Page 26

Ronan

“ I knew he’d push you too far. I knew it the day you showed up, Ronan.”

“It’s why I showed up, Rory. I was full of anger at the people who’d treated my mom badly, and I wanted revenge. I saw Floyd as the final target.”

“What stopped you from going after him?” Aurora asked. “Was it the pack?”

“No. If it had only been the pack, I’d have done it and walked away. Half of those wolves would have patted me on the back for it.”

“Then why? Ronan, you almost died. Why didn’t you do it sooner?”

“Because I found something even more important to me than revenge.”

“ What ?”

“A little sister. Family.”

“Oh, Ronan.”

I smiled and pictured her immediately lowering herself primly into a chair and pushing her glasses higher on her nose. Rory looked like her mother, who I’d only seen in photos in her room. She was short and skinny, with warm brown skin and hazel eyes like mine—and Floyd’s. It was the only feature we shared if we didn’t count the family trauma.

“If Floyd did one thing right by me, it was giving me a sister like you.”

She sniffed. “I was really hurting when you came into my life. I spent all my time in my room studying. I wanted so badly to earn a scholarship to a school far away from him. The things I witnessed him do, Ronan.” Her voice warbled, and she sniffed again. “And that was only what I happened to see. I heard much worse. Much, much worse.”

“You okay?” I asked, knowing she wasn’t and that I was too far away to hug her.

“Yeah,” she said. We both knew she was lying. “Better since you showed up. And better since moving far away from Floyd.”

“You’ve stopped calling him Dad.”

“You know, I’ve never thought of him that way. Not since Mom died and I saw the truth.” She inhaled through her nose in that way that told me she was getting control of herself. “Once Mom wasn’t there to hide the nefarious things he was doing from me, I saw it all so clearly. And yet there was nothing I could do.”

“Believe me, I understand.”

“I know. But I still feel like a failure for not doing anything to help.”

“What could you have done to stop him? Challenge him?”

“No. He’s too strong. He’d have killed me.”

“Exactly,” I said. “There’s no sense feeling like a failure for not doing something you couldn’t have done.”

“I guess so.”

I peered out the front window for another glimpse of Betty, but after stopping at Red’s grave, she’d moved on. I didn’t like her being out of my sight. I didn’t like Rory being far away. Hell, there were at least a dozen things outside my control that I didn’t like, and they were all coming down on my head. I’d have to watch myself and my wolf. We tended to get controlling at times like this.

“Should I come back to La Paloma?” Aurora asked.

“Absolutely not,” I said. “I want you to stay put. I’ve got a contact on the east coast who works with an agency that does security for some pretty high-profile shifters. I’ve got someone already on their way to Boston. I’ll email you with the details.”

“Personal security? Is that really necessary? Floyd doesn’t even know that I know what’s going on.”

“He knows how much I love you, kid. He’ll use you against me if he can. Don’t let him. Please .”

“Okay. I’ll do what I can.” She went silent again, a sure sign that the wheels were turning. Aurora was frighteningly smart, and her “wheels” turned much faster than most people’s, including mine.

“What are you thinking, Rory?”

“You said Floyd forswore you from the pack. Are you sure he didn’t just censure you?”

Gods, the kid was smart. Too smart.

“Because I’m still pack. I should’ve felt it. I can’t sense you through the pack bonds anymore, and yet I didn’t have the usual kickback.” Her voice lowered in volume, as if she were afraid of being overheard. “I’ve been through this a bunch of times over the years, Ronan. I know how awful it is for a pack when a powerful member is forsworn. You’re the third alpha—or you were, rather—and I should’ve been hit hard when you were cast out.”

“I was forsworn. Human me. But my wolf … he won’t let go of the pack.”

The line went dead silent.

“Rory?”

"Your wolf won’t let go? Is something like that even possible?"

"To be perfectly honest, I don’t know. ”

There wasn’t much more to add. I offered to put her up in a safehouse, but that was where she put her foot down.

“I have a huge exam coming up and I’m not letting anything get in my way. Not even our father.”

“I understand, but?—”

“Ronan, I worked my ass off to get here and I’m not blowing it now. I promise to stick close to your security person and not take any chances. It’ll be dorm, library, class. That’s it. I swear.”

It wasn’t as if I could force her, so I let it go. I’d try again later.

We ended the call, and I plugged the phone into Betty’s charger. Sat on the sofa and stared at the cold, empty fireplace for a full minute before bounding to my feet and heading for the door. My wolf was distressed, and I needed to show him that Betty was safe.

Maybe I needed to show both of us.

I was across the threshold and closing the front door when Betty’s phone rang. The regular one, not the burner. I went back inside and picked it up, noting the number.

Karen Zurka, my assistant manager. I tapped the screen.

“Hey, Karen. Everything okay?”

“Boss, it’s Gladys. I didn’t feel safe using my phone, so I asked Karen if I could use hers.”

My hackles, which were already up, stiffened even more. “What’s wrong?”

“It’s Charlie Hannigan.”

I sighed in relief. “Oh, don’t worry about that old alpha stealing a beer or two. Betty told me you asked him to help track me down when I was missing.”

“Yes,” she said in a trembling voice, “I did.”

“That was smart of you. He’s a good tracker—I’m told he was the best in the pack a few years ago.”

“Yes.” She sounded distant, as if her mind was on other things.

“Don’t worry about his occasional five-finger discount. We owe him a few beers for helping us out. In fact, tell him his next ten are on the?—. ”

“ Boss .” Her voice, already a little shaky, trembled with emotion. “Couple of rats came by a little while ago—friends of Karen. They found Charlie by the dumpster outside his apartment.”

Hell. Maybe those free beers were a bad idea. “Drunk?”

“Dead.” She cleared her throat. “He’d been mauled to death—by wolves.”

Fury, white hot and dangerous, detonated in me. “Pallás wolves.”

“Looks that way.”

“Because he helped me.”

Her response didn’t come right away. She waited a painful second before saying, “That’s my guess.”

“Stay inside the pub. I’ll be right there.” I ended the call and threw the phone on the sofa before I crushed it.

My hand contorted, thickening, the nails lengthening into scythe-like claws. Fur erupted over my body in a rolling wave, from my legs to my face. My jaw cracked, stretched forward into a muzzle filled with teeth created for rending flesh and cracking bone.

No longer content to stay hidden in the background of my consciousness—my wolf surged forward with ferocious intensity, shattering the chains of control I'd wrapped so tightly around my rage. The call of the pack thundered through my veins like a storm—ancient and undeniable in its power.

Every instinct, every forgotten memory, every nightmare that had haunted me suddenly aligned into perfect, terrible clarity. I was too late to fight for Charlie, just as I’d been too late to fight for my real father, Abel. But I would not be late again.

No more fucking around. I was taking the pack.

And if any of Floyd’s loyalists got in my way?

They’d die.

No second chances, no deals…

No mercy.

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