by A. J. Downey
“He can’t admit to the rest of the hunters that he knew where the pack was, or how long he’s known.” I glanced at Chloe and apologized silently for the next bit. “Mathias let me piece it together when he interrogated me after Ava’s team caught me in Chicago. He planned the whole thing.”
“How do you mean, Pup?”
“When Mathias approached Romulus, it had more than one purpose behind it. He wanted to galvanize the Hunters into an all-out war against us. The idea was; when a wolf-kind stole his daughter and then killed her, he could use that loss to his advantage. That he could play the sympathy card to his superiors and get them to sanction the experiments he’s been secretly conducting on captured wolf-kind.”
“Experiments?” Chloe was looking a little grim but her jaw was set, lips pressed into a firm line. That stubborn will of hers was showing through again. “What kind of experiments? To what end?”
I explained everything I could, leaving little out but what that bitch Helen was doing to me when Ava came to my rescue. Nobody pressed for details either. Ava remained stonily silent through it all.
“Mathias and Declan had an agreement. The Hunters were protecting our territory for us. They have been for a while now. Ever hear of the Nevada pack trying to push into our territory a few years ago?” I asked and Markus and William both shook their heads.
“Guy in Chicago told me about it. Apparently they tried, and were wiped out. The community at large believes the pack was responsible, and our reputation has preceded us. Fewer and fewer wolf-kind try to come anywhere near Washington these days, and that became a problem for Mathias.
“The arrangement that he’d had with Declan was that he would protect our borders for us, and Declan would turn a blind eye to the wolf-kind being taken from our area, maybe he even gave Mathias a few of our own now and then as payment. But with how the others in the country view us as unbeatable, they’ve stopped trying to come up this way. Mathias’ need for subjects was outweighing the number he could get his hands on without tipping people off anymore.
“That’s why he wanted Romulus in charge. He knew Rom wouldn’t care and would just give our people over to him. Mathias is gearing up to attack the pack in its entirety. You need to get the email blasts and the phone tree going to the rest of our people out of state. We have no idea how much Mathias knows. If Declan told him where the other members were, they could be in danger. We definitely are.”
Williams face was grave, his third helping lying forgotten on his plate as he listened to me. Even Markus was starting to look a little gobsmacked and Craig’s mouth was hanging open, a forkful of food forgotten half way between his mouth and his plate.
“Chloe?” William asked a moment later and, without a word, she got up from the table and disappeared down the hall. Ava craned her neck around the corner to watch her go.
“She’s going to start up the messages to the out of state members of the pack, and to get local members to gather here,” I muttered when she turned back to give me a questioning look. She nodded but the angry glare quickly settled back onto her face a moment later. She hadn’t forgotten that she was royally pissed at me.
“What else do you have for me?” William asked.
“That’s not enough for you?” Ava snapped, cutting me off just as I opened my mouth. “He’s bringing you information to try and save your entire damn pack and you’re looking for more?” she scoffed a disgusted noise.
“Ava,” I said in a warning tone but she ignored me and just glared at William who met her angry stare with a calm one of his own.
“You’re worried about him, aren’t you?” he asked and Ava blinked, obviously startled at the odd question.
“W-what?” she stammered for a half a second before she clamped her teeth together and glared at him some more. “What are you talking about?”
William just smiled. “Absolutely nothing at all,” he assured her, which only served to piss her off even more. “No, the information he’s brought, with you backing him up, I have to say is compelling enough, especially in conjunction with the research we’ve been doing over the last few months. We’ve been piecing together for a little while that Mathias knew way more than he should have and the fact that Declan was the one giving him the information doesn’t entirely surprise me, and fits the picture I’ve been building. “All of that means you more than get a reprieve from pack law, Remus. I knew you would come through.” The last he added with a wide smile and all of us present just stared at him as if he’d suddenly sprouted a second head.
“You manipulative little bastard,” I whispered. I couldn’t stop the words as they slipped out even if I’d wanted to. “You did it on purpose. I was starting to think so but... for you to just confirm it like that,” I shook my head. “You know, you’re starting to act a little bit like Mathias yourself.”
“I’ll take that as a compliment, under the circumstances. But, yes; when I branded you an Omega, I did have the hope that something like this would happen. Maybe not exactly this, but I’d hoped you would look for a way to right your wrongs and bring us something we could use. It wasn’t like I could go looking for answers as Alpha, am I right?”
“So you just used and manipulated your own brother to save your own fucking hide?” Ava snapped. “God, I don’t know who’s more fucked up at this point, you or Mathias.”
“The difference between Mathias and I is that he threw his daughter to the wolves, literally, for no reason other than to further his own goals,” William snapped, all levity gone from his expression and his tone. “I didn’t want to have to order my brother’s death when by all rights I should have. Remus is no saint; I did what I could to keep him alive in the only way that I could, that the pack would accept. Was it a shit thing to do, planting the idea that he might find some redemption? Sure, but I could only hope that he would survive and figure it out on his own. I did the best I could to give him a chance to live, and to forge something new for himself.” He looked Ava up and down for a moment and I felt the low growl erupt from my throat before I heard it as his eyes swept over her.
I choked the noise off as soon as I realized what I was doing and everyone’s eyes snapped to me. Markus, Craig, and even Ava’s gazes all held shocked surprise. Only William gave me a smug, knowing smile. “Looks like he’s done better than I’d hoped, I’m glad for that.”
He turned his attention back to Ava. “Back to what you originally said though; no, I don’t expect more for his safety. I think Remus has done admirably and that’s more than enough for me, but Markus said something about you two needing the packs help, and that hasn’t yet been addressed, so if I’m not mistaken, you have more for me?” He said the last to me as a question and I nodded.
My little brother had pretty much masterfully put Ava in her place and she looked like it was leaving one hell of a bitter taste in her mouth. Still, I could see the wheels in her head turning and I had to wonder if that were a good or bad thing. I couldn’t spend too much time speculating, not with William and Markus staring at me expectantly.
“We know where Mathias is. Or where he was at least. He might have moved on, but either way, there’s a large facility where a chapter of the Hunters lives and operates from. Ava might be able to help get us in, but the two of us won’t stand a chance against the entire place on our own. We need help. Especially since Mathias has started making wolf-kind out of some of the Hunters.”
Williams’s eyes narrowed dangerously and Markus actually flinched at that one. “He’s doing what?” the old man asked, aghast.
I stabbed a finger in Ava’s direction. “When she broke me out of that place, we were attacked by two wolf-kind in the parking garage. After that we went on the run and eventually had to hide out in a cabin that used to belong to her brother. I was in rough shape and we needed to lay low so I could heal. We were forced to go back on the move when three members of her team showed up and they’d all been moon forged into wolf-kind just like the fuckers back at the facility.�
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“And you’re sure they weren’t wolf-kind when they captured you?” William asked curiously.
I scoffed and Ava scoffed with me. I waved a hand dismissively at him. “Not a chance. I’m not so stupid that I wouldn’t have noticed. The smell alone would have tipped me off.”
“No offense, but I am what I am and after hunting you fuckers for as long as I have been, I would have known if one of my own damn team had turned.” Markus gave Ava a dirty look and Craig growled again.
“Knock it the fuck off, Scooby, before I find a newspaper.”
Craig went to stand up and William barked, “Enough!” He fixed his eyes on Ava and asked her, “Could you please refrain from threatening my people while you’re in our territory? There is no guarantee that I could keep them all from going off the deep end and tearing chunks out of you.”
“I can take care of myself,” she said defensively but I could see her visibly cool. She wasn’t normally so out of control. What was her deal?
William nodded, and made a humming noise in the back of his throat. I’d heard him do something similar hundreds, if not thousands, of times in the past. It was William’s way of acknowledging what you’d just said without having to actively agree or disagree with it.
He suddenly stood, hands placed flat on the table in front of him. “Look,” he said. “Long and short of it is, this isn’t something we’re going to hash out right now, not without a full exploration of our options. It’s three in the morning by my watch so why don’t we all get some sleep? Markus, Craig, we’ll see you both tomorrow morning. Come by around ten and bring the Betas with you. We’ll need to go over how salt-the-earth is going and fill them in on some of the details of what’s going on.”
“Yes, Alpha,” Craig said and snapped to attention before he made his way around the table and took Ava by the arm. He paused when I turned and glared at him.
“If you don’t want me to shove that hand so far up your ass you’ll be able to scratch your nose with it, then I suggest you take it off her right this fucking second,” I snarled.
“Down boy, I can take care of myself,” Ava cocked her head to the side and I saw the small pistol in her hand, which, she had pretty friendly with Craig’s balls.
“You may rip my arm off, and I may die, but I’ll do it with the satisfaction that I took everything that counts to you with me.”
“Craig...” William’s tone had a hint of warning to it and Craig slowly released his grip on Ava’s arm. A glint of light told me when she slipped that little mini pistol of hers back into her pocket. William’s shoulders relaxed and he hung his head, pinching the bridge of his nose. Craig backed off.
“Your people stop threatening me; I’ll stop threatening them, deal?” Ava leveled William with a steady gaze.
“Deal,” William said wearily.
“Still stands, you two need to come with us. We’ll take you to a hotel and guards will be placed outside the door,” Markus said unhappy.
“Oh stow it, Markus,” Chloe snapped, returning from where she’d gone. “I do believe I said that while here, Remus would be treated as family and you don’t make family go to a freaking hotel.”
I was impressed. William had held onto his temper longer than I remember him usually managing but there it was, bubbling to the surface with his next words, “You know as well as I do that Remus poses absolutely zero threat to me, and if he vouches for Ava then that’s good enough. Craig’s been nothing but a shit,” he put up his hand staving off Craig’s rebuttal, “Not without reason, she is a hunter, but…”
“But he’s an Omega!” Craig sputtered indignantly. The way he said Omega was like he’d suddenly caught a whiff of something foul smelling, his lip curling into a disgusted snarl.
“And he’s my brother, who’s brought us valuable information that could help us land a solid blow to the Hunters and a Hunter who appears willing to give us inside information. That alone means you need to cool it! He’s gone above and beyond to help the Pack after we branded him Omega and deserves some fucking leniency.” He turned to me and Ava, “You and Ava are welcome to stay in the guest room, Remus,” he added the last to me directly. “You know where everything is so I’m just going to show these two out,” he finished in a hard tone and with an added glare to make his point clear to the other two wolf-kind.
“Thanks, g’night, William; same to you Chloe.” I didn’t say anything else or stick around to watch the aftermath; I just made my way down the hall and motioned for Ava to follow me.
The guest room was down the hall, twenty feet from where we stood and I opened the door, ushering her inside before I followed her and closed the door quietly, but firmly, behind me. The room was relatively simple. Queen sized bed with two nightstands, a closet and a dresser and a small door on the back wall that I didn’t remember seeing before. A quick glance revealed the room to be a bathroom. Another obvious addition to the house since I had last been there. Fresh towels hung on a rod bolted to the wall and the shower was stocked with soap and shampoo. Everything one might need.
When I walked back into the bedroom I didn’t see Ava. Senses immediately on alert I spun as a small sound reached my ears from behind me only to find the sole of her boot planted firmly in my chest as she gave a hard shove. I stumbled backward, more from surprise than from actually being shoved by the force of her kick. It was enough though for the backs of my knees to catch the bed and I fell, flopping onto my back. I winced as my leg gave a sharp twinge again, but a moment later it was the least of my concerns as Ava landed on top of me, straddling my chest.
“What the fuck do you think you’re playing at?” she hissed at me. “Trying to protect me from the big bad wolf?”
“Something like that.”
“You don’t get to protect me,” she snarled. “I’m not some delicate fucking flower you need to put in a glass house safe from the world. I know it’s a fucked up place with dangerous people in it. I was prepared for that when we came here.”
“William and Chloe aren’t fucked up people, Ava. They’re family. And aside from that, I don’t think you were really in any danger to begin with. Me, yes, it was possible, but not you.”
“Are you serious!? Setting aside why you think they wouldn’t kill a hunter that’s responsible for they don’t know how many deaths of their kind, if you knew it was a suicide mission for you, why would you come back here at all?”
“Because they needed the information.”
“You could have called him. You didn’t have to drag us half way across the country for this shit.”
I arched an eyebrow at her, ignoring just how damn sexy she was to me when she was legit angry. “You honestly think that’s a conversation that we could have over the phone?” I mimed dialing a phone and held my hand against my ear. “Hello? William?” I said. “Yeah, it’s your brother, you know, the one that got our dad killed and helped force you into a situation where you had to murder my twin in order to save your mate and secure yourself the position of Alpha? Yeah, there’s a problem we need to talk about–”
Before I could finish she sat up and her arm swung back. When her hand flew at me again I didn’t let it land this time. I reached out and snatched her wrist in one hand. “The first one was for free. I deserved it for not telling you the whole situation and surprising you like that. But just because you got to hit me once doesn’t mean we’re going to make a regular thing out of it.”
“Fuck you, Remus,” she spat and tried to pull her wrist out of my grip. I held on tight enough that she couldn’t pull free but tried not to squeeze too hard, I didn’t want to hurt her.
“In a minute, Babycakes,” I muttered and she growled angrily at me. Probably not my best move but damn she was hot when she was pissed. “Seriously, I’m not going to apologize for wanting to keep you safe. You slithered your way into my life so you’re just going to have to deal with a little protectiveness now and then, get it?”
“No!” she snapped and started tugging
harder. Her free hand came around and her nails raked down my chest before I could stop her. Four lines of heat bloomed across my skin in the path left by her nails. Heat that grew rapidly into pain. Pretty sure she broke the skin with those and the wolf inside growled.
My throat vibrated as I answered the mental growl with a verbal one of my own and I rolled, pushing her off of me until I was covering her again. Her wrists were held to the bed above her head and she kicked and fought, twisting and squirming in my grip. Her lips pulled back, baring her teeth and her head started to dart forward to bite me.
“You really don’t want to do that,” I warned her and something in my tone made her pause. Her head jerked back, pressing hard against the mattress for a moment before she suddenly smirked and jerked forward again. I leaned as far back as I could, my hands coming off of her wrist and she reached up to shove me. I fell right off the end of the bed, the collar of my hooded sweatshirt hooked by her fingers. A loud tearing sound filled the room for a moment as the front of my shirt tore away at the zipper.
I stood and pulled the tattered remains of the garment away, tossing them aside before I dove back on the bed. Ava turned into a hellcat, all teeth and claws and nearly impossible to hold on to through her squirming and fighting. Her hair tossed back and forth and her eyes glinted in the light from the single lamp by the bed. She tried to punch me but I caught her fist. Somehow we had both ended up on our sides, facing each other, with our legs tangled together.
“You don’t get to try to protect me,” she snapped again and pulled back to punch me. I caught her fist again with a loud smack as her knuckles struck my palm. “You don’t protect me, no one protects me.” She pulled back again and paused for a moment, her eyes locked on mine from only a few inches away.
A moment later her hand darted forward and I almost flinched, but instead of trying to punch me her hand went to the back of my head and she pulled herself forward until her lips crashed into mine. There was a hunger to her kiss. A passion different from lust or simply wanting to get laid. It was almost desperate. She was still angry; her nails digging into the back of my scalp as her other hand gripped my shoulder. She shivered and trembled, almost as if she were afraid.
