The car parked down where the road ended, and George stepped out.
“I, uh… I didn’t think anyone should do this alone.”
Trevor stared at him a long moment. It didn’t matter, he supposed. “It won’t be pretty.” He led the way into the woods and twisting brambles.
“Dante moved us all up here after the first attack by the hybrids. It was a plan the alphas had made long ago. A secondary place to go if the pack house was attacked in force,” Trevor said and paused to scan the tracks in the dirt. “No one died that night. Everyone moved up here. We told the cubs it would be like camping.”
He slipped through a wall of brush and stopped.
“Michael was on patrol. We were born in the same pack together. Sired by the same alpha,” Trevor whispered. “I knew him all of my life as my brother.”
Trevor moved to a small spot on the ground. Brush around the small clearing had been torn up. Saplings lay trampled, and thick black splatters of blood speckled the area. George stepped beside him, his face rippling with shock.
“Oh God, they did this?” George asked.
“And worse, I’m sure,” Trevor whispered.
Michael was torn up badly. Dozens of claw marks were all over his nude body. He fought well against two heavies, judging from the two sets of marks on him. Trevor studied the tracks and bloodstains in the dirt. Wounded one seriously and killed another. He fought bravely.
Trevor reached down and stroked his cheek before picking up the body and carrying it toward the cave. He laid Michael outside the entrance and moved to the next two bodies just inside the cave entrance.
He added them to the pile before going back in. He found the others near and around the twisting caverns and pack room, trying to protect the cubs. He named them all and wept as he carried each one out to the pile. George tried to help, but he couldn’t let him. He couldn’t. But the ache ended up being too much, the horror so raw. He fell to his knees and couldn’t move.
Without a word, George cleared the pack room, and Trevor forced himself to get up.
Jesse was last.
“This was Jesse.” His voice was raw and gravelly with grief. “Dante’s pet, lover, friend… his everything. He was stronger than he thought he was, and most of all, he made Dante happy. He’s the reason Kent survived. He scooped the cub up in his arms and raced for the back door. A heavy stopped him. Jesse wasn’t a fighter like some. He was capable, but not against any heavy August would have had with him. Still, he fought to save someone, anyone from this slaughter. Two survivors.” Trevor trembled and brushed away the tears blinding him.
Jesse.
He was glad Dante hadn’t come. The heavy had torn him up good. The scent of August clung to the air. August had done this himself. A clear message to Dante.
He brushed the hair from Jesse’s face and kissed his forehead. “He was beautiful.”
He carried Jesse to the pile and laid him carefully on top. “And that was my pack. My brothers and sister and everyone who matters in the world to any pack. My family. Dante’s family. Everyone he’s ever loved. There’s only a few of us now. As of last night, we became a dying breed. I haven’t said that aloud, no one has, but Dante knows it. All the alphas do. In one fell swoop, August might have killed our future forever.”
“What do you mean?”
Trevor took a deep breath and poured a bottle of lamp oil over the bodies. “This is a normal pack, bigger than some. You see the males here? Males outnumber females five to one. It’s most likely the same everywhere as it was here. Cubs, females, the future slaughtered. Be upset with Dante for not wanting to help you all you want. We can’t even help ourselves right now.”
He struck a match on the cave wall and tossed it onto the bodies and started to walk away.
“That’s it?” George asked.
“They’re dead, George. I said my good-byes. Good-byes are for the living. The dead can’t hear a thing.”
DANTE STARED off into the distance as the plane took off from the airport. Odin had helped get Angel’s plane cleared to leave the country. It was amazing and dangerous what an old Nephilim could do with their Voice. A single command and many humans were eager to obey. He was just glad for the help and eager to be away. Hopefully somewhere safer.
He sat back in his seat, watching the landscape grow smaller until the clouds blocked out the view. He had none of the usual fear of flying. The stupid fear seemed like such a minor thing now. The worst thing that could possibly happen had already happened. The rest was insignificant.
Colin sat in his lap, curled up in a tight little ball. He was such a sweet and odd little cub, and an alpha cub at that. Healthy in every way, smart and very responsive. He couldn’t speak, of course, but he had his own little language, using the weave and body language to make himself understood.
Backward cubs were rare, but not unheard of. All cubs were born as beast and shifted within hours of birth. In some rare cases, they never shifted and stayed beast until their first shift.
Colin looked up at him, blinking his big eyes with ears poised in what Dante had learned was a question.
“Yes?” Dante asked.
Colin touched the weave, and Dante could feel the shadow of a question form. It took him a second to decipher it.
“Yes, this place is far away. All the way over the ocean. Do you know what an ocean is?”
Colin smiled.
“Forgive me, then. We’ll get to see it up close, though.”
Colin asked another question, and Dante shook his head. “Me? No, I’ve actually never been to the ocean either. It’ll be a first for both of us. Flown over a few times, but that’s not the same thing.”
Kent plopped down on the seat beside him. “Will it be a new home? Will we ever go back to the old one?”
“Yes, we’ll go back. When it’s safe, we’ll go back,” Dante said.
“And when will it be safe?”
Dante reached out and smoothed Kent’s hair, kissed the top of his head. “When I’ve killed them, burned their bodies, and scattered their ashes to the wind.”
Kent leaned into him, cuddling close. “Soon, then, I think.”
Dante turned to stare out the window. “I certainly hope so.”
More from C.M. Torrens
Pack Born: Book One
After years of abuse in his old shifter pack, Dante found a new life with Alpha Victor. He would do anything for Victor. Anything but stay away from Jesse, the half-blood stray. But when Victor names Dante his heir, he has no choice but to accept the duties given to him even if it means relinquishing the possibility of love. He owes his life and sanity to Victor, and that’s a debt Dante can never fully repay.
But Dante should have known the good life couldn’t last. His former alpha, Caster, is not a male who lets anything of value slip through his grasp. When rumors fly of Caster’s return, Dante knows the man will stop at nothing to possess him and his talent once again. When Jesse is kidnapped and Victor falls victim to an untimely death, his worst fears are realized. His old alpha has finally returned to reclaim him. Dante must use his fears and nightmares to save Jesse and his pack, even if it means sacrificing himself.
C.M. TORRENS lives in the Midwest with her wonderful family, two furry canines who think they’re human, and a pet snake who wishes he were human. The warm chaos of her house not only keeps her on her toes, but often reminds her of a zoo at feeding time.
She spends her days torn between chaining her muse to her desk and wanting to beat him for his lack of cooperation when she needs him most. She enjoys the quiet mornings when it’s still dark with a hot cup of coffee and her dogs cuddled at her feet like a giant fuzzy blanket. Those quiet mornings give her time to dwell on the dark worlds and passionate characters drifting in her head.
Twitter: @CMTorrens
E-mail: [email protected]
By C.M. Torrens
PACK BORN
The Alpha’s Weave
Cutting Ties
&
nbsp; Published by DSP PUBLICATIONS
www.dsppublications.com
Published by
DSP PUBLICATIONS
5032 Capital Circle SW, Suite 2, PMB# 279, Tallahassee, FL 32305-7886 USA
www.dsppublications.com
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of author imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Cutting Ties
© 2017 C.M. Torrens.
Cover Art
© 2017 Anne Cain.
[email protected]
Cover content is for illustrative purposes only and any person depicted on the cover is a model.
All rights reserved. This book is licensed to the original purchaser only. Duplication or distribution via any means is illegal and a violation of international copyright law, subject to criminal prosecution and upon conviction, fines, and/or imprisonment. Any eBook format cannot be legally loaned or given to others. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the written permission of the Publisher, except where permitted by law. To request permission and all other inquiries, contact DSP Publications, 5032 Capital Circle SW, Suite 2, PMB# 279, Tallahassee, FL 32305-7886, USA, or www.dsppublications.com.
ISBN: 978-1-63533-254-4
Digital ISBN: 978-1-63533-255-1
Library of Congress Control Number: 2016914511
Published January 2017
v. 1.0
Printed in the United States of America
Cutting Ties Page 28
