butcher had gone up in flames. Three shifters had gone missing, and the power lines to the quarry were cut. Now, one more had been taken. This one forcibly under attack.

Our food source. Our numbers.

Our income.

I met Clay’s icy stare and let him in on my thoughts. His gaze darkened as my realization settled in his mind and his lips pulled back to reveal bared teeth.

You think this has something to do with them? No, I don’t.

It was the truth. Archer and Callum came here seeking asylum and to live without being judged for their same sex bond.

Why would they do anything to interfere with that?

I’d never felt even the slightest animosity from them.

I had to believe they were innocent, though you could bet your ass I’d still be looking into the possibility.

This next part was going to hurt to admit, but I’d only just promised Clay I wouldn’t lie to him and there was one other shifter who’d recently rejoined the Forest Grove pack.

They aren’t the only ones who joined recently…

I let the weight of that sink in for a moment before continuing, feeling the sinking in his gut as though it were in my own.

I’m not saying it’s to do with her for certain, I hedged.

But—

But it fucking looks that way, he finished for me. Dammit, he growled, paws scraping against the ground in fury. If it’s her...fuck! If it’s her, I’m going to—

We don’t know for sure yet, Clay.

A human howl of pain stole our attention and both of us turned our heads on a swivel toward camp a fraction of a second before we began running.

My chest ached as she howled again, this time it was her wolf crying out. Vivian had just found out her mate was taken. This was not fucking good.

We broke through the tree line and entered the main ring in front of the cabin just as Vivian lunged for Seth’s throat, her sandy brown wolf sailing through the air from the front porch with jaws wide.

Stop! I commanded, but it was too late.

Seth didn’t even try to move or to fight back as Vivian’s jaws clamped on to the back of his neck and she tossed him like a doll toward the dead fire ring.

I raced forward, but Layla got there first, her dark eyes wide and wild as she put herself between her injured boyfriend and her best friend.

Viv growled at her, snapping in her direction, but didn’t move to attack Seth again.

Her initial rage was already wearing off, being replaced by a bone deep fear that I could scent even from twenty yards away.

Others were gathering now, shifting to communicate with Seth and find out what was happening.

Viv, I called to her, pulling her attention from Seth and Layla and the growing crowd at their backs.

Vivian! I called again when she fought my demand.

She turned, her muscled legs trembling beneath her fur.

We’re going after her, I promised. Right now. I need to know if you can get your head straight. I can’t have you with us if you’re a loose cannon.

Who took her? she demanded, her tongue slipping out between her bared teeth. Ridges forming on her snout at the force of her snarl. Where is she?

I shook my head, acid pooling in my gut. We don’t know. But we know where she was last. Jared is getting a group together. We’re going after her. We will get her back.

You can’t stop me from coming, she snapped at me.

I can, I corrected her, hating myself for it but knowing that if she didn’t at least try to calm down she’d be more of a liability than a help. She was always a firecracker, but right now she was a fucking nuclear bomb ready to explode. Don’t make me.

Her snarls quieted and within another moment, she cracked, dissolving into agonizing whines that struck my own heart like blades. My throat burned as I closed the distance between us and put my snout to her neck, just being there for her for a second.

She’s okay, right? Her voice slipped weakly into my mind. She’ll be okay?

If she weren’t, you would sense it. The severing of the bond wouldn’t go unnoticed, Viv. She’s alive. And as long as she’s alive, we can bring her home.

I’m going to kill them, she admitted to me. Anyone who touched her. Anyone who hurt her. I will end them.

I know, I told her, imagining if it was one of my mates who were taken. The things I would do to the people responsible. I couldn’t begrudge her that. And we’re going to help you.

I sensed Clay approaching us as Layla shifted to help Seth inside, sending a glance our way as tears streamed freely down her cheeks.

I’m sorry, she mouthed to me, and I gave a tiny nod of acknowledgement.

She was staying behind, I gathered, and I would’ve made her even if she hadn’t made the call herself.

Layla was smart. Lithe. Sly. But she wasn’t even close to being the strongest of us. She was better off here.

Clay fixed Vivian with a hard cold stare as she drew away from our canine embrace.

Whoever is responsible for this will pay for their sins in blood, he promised, aching internally as the cabin door closed behind Layla and one of his best friends.

He lifted his head in a long howl, calling to Jared to let him know we were leaving and he’d better move his ass if they didn’t want to wind up miles behind us.

Jared’s returning howl told us he was already on his way back over from the other side of camp, and Clay turned tail and made for the tree line to the east, Viv and me on his heels.