Page 169 of The Wolves of Forest Grove

Just a little farther, I sent through the pack bond, trying to reassure the ones still weak with hunger and exhaustion. Still stiff with soreness from not moving for so long.

If we didn’t pick up any trace of them soon, we’d find a safe place to make camp and rest for a few hours, but I couldn’t give up yet.

Our pack camp was only twenty more miles northwest. We were getting close to the edge of the third patrol ring now, though I didn’t expect it to be manned, whether they were at camp or not.

Not with so few of them remaining.

The rain had let up almost thirty minutes ago, but my pelt was still weighed down with moisture just as much as the branches of the trees and water-soaked plant life.

Do you sense them yet? Vivian asked, flanking me with a weary Destiny at her side.

No.

She didn’t say it, but I knew what she was thinking because the same thought had occurred to me already. If my mates were at camp, I’d have sensed them by now.

Which meant they weren’t. Which meant there was virtually no reason to go there, to the one place our enemy would undoubtedly look.

It’s almost dawn, she said. We should turn to the south, follow the Willamette River to cover our tracks. Make camp until we figure out what our next move will—

I stopped, lifting my head as the first rays of pink dawn light brightened the navy sky.

What is it? Charity asked, loping ahead, her body rigid with alertness, her cutting eyes searching out the misty, dawn-stained foliage for attackers.

I lowered my head, listening, trying to figure out what had made me pause.

There it was again. A pull in my center.

A tether between souls.

It’s them, I blurted, moving in a wide circle on clumsy paws, trying to figure out which direction. I assumed it was camp, but when I moved in that direction, the tether slackened. The sensation weakening.

South!

They were approaching from the south, I was certain of it.

A whine forced its way out of my mouth and my wolf rocked back on her heels, moving forward only to stop again. Needing to go to them but also needing to remain with the weakest of her pack. To protect them.

Go on, Todd said, bumping my side with his shoulder.

We’ll be right behind you, Trey finished for his mate.

I charged ahead, hearing the others pick up their pace behind me.

My wolf did her best to temper her speed, but as that tether grew shorter and shorter, drawing us closer to them, we couldn’t help but sprint.

The miles flew away beneath my paws, the scent of petrichor filtering through my lungs in great gusts of breath. Until I could make out other scents floating to me on the northbound breeze.

Cedar and Birch. Spice, and the unmistakable perfume of motor oil that somehow always clung to Clay no matter how long it’d been since he tuned up a bike.

They appeared like ghosts from the mist, exploding through the brush with a scattering of dew. One wolf white, and one so dark a gray that he could almost be mistaken for black.

Distantly, I could hear the others trailing behind them, unable to keep pace, but trying their best.

Allie! Jared’s exclamation in my mind made another whimper tumble from my lips, and as they reached me, churning up loose earth on a hard stop, we collided.

What happened? Are you hurt?

Were you followed?

Their voices in my mind spoke over one another, a barrage of worried, frantic, and heated questions, all of them demanding answers, though I could give none.

I leaned into my mates, needing the quiet solace of their touch, just for a minute. Needing them before I could form another rational thought.

Allie, talk to us. What’s going— Holy shit.

I heard the others approaching behind me and watched as my mates gaped at their arrival, shock and relief etched into their expressions.

My wolf released after she had her minute, letting me come forward, emerging from our shared flesh. I shifted with a sob in my throat and choked it back as my body reformed.

“I found you,” I whispered, my voice shaking almost as much as my body as I wrapped my arms around Clay’s neck, burying my face in his damp dark fur. “I found you.”

“Hey.” Jared’s soft touch on my back was the only thing that could’ve been tempting enough for me to let go of Clay, turning to let my other mate wrap me up in his human arms.

“Hey, it’s okay,” he crooned as my relief became too much for me to contain and I let the tears fall. “It’s okay, you’re safe. We’ve got you.”

A jerk on my arm and Clay had me out of Jared’s embrace and into one of his own, crushing me against the hard expanse of his chest. “Don’t you ever do anything like that again. You almost…” He choked off. “You could’ve…”

“I’m sorry.”

“Did he touch you? Is the bastard still alive?”

I guessed I had a lot of explaining to do, but as the others emerged from the south, another reunion drew my attention as a still-limping Archer knocked his mate to the ground, the two of them yipping and licking one another as they collided.

Bodies shifted and both human and wolf embraces were had all around as our pack became whole again, though I hated to think what might’ve become of them if I was even just a few hours later in rescuing them.

Destiny had been near complete dehydration. So had some of the others.

Piper was the only one who seemed out of place, lagging behind the others as they all joined together.

I saw Layla practically jumping on Vivian with joy and smiled as her gaze found mine, latching on with an unspoken rush of relief. I nodded to her, telling her with a look that I was okay and she should stay where she was, at least for the moment.

“I’ll explain everything,” I told my mates, the lump leaving my throat as I swiped the tears from my eyes.

“But first, we need to get someplace safe. They need rest. And food and—”

My spine tingled as I recognized a group of shifters standing apart from the rest. Removed. They weren’t from this pack.

My upper lip curled, and I darted away from Clay, putting myself between us, when I realized that I recognized one of them.

“Is that…?”

“Dante,” Clay confirmed. “And about half of his pack.”

I whirled on my mates, eyes narrowed. “What are they doing here? I already sent word asking him for help. He denied me.”

Jared nervously scratched at a phantom itch on the back of his neck, unable to meet my gaze. “We might have...threatened him a little…”

My lips parted in surprise as a rush of fury zipped down my spine like liquid fire. I looked between them, waiting for the real truth to come out.

Clay bristled under the weight of my stare. “Fine,” he seethed. “We threatened him a lot.”

“What did you expect us to do?” Jared asked, getting defensive. “We weren’t going to leave you with that fucking psychopath.”

“But I commanded it.”

Jared glanced guiltily at Clay, and the pair of them shrugged.

“Guess you’re losing your touch, babe.”

I pressed my lips together against a retort that I really didn’t have the right to sling at them right now.

Not after what I’d done. What I’d made them do.

“I’ll deal with the two of you later,” I told them, going to the pack alpha waiting away from the raucous celebration taking shape in the middle of the forest.

I bowed my head to him, waiting for him to shift so that we could speak plainly. Dante nodded his lupine head to the shifter at his right hand and together, both of them shifted.

“The twin soul wolf,” Dante said by way of greeting. “We were told we were to go to war in an effort to rescue you.”

I shot a nasty glare back at my mates before responding, keeping my tone as diplomatic as I could. We’d always had an understanding with Dante’s pack, since they bordered our lands to the west and generally kept to themselves.

“It was wrong of my mates to try to pressure you into this fight.”

“Pressure us?” Dante scoffed. “They said they’d…” He groaned, shaking his head. “You know what, it doesn’t matter.”

“I apologize for their rash thinking, but I hope you understand what prompted them to do it.”

Dante frowned, nodding to himself. I didn’t know much about him personally, but one thing I did know was that his mate died a number of years ago.

He still hadn’t re-mated, and I could see the loss of her in his haunted stare.

Knew it was a large part of the reason for the tall walls surrounding his camp.

And why he never got involved with the affairs of other packs unless he thought them a direct threat to his own.

“Aye, I do.”

“I won’t ask you to fight with us, but I will tell you that if this threat is not dealt with now, it will affect you and your pack. If we do not succeed, I have no doubt in my mind that the man responsible for all of this will take over Forest Grove and snuff out any pack who refuses to join him.”

Dante rolled his shoulders back, his round face growing red at the insinuation, but it was the truth. And I think he knew that.

“Perhaps there’s something else we could offer...” I added, sensing his hesitation. “With you and the shifters you’ve brought, our numbers will be even with his. It may not even come to a fight, not if Devin can see that he is matched in strength and numbers. I’ll challenge him, and I’ll win.”

“And what are you offering for us to partake in this show of strength?”

“The quarry,” Jared said, appearing at my side. “We’ll give you a stake in the earnings. Jobs for any of your pack who wish them. But...if it does come to a fight. We’ll expect you to stand with us then, too.”

We knew Dante and his pack led a simple life. A life of farming and meditation, promoting a oneness with the earth, but they still had needs, right?

Dante whispered something to his right hand, and the man nodded, agreeing with him.

“Are you sure?” I asked Jared in a whisper, searching his eyes for the truth.

He nodded easily. “I am.”

“Twenty-five percent,” Dante demanded.

“Twenty,” Clay growled, appearing at my other side with a scowl on his handsome face. “And not a nickel more.”

He eyed Clay for a moment and then inclined his head. “Twenty then, and you’ll have our help in this fight. This fight alone and no others.”

I walked forward, some ancient part of my still human mind recoiling at shaking hands with a naked man while being entirely nude myself.

The ridiculousness of the thought almost made me smirk. Almost.

“We have a deal then,” I said, my calluses rubbing against his, feeling more confident now than I had been in a very long time.

“I assume you have a plan?”

I swallowed hard. “We need to strike now, before he has any opportunity to undermine us or get one step ahead.”

Dante jutted his chin in the direction of the rest of my pack. “They don’t look battle ready.”

“They will be,” Clay argued. “I’ll see to it. We have supplies. Enough for everyone to have a full meal. We can hunt, too, if we have to.”

“Okay. We strike tomorrow,” I decided. “Take tonight to make preparations and ensure everyone’s ready. Sound good?”

Dante nodded, and turned to walk away without another word. He would wait for my orders with the members of his pack, but he wasn’t about to get cozy with a bunch of foreign wolves. I couldn’t blame him.

My brow furrowed as I searched through the shifters all coming off the temporary high of being reunited again, waiting for orders. “Where’s Hazel?”

Clay dropped his gaze, visibly paling. “She’s preparing Sam for burial. She was a bottle of whiskey deep at the old cabin when we were ready to leave pack camp with our supplies.”

“Even if she was coherent,” Jared put in. “I don’t think it would’ve been hard to convince her to stay behind. She’ll be safe there.”

My chest ached anew as I ran a hand down the corded muscle of Clay’s arm, drawing his attention. “I am so sorry, Clay. I—”

“We knew it was a risk,” he interrupted, clearing his throat. “When we sent her back. We knew something like this could’ve happened.”

Not we, I wanted to correct him. It was me who ordered her to return. I hadn’t given her a choice. It was me who sent his sister to her death.

“She made her bed,” Jared said in a low grumble, his jaw ticking as he looked between me and Clay.

“Jare—” I hissed.

“No, he’s right.” Clay ran a hand through his tousled black hair, sighing. “But if it’s all right with you, I’d like to have her buried on pack land. I want her close.”

“Of course,” I replied, tugging him down to press a soft kiss to his lips. “And when we get home, we’ll give her a proper send off.”

Clay grimaced. “I’m not sure if the pack—”

“She made mistakes, Clay, but in the end, she realized what she’d done. She tried to make it right. She’s pack. She’ll be sent off as one of us.”

He dropped his head onto my shoulder, hunching as he drew me close. “I’ll never deserve you, woman.”

I smiled, nuzzling into his neck to whisper into his ear. “Fate seems to think you do. And I agree with her.”