Page 31 of The Wolves of Forest Grove

CLAY

The uneven terrain of the forest passed beneath me in a blur of greens and browns. I’d never run so fast in my life. I was a good half a mile ahead of Jared now, and only a few hundred meters behind Ryland.

We were close.

We’d been searching for her for hours, following her scent over land, through jagged creeks, and up steep rock. Jared had been right. There was something wrong. And I was willing to bet that asshole ex-boyfriend of hers was the one responsible for it.

After Ryland forcefully removed him from the pack, he changed. He was already a total scumbag—but once he didn’t have an alpha, no one left to answer to, he became dangerous. If what Jared said was true, and he’d hurt Allie before, I could only imagine what insidious plans he had for her now.

If I’d known before…

If Jared, or Allie herself had told me, I’d have dealt with him before this happened.

It was probably why neither of them told me. They knew I’d tear him to shreds. After what happened to Sam—

I cut the thought short. I needed to keep my head. Once the red tinge of my anger began to crowd my vision, painting everything in shades of fury and unbridled hate, there was no coming back from it. I already had enough blood on my hands and fuck if it didn’t keep me up some nights…

But I couldn’t bring myself to ever fully regret the actions I took to avenge my sister. The bastard deserved what he got. If I had to, I’d do it again. Without blinking.

Allie’s screams rose from the earth like a bolt of hot lightning, punching a ragged hole in the atmosphere. It was her. I could feel it in the marrow of my bones.

A howl tore from my chest and I changed direction, chewing earth beneath my claws as I worked my muscles to their breaking point. Following the pained sounds of the girl I had all wrong.

I didn’t want her in my house at the start. I didn’t care to know her. Didn’t want to.

But she wasn’t what I thought she was. It took mere days for Allie to burrow into me. And my wolf, despite my protests, made the decision for me when Jared requested the help of the pack to find her.

I couldn’t say no.

Another scream, louder this time, had me adjusting course again. My blood hummed in my veins. A low sound vibrated in my chest. It fucking hurt.

I ran harder, my sides heaving with the effort. I couldn’t stand the sound of her cries. Each one was a knife in my chest, twisting and grinding. Piercing.

And all the while, I couldn’t help thinking; what if Grams was right?

“Careful with that one,” Grams told me in that ominous way she had after Allie went back inside that day. She was always speaking in riddles and not making any sense. It was part of the reason Ryland allowed her to leave the pack.

He couldn’t stand her ramblings. He couldn’t stand them even more when they started to paint him in a less than clean light…but I had my own suspicions about that.

Regardless of her ravings, though, the woman was sweeter than molasses.

She brought fresh baked cookies once in a while and usually stayed to give us heck about something or other.

The loaded chocolate chip cookies and sugary sweet fudge squares helped cut the bitterness of her nagging. Or at least, made it easier to ignore.

Grams was one of the few people in this world I could stand to be around for more than ten minutes without wanting to have a go at my heavy bag.

I’d raised my brow at her, amused at her comment about Allie.

“What? She a serial killer, Grams?”

I bit back a laugh. Allie was about as dangerous as a field mouse.

Grams frowned. “No,” she told me plainly and placed a weathered hand on the center of my chest. I flinched at the contact, my jaw tightening.

I don’t like to be touched.

Her unseeing eyes watched me as though they could peer into my soul.

She tipped her head as though following an invisible trail between where I stood, and where Allie just vanished inside the cabin. I thought she was back to her usual cryptic self, but then she spoke, and there was no mystical tone to her words, no riddle. Her words were blunt. “She’s your mate.”

I stepped back as though struck, a growl clawing up my throat. “She isn’t a shifter,” I snarled at Grams, immediately going on the defensive.

A million splintered thoughts raced to discredit her words. She isn’t right in the head. She doesn’t know what she’s talking about. It isn’t true.

Did I even hear that right?

Grams only shrugged. “Not yet,” she said. “But fate always finds a way, my boy. You’ll see.”

I could feel the beginning of my wolf surfacing, responding to my quickened pulse and the fury coiling up through my core like the hot lick of flame. My face heated. I quashed the urge to shift, needing Grams to explain herself, but unable to find the words.

“You’re wrong.”

“Fate has already brought her to you.”

The truth in those words dropped like an anvil in my gut and I straightened my spine against the force. No. She’s wrong. I didn’t have to listen to this shit. “You need to leave, Grams. I’ll tell Jared you stopped by.”

Grams smirked, her wrinkled skin pulling into rivulets on her cheek. “Still as stubborn as ever, I see.”

I ground my teeth.

“Forget I said anything,” she said, and the hint of condescension in her tone was almost enough to send me over the edge. Grams patted my arm in a comforting gesture that only served to stoke the flames. “I’m not always right, you know.”

I didn’t stick around to watch her vanish back the way she’d come. I was around the cabin, the door to the shop banging loudly as I entered, fisting my hands as I stormed to the back corner, where the heavy bag hung, beckoning me to give it a good and thorough pounding.

But she isn’t always right, I told myself as Allie’s scent filled my nose, pulling me back to the present. The smooth smell of lily of the valley in spring and fresh green moss…along with the coppery tang of her blood and the cloying odor of cold sweat.

And…Devin.

The reek of his wolf mingled with the smell of her in a way that made my flesh crawl beneath the heavy coat of my black fur.

My wolf itched to stop and investigate the smell, to make sure there really was blood amid all the other things I was scenting. But something in my body told me there wasn’t time. I needed to hurry.

Kill, my wolf hissed, and I tried to maintain control with detailed images of all the ways I’d make him suffer once I found him. Yes, that was calming.

I scented Ryland an instant before I saw him, a blur of deep gray wavering across a backdrop of trees. A savage snarl rang in my ears, followed by a strangled keening and my wolf reared back his head and howled, thirsty for blood. All traces of my soothing torture plans slipped through my fingers.

The trees cleared in an instant and I burst through into a small clearing, shredding the ground with sharp claws as I skidded to a halt.

It took me less than a second to assess the scene.

There was Allie. Bleeding, reeking of fear, injured on a deeper level than what I could see of the wound gushing blood so dark red it seemed purple from her shoulder—but she was alive.

And there was Ryland, his jaw clamped around Devin’s throat, growling in warning as he held Devin down.

The pathetic swine whimpered pitifully beneath the strength of my alpha. He smelled of piss and rapidly receding adrenaline. I dragged my claws over the ground, growling low at Ryland.

Let him go, I spoke through the pack bond in a hiss. Come on, Ry, I’ll even give him a head start! Let me tear him—

Clay, my name was a command and I strained against the force of my alpha’s will, snarling as I attempted to shake it off.

If things had been different, I would be his alpha. I should have been. It was my birthright. And if I was then it would be my call what was done with Devin. But shit hasn’t been panning out in my favor for a long time. Karma obviously isn’t finished kicking my ass yet.

My gaze fell on Allie as I bowed my head to the alpha and the raw fear I saw there sobered me. Made Ryland’s irrefutable command easier to swallow.

I’ll rip him apart, I pledged, steeling myself.

Every muscle was engaged and coiled as I worked to rid myself of the rising fury that would be my undoing if I allowed it to consume me.

I would make Devin pay for whatever he did to her.

But I wouldn’t make her watch the carnage.

She’d clearly been through enough already.

I shuddered at the images my mind conjured. Of all the things he could have done to her in the three days she’d been missing.

With one last snap in the direction of Devin, making him whimper even louder, I turned, ready to go to Allie.

Something loosened in my chest and I was calmer now that I’d made my decision.

Devin didn’t have to pay for his sins just yet, and maybe the fear of knowing what was coming to him would make it even sweeter when I doled out vengeance.

Before I could take more than a step in Allie’s direction, Jared shot into the clearing, his amber eyes wide and searching. Landing first on Ryland and Devin, then on me with a low whine as his thoughts permeated my mind.

Allie, he cried. Where’s Allie?

I allowed my eyes to rest on her by the tall tree just behind him and he whirled, clearing the space between them in three quick strides.

I watched with a weight on my chest as her bright gray eyes took him in, recognizing him in his wolf form only an instant before he burrowed his head into her tiny chest and her blood-coated hands delved into his thick white fur, gripping tightly as a sob swelled in her chest.

My own chest tightened in response and I locked my jaw.

She didn’t need me right now. She needed him.

“I’m alright,” I heard her whisper to him, but a strange scent on the breeze flared my nostrils and my body went rigid. I knew that scent.

It could only mean one thing.