by R. E. Butler
“We tried the number she listed for herself and it was a bad number too,” Archer said. “I checked the exterior security cameras, and it turns out she didn’t come by car. We checked our other cameras and those of the surrounding buildings and streets, and it appears that she came in through the woods.”
Rehlik shook his head. “Trace said he didn’t see anything out of the ordinary on the cameras.”
“Then she’s very good at keeping herself concealed,” Archer said.
Gunner lifted his phone and swiped across the screen. Rehlik’s phone buzzed in his pocket and he took it out. Gunner had sent him and Trace an image of the female in question.
“Have you seen her before?” Weylyn asked.
“No,” Rehlik said.
“I checked all the security in the woods,” Trace said with a snarl. “How the hell did she get all the way into town without triggering a single damn thing?”
“She must know where everything is,” Weylyn said. “It’s why she avoided them. There must be blind spots that she knew about and used them to her advantage.”
“Damn it,” Rehlik said. He rolled his neck in frustration. “So we know that someone got all the way into town, used the job posting as a cover, and planted a bomb at the gazebo. And not a single damn person—security team or otherwise—saw her. What the hell is going on?”
Weylyn put her hand on his shoulder and gave it a squeeze. “Let’s figure out where the blind spots are so this doesn’t happen again.”
“I think that’s impossible,” Trace said, sounding frustrated. “Our territory is big, and we can’t cover every single inch.”
“What about instead of just cameras we try motion sensors?” Weylyn said. “Maybe the two together would cover the territory better.”
“That’s a good idea,” Rehlik said. He smiled at his mate. “What do you think, Trace?”
“It could work. Let me do some research and see what I can figure out. The other option is to fence in the whole town.”
“I don’t want to go to that extreme,” Rehlik said. “We’re not living in a police state.”
“Fine, fine,” Trace said. “I’ll be in touch.”
Rehlik looked at Archer and Gunner as he put his phone back in his pocket. “Thanks for letting us know what happened.”
“We should’ve told you sooner,” Gunner said. “It didn’t occur to us until the bombing that the stranger might be dangerous.”
“It’s okay,” Weylyn said. “You couldn’t have known she’d be planting a bomb. And honestly, I was around the gazebo this morning and I never saw anyone I didn’t recognize. She must be an expert at blending in. The important thing is that we’re all safe and no one was seriously injured.”
“You were, sweetheart,” Rehlik reminded her.
“It was just a scratch,” she said, giving him a smile.
He snorted. “Let’s circulate the picture of the female anyway; maybe someone did see or speak to her. In the meantime, let’s take the job posting down. If you need help, we can see about getting some pack members to fill in temporarily.”
“We’ll be fine for a while,” Archer said. “When things settle down, we can put the posting up again.”
“Let me know if things change and you need help,” Rehlik said.
The twins left and Rehlik didn’t miss how dejected they looked. Weylyn leaned against him with a sigh. “I feel bad for them. They clearly feel guilty.”
“It’s not their fault, I truly believe that. The whole situation is awful. We went nearly five years without trouble, and then in the last month suddenly everything’s gone to hell.”
Weylyn didn’t say anything, but he could tell she was thinking hard. They walked around to the pack members who were still by the gazebo. Now that the fire was fully out, clean-up could begin. Shelley had made her way to every injured person and helped with their healing. He was once more grateful to have her in the pack.
“I’d like to go home and change,” Weylyn said. “I want to help clean up the town square.”
“Me too.”
They walked to the house holding hands. “You’re thinking about something,” he said as they reached the front porch.
“I’m just trying to figure out why someone would go to all the trouble.”
“For the bomb?” He turned to look at her.
“Not just the bomb but the traps too. Someone, or clearly several someones, have been trying to cause problems in Cider Falls. Traps are left where you hunt, which I might think could be a hybrid-hating group. They might be trying to get the pack to move away because it’s too dangerous. That could be hybrid-haters or even humans who don’t like shifters of any kind. But then the bomb, planted during our celebration and timed to go off when you and I were nearby? That’s more devious and thought out.”
“So you’re thinking?”
“Someone is trying to get rid of you. And that only means one thing in my mind.”
“What?” His stomach felt like it was full of lead as his sweetheart gave him a calculating look.
“Someone wants to take over Cider Falls. And they want you out of the way.”
Chapter Fourteen
Weylyn didn’t like the conclusion she’d just reached, but it really made the most sense. When she took into account the traps that were set before she came, coupled with the bomb, there really was no other choice but to look at things from the position of someone trying to take out Rehlik. It infuriated her beasts and made her want to go charging through the woods like a madwoman and find whoever it was.
Rehlik opened the door to the house, and she walked in ahead of him. “What do you think?”
“I think you’re right. I was thinking something similar when the traps were first getting set, that it might be someone trying to take over. I fucking hate it, but it makes sense. I set up Cider Falls to be a safe haven. Someone trying to take me out means they either want the town without our people, or they want to be the new alpha.”
“Isn’t there protocol for taking over, though? I mean, someone can’t just kill you and take over, right?”
“Technically, yes, there’s protocol. The person who would take over after me is Trace, since he’s second-in-command. Whoever this asshole is, though, clearly isn’t planning to go through proper channels and initiate an alpha battle. I think they want the town for themselves, and that means no one is safe from harm, not until we put the threat down.”
Weylyn sat on the couch and let out a bone-deep sigh.
He joined her, putting an arm around her shoulders and kissing the top of her head. “I don’t want you to worry.”
“How could I not worry? Someone is out to get you. I just got you, I don’t want anyone to try to take you from me.”
“I promise that I’ll do everything in my power to always come home to you.” He cupped her face, his eyes shining with his beast. “And we’ll get to the damn bottom of whoever is trying to take over the town. Now that we might have narrowed down a motive, hopefully we’ll be able to be more proactive in keeping everyone safe.”
“We’ll keep each other safe.”
“One thousand percent.”
She didn’t like that her mate was in danger, but it wasn’t like she was a highly trained fighter who could take on anyone who came against them. She could run fast in her shift, which was handy if she needed to get away, but she’d never even thrown a punch. What she could do, though, was be vigilant.
“I don’t think either of us should go anywhere alone,” she said.
“I was just thinking the same thing.” He kissed the top of her head once more and rose to his feet, pulling her with him. “Now let’s get changed so we can help with the cleanup. Then we’ll get together with Trace, Novak, Dillon, and a few others and put a plan into motion to strengthen our borders. You’ll be there, of course, as the alpha female. We need your insight.”
“Insight?” She followed him to the bedroom where they stripped from their clothes and put on more
comfortable things. Her pretty dress was ruined, but she wasn’t about to let something like a bomb get in the way of her being the best alpha female she could.
“You figured out a plausible explanation of why someone would plant a bomb. We have to assume that this female Sadie is working with the person who’s driving the plans to take me out. Archer and Gunner mentioned she smelled like a purebred wolf, so I’d say that either hybrids or purebred exiles are trying to take over.”
“They should just move on and find their own town like you did.”
She tucked her feet into hiking boots and found an elastic on the nightstand and pulled her hair into a high ponytail.
“Yes, they should. If we can make it impossible to get into Cider Falls without us knowing, if we can stop anyone else from potentially being harmed, then hopefully they’ll move on. But if we have to go to war to protect our town, then we will.”
Her heart clenched as she thought about the pack having to fight for their own town. She hoped it didn’t come to that. She didn’t want anyone else hurt.
“It seems like I have great timing,” she said as they headed back to the town square.
“Oh?”
“Well, yeah. Everything was swell until I showed up, right? Timing.”
He snorted. “Your timing couldn’t be better, sweetheart. You came here just when I needed you most.”
“I needed you too.”
They linked hands and crossed through town to the square, where they joined up with those helping to clean up the debris. Already she could picture a new gazebo being built, with big flower beds surrounding it filled with colorful flowers and plants.
“Let me help you with that,” Weylyn said, joining Diem as she hefted a half-burned beam.
“Thanks.”
They carried the beam to the dumpster that had been dropped off while she and Rehlik changed. Weylyn brushed off her hands and looked at the people helping. No one had to ask for help, she and Rehlik hadn’t needed to beg people to lend a hand. The bombing might have been aimed at Rehlik, but it had cut to the heart of the town. A strike against one of them was a strike against them all.
She finally knew what it was like to be part of a group that loved and supported each other.
And she’d be damned if she let anyone hurt them again. Somehow, she’d help Rehlik put a stop to the terrorizing so the town could go back to being a peaceful haven for exiled shifters and hybrids. One way or another, there would be peace in Cider Falls again.
* * *
Vega put down the tablet and let out a dissatisfied grunt.
“Bring it back, damn it,” he said, gesturing to Croix.
“On it,” the male said.
He took the tablet from the table and used the controls to bring a small, silent drone back to them. Vega had wanted to watch as the bomb went off. He’d expected a lot of blood. A lot of panic and confusion.
Yes, there had been panic. But not as much blood as he wanted.
And for sure, he’d expected the alpha to be taken out.
Neither Rehlik nor his new mate had been killed, though.
There had been enough C4 to take them out, but it didn’t work right because someone had alerted them to the bomb just before it went off. So no one was where they should’ve been when it exploded. Which was Vega’s bad fucking luck.
“I’m sorry, Alpha,” Sadie said.
He shook his head. “You didn’t do anything wrong.”
In fact, she’d been instrumental in getting the bomb there in the first place. The hybrid pack had closed one of the two roads into Cider Falls, and they were checking IDs for anyone not part of the pack as they entered the main road. Sadie’s plan had been to go in by car, but that had been squashed immediately. Then they’d planned to have her get in through the woods, but they’d found all the new security cameras surrounding the town. Instead of trying to figure out how to get past them without being noticed, Sadie had simply climbed up a tree and made her way through the woods over the top of the cameras. She’d never set off a single one.
“What now?” Rip asked.
“I don’t fucking know,” Vega said. “We’ll let them have this victory. And we’ll come after them harder. People will die. The town will split, and Rehlik and his female will be no more. One way or another, Cider Falls will be ours.”
His pack members cheered, slapping their hands on the tables and howling.
He didn’t know how, but he’d make sure that he was the alpha of Cider Falls.
Chapter Fifteen
Weylyn sat back on her heels and rubbed the sweat from her forehead with the back of her hand. The afternoon sun was beating down on her, and while she loved being out in the sunshine, she was definitely getting overheated.
“Hey, Weylyn,” Diem called from behind her.
Weylyn rose to her feet and stretched out the kink in her back and turned to face Diem.
“How are you?” Weylyn asked.
“Pretty good. I thought you could use this.” Diem handed her a bottle of chilled water.
“Oh, you’re a lifesaver, thank you!” Weylyn pulled off her gardening gloves and twisted off the cap, taking a long drink of the cold water. She drained half the bottle before she stopped to take a deep breath.
“I have more in the store if you want another.”
“I think this will work, thanks again.”
“It looks great. The flowers are so pretty,” Diem said, coming to stand next to Weylyn and surveying her work.
Since the bomb had destroyed the gazebo two days earlier, the pack’s landscaping company cleared the area once all the debris was gone and built a new gazebo. It was even nicer than the one that had been there before. This one was large and painted white, with benches inside the rail. The landscape company owner, Felix, had offered to plant new flowers and shrubs around the exterior, but Weylyn had wanted to do it herself. She went with Genesis and Jair to a home improvement store and picked up flats of colorful daisies and some shrubs.
They walked into the gazebo and sat on one of the benches while Weylyn cooled off.
“You look thoughtful,” Diem said.
“The flowers made me think of my mom.”
“She liked flowers?”
“The day I got kicked out of the clan I was planting flowers in her flowerbeds. I’ve always had a green thumb. She has the opposite of that. It was one of the first mother-daughter projects we ever did—planning the layout and planting the flowers.” Weylyn had done all the planning for the new flower beds too, deciding which flowers and shrubs would work best and look the prettiest. Rehlik had told her it was her project and she could do whatever she wanted with it, and she wanted to make him proud.
“That’s so sweet.” Diem leaned back and put her arms up on the rails behind them. “I don’t know my mom. I was raised by my dad. The only thing I got from my mom is half her lion genetics and my name.”
“I’m sorry that you weren’t able to be with her. Where is your dad?”
“Rhode Island. My mom’s from New York. Her pride has an annual hunt where they leave the state in their shifts and go way up North looking for game. My dad was out patrolling and saved my mom from a cougar that attacked her when she got separated from her pride chasing a deer. She went home with my dad and then left in the middle of the night, never contacted him or gave him a way to contact her. Nine months later, she knocked on his door with me in her arms, saying she’d named me Diem because she’d seized the day when she met him. And then she walked away. She’d also said that I was sure to be a hybrid and her alpha said either she had to get me out of town or leave with me, and she chose herself and kicked me out of her life.”
Weylyn’s heart broke for her friend. “I’m so sorry, that sucks. I can’t imagine giving up my kid, no matter what kind of shifter they are.”
“Fortunately, my dad was willing to take me in. I could’ve just as easily ended up a ward of the state, and the state homes where they put unwanted shifter kids are
really awful places. When I shifted as a teen into a hybrid—I’m a blond wolf—the alpha said I needed to go. My dad offered to come with me, but he had a thriving business and I didn’t want him to give up everything for me. His alpha exiled me, and while I can’t go back, I’m allowed to stay in touch with my dad; we talk on the phone once a week and meet halfway on my birthday for a visit.”
“My mom wasn’t allowed to have any contact with me.”
“Wolf packs usually aren’t so forgiving, but my dad and the alpha are close, and the alpha’s a little more progressive than most. Traditionally, we shouldn’t be able to keep in touch either. I’m thankful we can, though. I know it’s not the same, but the Cider Falls pack really is like family. And you’ve got Rehlik, and the two of you can start your own family and never walk away from your kids.”
“For sure,” Weylyn said. “I really like it here. It’s so freeing not to be on the outside all the time. And everyone’s made me feel so welcome.”
“I’m glad.”
Weylyn finished the bottle of water and caught the scent of her mate. She smiled as she saw Rehlik walking toward the gazebo. He jogged up the stairs and greeted Diem, then held out a red rose to Weylyn.
“Oh, pretty! Thanks.”
“I wanted to ask if you’re free tonight.” He rocked back on his heels.
“For what?” She brought the flower to her nose and inhaled the sweet scent.
“A date.”
She grinned. “Of course.” She held out her hand and he took it, drawing her to her feet. She gave him a kiss and he growled softly. “You’re so cute.”
Diem chuckled, and Rehlik’s happy growl shifted to a snarl.
“Sorry, sorry,” Diem said. “Alphas aren’t supposed to be cute, I guess.”
“Only the female ones,” he said, smiling.
Diem stood. “I have just the thing for your date. Hold on!”
As Diem disappeared back into the bookstore, Weylyn asked, “Where are we going?”
