She assumed the panting man in the doorway was the one Alex had called William, but she didn’t know him that well. “Sir, we’ve got company. One of the men down at the gate said they spotted several vehicles heading up the road and more wolves amidst the trees.”
Sebastian sat up and swung his feet over the side of the bed. Sophia rushed to his side to try to prevent him from rising. He brushed her hands away, his focus on William. “Do we know who it is specifically?”
“All three packs.”
Sebastian went still. “All…three?”
“Yes, sir. Some of our people are among them. They may have gone to meet with the others while you were down.” His gaze shifted to Sophia and back to Sebastian. “Word is they’re calling for her death. They blame her for the hunters finding us after so many years.”
“That’s bullshit,” Alex snapped. “Everyone knows it was Belle.”
Sebastian’s voice turned gravelly, and his teeth sharpened to that of the wolf’s. “They’re calling for my wife’s death? They’ll have to go over my dead body.”
Cold fear crawled down Sophia’s back. She couldn’t believe what she was hearing. A pack of wolves were headed toward the mansion, and they had one thing on their mind. Her death. She looked around at the wolves crowding the room and at her husband who wasn’t as weak as a kitten but he looked pretty shaky. There wasn’t a chance in hell they could stand against the enemy.
Sebastian stood, and his nails became claws that ripped the bandages on his body to shreds. He dropped the pieces to the floor. “You’ll fight with me, I assume?”
He was asking everyone in the room, and every one of them answered right away. They were with him. Sophia got to her own shaky feet. This situation was beyond her, but she couldn’t sit there and let them risk their lives on her behalf.
“I-If you have a weapon in the house, I could use it,” she croaked. “I’ve never shot a gun in my life, but if it’s me or someone else, I can put a bullet in them.”
Sebastian snorted for an instant and then grew serious. “You will stay put, Sophia. In this room. Ava, you’ll watch over her.”
Ava yipped because she hadn’t changed back into her human form, and neither had Diana and Darla. Sophia started to protest, but Sebastian continued to instruct his men.
“Alex, find out who is loyal to me on the property. No, never mind. I’ll do it.” He shut his eyes, but Alex grabbed his arm.
“Sir, talking to so many at once, that will take a lot of energy. I can get out there and get the feel of where their thoughts are. They’ll open up to me. Let me do this.”
“No, this ends today. I won’t continue to be questioned about my decision to mate with and marry Sophia. I can read their hearts and minds at once and be sure. Let’s move. And, men, whoever bares their teeth to me and threatens my wife dies. Got it?”
“Sir!”
Chapter 12
Sophia stood anxiously by a window and looked out on the impossible scene. The entire front of the property was covered with wolves and men fighting. Her stomach turned when sharp teeth sank in the flesh of a forearm. Yet, as soon as it did, the man would shape-shift and leap onto his attacker, using his own teeth as a weapon.
“I hate it that we’re stuck up here,” Sophia complained. “We should be down there fighting with Sebastian. At the least we should be making sure he’s okay.”
Ava, who stood just behind her, not watching the fighting, said nothing. Although she pretended to be calm, Sophia knew the woman was far from it. Ava might love Sebastian as much as Sophia, so she hated to see him go into battle when he wasn’t in peak form.
Sophia stood on her toes and pressed her face against the glass. She struggled to catch a glimpse of Sebastian, but he was nowhere in sight. At least the wolves didn’t have to worry about being discovered during the fight. The grounds around Sebastian’s mansion were extensive, and no human would get onto the property without them knowing it. Shifters were a different story.
“We should go to the other side,” Sophia suggested. “I can’t see Sebastian.”
“We stay here,” Ava said.
“You didn’t care that we stand in the hall, so what’s the big deal about us going to the south side of the mansion?”
Ava glared at her. “Because if you see him, and he’s not doing well, you’re liable to do something stupid.”
“You can’t make me believe you’re not worried!”
“Whether I am or I’m not isn’t relevant.”
Sophia slammed a fist on the sill.
“And don’t get any ideas that you’re going to climb out the window either.”
“Kiss my ass.”
Rather than enter into a staring contest with her, Sophia faced the window again and stared out. She willed for Sebastian to come to that side of the house so she could see him. Ava was probably right that she would do anything to get to Sebastian if she saw him in trouble, but she also liked to think Ava would do the same. The woman stubbornly determined to do exactly as she was ordered because she had gotten into trouble the last time she let Sophia head back downstairs.
Her frustration mounting, Sophia looked away from the fighting in the drive to the tree line not far off. She squinted, trying to make out the person standing there. “Ava, who is that in the trees?”
Her Guard didn’t budge from the spot of wall she held up.
“Ava!”
“I’m not giving you a play by play of the fight.”
Sophia put a hand on her hip. “Correct me if I’m wrong, but you work for me. You do what I say because if you don’t, I can easily get Sebastian to replace you.”
She went still, but it didn’t take her long to figure out Sophia was right. Sebastian would cave and get rid of her if Sophia told him Ava displeased her. Sophia never wanted to pull that kind of attitude, but Ava gave her no choice. She had the feeling if she didn’t show the woman who was boss, Ava would walk all over her.
“Fine.” Full of bristling resentment, Ava stalked over to her and peered out the window. She swore as soon as she spotted the person. “Why isn’t she fighting?”
“Who is it?”
“Harper.”
Sophia couldn’t believe it. While her people were defending their alpha and his mate, Harper decided she wouldn’t get involved? Granted, she wasn’t fighting for the other side either, but to just stand there and watch was too much. Sophia would do anything to go down there and have her husband’s back.
“I want to talk to her,” she said.
Ava opened her mouth to say something and then seemed to rethink it. “She’s too close to the action. Wait a minute.”
She opened the window and climbed out onto the verandah’s roof. After inching to the edge, she narrowed her eyes on Harper. A little pucker appeared at her brows, letting Sophia know she spoke inside Harper’s head. Even with the distance between them, Sophia saw Harper jerk in annoyance and glance at the house. She paced a bit and then started toward them.
Ava climbed back inside, but she didn’t close the window. Harper drew near enough to disappear from sight, and Ava gestured to Sophia. “Go over there.”
“Excuse me?”
She sighed. “In case she gets it into her head to attack you. I don’t know where she stands right now. Only Sebastian can feel out her allegiance. Go over there so I’ll have time to cut her down if she gets stupid. Please.”
“Well since you’re using your manners…” Sophia stepped back from the window just as Harper leaped up to the roof. The wolf shifters were a nimble bunch. Maybe it was the strength in their legs or something.
Harper climbed through the window and jumped down to the floor. She gave Ava a dismissing look and scanned the room, taking her time to settle her gaze on Sophia, as if she hadn’t known she was there.
“Why aren’t you fighting?” Sophia demanded, not beating around the bush. “Your alpha’s out there.”
“Jack is my alpha.”
Ava got in her face.
“Sebastian is Jack’s alpha and yours, and you know it. Are you saying you want to challenge that?”
Some of the heat died out of Harper’s attitude. “No, neither of us could beat Sebastian. I’m not saying we want to stand against his authority.”
“I asked you a question.” Sophia was tempted to get in her face as well, but she resisted. Harper might look like a skinny little chick with hair that was teased too big, but she was still a shifter. She could wipe the floor with Sophia. “Are you aligning with the others against your pack?”
Harper sneered. “Listen to you, talking like you’re one of us.”
“I’m Sebastian’s wife in case you forgot.”
“Funny, you weren’t talking like that when you came crying to us talking about he’s a monster.”
“Forget being careful.” Sophia stalked over to her and smacked her hard across the face. A red handprint stained her cheek. Harper growled low in her throat, and Ava shoved Sophia aside to face the woman.
“Try it,” Ava encouraged her. “Please try it so I can put you down. As far as I’m concerned you betrayed Sebastian and neither you nor Jack deserve to live.”
“Whatever! I’m sick of this.”
“Sick of what?” Sophia figured she wasn’t talking about the current situation.
Harper paced, but she didn’t try to get close to Sophia. “Why should I care if they come after you or if Sebastian gets hurt?”
“What did you do, Harper?”
“I didn’t do anything.”
“Jack then.”
She hesitated, but her anger got the best of her. “Jack told them it wasn’t Belle who betrayed them but you.”
Sophia gasped. “I’ve never done anything to you. Just because I didn’t go along with your plan to discredit Sebastian doesn’t mean you should plot to get me killed. I mean Sebastian sent Jack to get Belle, so he’s obviously not going to hurt him.”
Harper made a rude and very unladylike noise. “So what? We might as well be dead.”
“Meaning?”
“He took our house!” she whined. “We have to live in a trailer, and Sebastian says we have to pay our own bills. All this time he didn’t have any problem paying our way. Now he says he won’t even pay Jack’s cell phone bill.”
Sophia gaped at her. “You can’t be serious. You’re pissed off and vengeful because Sebastian is making you carry your own weight? He’s supposed to support you like you can’t make a living on your own? Are you freaking kidding me?”
She wasn’t done whining and feeling sorry for herself. “Sebastian has always been the favorite son, just because he was born first and by their father’s true mate. He got everything. He inherited the pack from his dad, who passed it down from their grandfather.”
“I thought they shared the same mother.”
Harper rolled her eyes and waved a hand. “Convenient lie.”
“I can’t even… I don’t understand…” Sophia pressed a hand to her mouth while she gathered her thoughts. “Okay, I get that you and Jack feel like he got the short end of the stick, but I’ve seen with my own eyes Sebastian working hard for your people. You think he should hand everything over to you so you don’t have to work for your money. Surely you get an allowance like all the others.”
“Small change.”
“Get a job!”
Harper let out a shriek of frustration and launched at Sophia, but she didn’t take more than a half step before Ava clotheslined her. The shifter hit the floor hard, and Ava followed her down and pressed a knee into her chest. Harper flopped about like a fish out of water, but her strength didn’t match Ava’s.
“You’re begging to die, aren’t you?” Ava said.
Sophia hurried over to the two and dropped a hand on Ava’s shoulder. “Don’t kill her, Ava.”
Her Guard sneered. “You’re telling me you think she deserves a break?”
“No.” Sophia straightened and smirked at Harper. “Let her live so she can keep living in a trailer.”
Amusement filled Ava’s expression. “You’re colder than I thought. Well, I’ll hold off until Sebastian gives me specific orders. Then if he tells me to, I’m taking care of her.”
“Fair enough.”
The fighting continued on through the rest of the day and into the night. Sophia couldn’t believe the shifters could go on so long. Her energy would have fizzled long before then. As she gazed out her window she could no longer see the wolves. An occasional streak of dark shadow and maybe what could be moonlight reflexing golden eyes was all she could make out. Frequently, a howl echoed across the night, sending chills down her spine. Any second she expected someone to come in and say the alpha, her husband, was dead.
I should believe in him more than that.
Yet, she was scared. With him in a weakened state, the outcome of the battle wasn’t clear.
At long last someone burst through the front door and shouted for Ava. She rushed from Sophia’s room, and Sophia hurried behind her. Sophia thought she recognized the man they met at the base of the stairs. He was one of the residents she met in the community that bordered the Skidaway River, which she visited with Sebastian not long ago. The man had the look of a lower class shifter, the ones without the ability to be alpha or to speak into another’s mind.
“Sebastian wants you to join the fight,” he said. “He’s having a hard time, and if he doesn’t get more support, we’re going to lose.”
“How hard of a time?” Sophia said in a trembling tone.
“Really hard. He needs a fresh Guard. Ava! He asked for you.”
Ava swore and started down the steps, but Sophia grabbed her arm. The shifter glowered at her. “Get the hell off me. I’m going to him. He knows I will always have his back.”
Sophia dug her nails into the flesh where she held Ava’s arm but not enough to break the skin. “Think with your head. He wouldn’t call you away from me.”
“He would if he’s losing strength. You’re just thinking of yourself and making sure you’re protected. If you’re that scared, you don’t have to worry. I’m leaving Diana and Darla here.”
“Come on, come on,” the man at the bottom of the stairs urged. “There’s no time to stand around arguing.”
Sophia ignored him and continued to talk to Ava. “You actually think I care more about my own safety than my husband’s? If so, you’re stupid. It would kill me if anything happens to him, but I also know Sebastian. He’s not taking my best Guard off me to come save his butt. Thank about it, Ava. Sebastian would never risk my life to save his own.”
Ava didn’t say the words “I agree.” She turned on the stairs and leaped from the step she stood on to the chest of the man standing at the bottom. He went down hard, having no time to jump out of the way. Ava grabbed him by the collar and yanked on him to bring him toward her before slamming him down on the floor.
“So you want to betray your alpha, huh?” Ava whispered in a harsh undertone.
The man’s head bobbled as she continued to jerk him up and down.
“No, I love our people. I want to keep us strong. If he stays with her…” His gaze flitted to Sophia, and his face twisted to an expression of hatred that took her breath away.
She stumbled back a little from the steps, and Diana and Darla circled her legs in wolf form. Maybe this was all a mistake. Perhaps she should leave and go back home to Texas where she grew up. She loved Georgia when she moved there three years ago, but it might not be for her.
Sebastian might…not…be…
Her throat closed because she thought hard about running far away this time—back to her hometown. She could endure the longing to be with Sebastian by divorcing him and finding someone else, someone who would just do. They wouldn’t be like the man she loved.
As she thought about what to do, a loud bang caught her attention. She gazed back at Ava and the man to find she had knocked him unconscious. Ava stood and walked to the hall closet. She opened it and brought out a baseball bat
. Sophia wondered when it got there and who put it in there.
“Here’s your weapon.”
Ava tossed the bat to Sophia, and Sophia caught it—barely. The wood burned her hands with the force of the throw. She forgave Ava only because she figured Ava had to throw the bat hard to make sure it reached the top of the stairs.
“We’re going out together,” Ava said. “You’ll stick close to me with Diana and Darla on both sides. If anyone comes at you, swing with all your might.”
“Aren’t you going against Sebastian’s command by doing this?”
She frowned. “You want to see how he’s really doing or not?”
Sophia scrambled down the stairs. “I’m ready. Let’s go.”
Chapter 13
Someone clicked off the moon, and the night was pitch black. Sophia didn’t even get relief with the outside lights around the property because someone neglected to turn them on.
“Don’t get stupid out here,” Ava instructed. “They know you’re outside, and they’re going to be coming.”
“You just worry about you,” Sophia snapped. She was already nervous and didn’t need Ava adding to things talking about the enemy was coming.
She swallowed and moved as stealthily as possible behind Ava. Before they stepped outside, howls rent the air, along with growls and barks. Now, the night was still. Sophia had the feeling the wolves were listening for her.
“Weren’t they just fighting?” she complained. “Why is it so quiet?”
“Be—” Ava began, but she didn’t get to finish. Wolves were on them, growling and snapping. At the same time, the moon reappeared from behind the clouds. Sophia almost wished it had stayed hidden. That way she could remain ignorant of what went on around them.
Ava shifted into her wolf form in a matter of seconds, but it didn’t stop several wolves from attacking her. Ava being the strongest of the group shook them all off and bit into the side of the nearest wolf. They kept getting up and coming for her again. Next to Sophia, Diana started to dart into the fray—or it could have been Darla. Sophia couldn’t tell the sisters apart when they were in their wolf form.
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