by Jessica Ryan
He saw Abaddon standing in the center of the group, an evil smile on his face.
"Son of a bitch," Rowan said. "I want to go over there and kill him now."
"You will do no such thing!" Crow said. "It's because of you that we're in this mess."
"Why did you bring this snake?" Rowan asked.
"He was at my house discussing the situation when they showed up," Aster said. "I had no choice."
"It's a good thing I'm here," Crow said. "Apparently I'm the only level-headed one here. Without me, you guys would probably start World War Three!"
That's probably what you want, Rowan thought. That's why you took her, you son of a bitch.
The more Crow opened his treacherous mouth, the more Rowan was convinced he was the one who'd taken Leena. He wanted his pack to have the same dominance Rowan's did and he had always coveted Aster's position. Whenever there was a vote, he made sure to vote on the opposite side of Aster, sometimes just to prove a point.
"Everyone, quiet," Aster said, taking the strong alpha role. He was no longer wearing his customary business suit, but he didn't have his council meeting furs on either. Instead he wore a tight tank top and jeans, just enough to show off his impressive frame.
Meanwhile, Crow did everything he could to hide his slight frame, wearing an oversized button-down shirt and baggy slacks. It always amused Rowan how small Crow was. He thought he was fit to lead an entire pack? He had the brains, but he didn't have any of the brawn he needed to back himself up.
Rowan had changed into his sheriff's uniform, trying to look as official as possible for this meeting.
"Well, you're the head alpha," Crow said, impatience in his voice. "Lead the way."
"Keep your goddamn mouth shut, Crow," Aster said. "I will rip your forked tongue out if I have to."
Crow recoiled in fear. He had quite the mouth on him, but he never knew how to react when he was physically threatened.
Pussy, Rowan thought, shaking his head at the smaller alpha.
It amazed Rowan that nobody in Crow's pack had challenged him. There were plenty who were much bigger and stronger. But the weasel could talk his way out of any situation. He reminded Rowan of Bucklin's answer to David Koresh, a cult leader if there ever was one.
"Let's go," Aster said. "We don't want any violence. They could kill us all with ease."
"Naturally," Crow muttered. "That's what I've been saying." Crow glanced back at the truck, his eyes narrowing. "Why would you bring your human and a young female with you, Sheriff? Seems like a bad idea."
"They insisted," Rowan said, shoving Crow out of the way and joining Aster as they strode across the parking lot.
Crow squawked after the shove but fell in line, slinking along behind them.
I don't like him walking behind me, Rowan thought. I'd like to see the knife when he betrays me.
"Gentlemen," a voice from the crowd said. "Thank you for joining me."
The bikers parted like the Red Sea and a tall, lean man walked out. He had a presence about him, one that was awe-inspiring. He radiated charisma; just his smile was enough to make most men lay down their lives for him. Luckily Rowan had never bought in, but he found it hard to keep his guard completely up when staring into Abaddon's ice-blue eyes. He was over six and a half feet tall, his muscles long and lean. Tonight he wore a leather vest with nothing underneath, exposing the fact that his muscular body was covered in tattoos which also extended down his arms. He had dark olive skin that really shone on his bald head, contrasted by the black beard that he wore close to the face.
Rowan had heard he was Egyptian, but he had never been able to confirm the man's ethnic descent. It didn't matter, though; he was evil in any nationality.
"Abaddon," Aster said, nearly growling the name. "I thought we were finished. We had a deal."
"We did have a deal," Abaddon said, squatting down and opening an ice chest. "Would anyone like a beer?"
"No, thank you," Aster said, barely able to restrain his rage.
It was odd for Rowan to see a wolf drinking; they couldn't get drunk at all. Abaddon was only doing it for show, and to have a drink to offer them. It was apparent to Rowan now that Abaddon was in complete control of this meeting; they were on his turf and playing by his rules now.
"As I said," Abaddon said, standing up and taking a swig of his beer. "We did have a deal, but now we don't."
"We haven't broken the deal," Aster said.
"Oh?" Abaddon said, putting a hand on his own chest. "You haven't? Then I guess we were mistaken. You hear that, boys? We were mistaken! Let's go! Our bad!"
"Cut the cutesy shit," Aster said. "How did we break the deal?"
"Do you see my mate here?" Abaddon asked, holding his arms out to his sides. "Look really hard. I'm sure you won't miss her. After all, she was your mate first."
"You son of a bitch," Aster said, clenching his fists.
Abaddon looked at him with amusement on his face, like Aster was a child getting angry at his father. He posed no threat to the biker alpha; Rowan could see that plainly.
Sensing the situation growing tense, Crow stepped forward, trying to be the coolest head.
"Hello, Abaddon," Crow said, bowing his head. "I am Crow, alpha of the Red Moon pack. Are you trying to say we took your mate?"
"That's exactly what I'm saying, Sherlock," Abaddon said, baring his teeth as he finished the sentence.
"Why do you think it was us?" Crow asked.
"Because her scent leads me to Cedarville before it drops off," Abaddon said.
"So?" Aster growled. Crow shot a hand up to calm the head alpha.
"So where's the closest wolfpack to Cedarville?" Abaddon asked, pacing back and forth in front of the three residents of Bucklin. "Let me think hard about that. Oh, you know what? There are five packs in Bucklin! The only packs for miles!"
"She could've been taken by someone in Cedarville," Crow said. "Why would you think it was us?"
"Why?" Abaddon said, stopping and laughing. He was really animated, exaggerating every motion as if the whole situation was a big joke. "A normal human couldn't take her, not after the world I've introduced her to."
Aster growled again, a feral look in his eyes. Rowan quickly moved over and put a hand on his alpha's shoulder, trying to calm him. There was no way they could win this fight tonight.
"We swear to you," Crow said. "We do not know who took her, but we will definitely investigate."
"You don't know?" Abaddon asked. "Funny that she goes missing and then her brother kills one of our lieutenants. Weird, isn't it, Rowan?"
"I was only there to find out why you guys had showed back up on the scene," Rowan said. "I thought you didn't come up from Fort Worth anymore."
"We wouldn't," Abaddon said. "You know that, if you didn't take our mate."
"I was only there because you guys were," Rowan said. "I didn't take her back."
"You didn't?" Abaddon asked, obviously not believing Rowan.
Rowan took a deep breath, hating himself for the words he was about to speak, but he had to say them to get Abaddon to back off.
"Leena's dead to me," Rowan said. "She's nothing to me. She died the day you took her."
Abaddon's eyes grew wide; the words Rowan spoke genuinely seemed to shock him. "Is that so? Well, she's never stopped talking about her big brother."
The pain of his words stabbed right to Rowan's heart, nearly bringing tears to his eyes. Still, he remained stone-faced, not wanting to give anything up.
"Very well," Abaddon said. "Let's just say that none of you three had anything to do with it. That doesn't mean someone from your town didn't take her."
"I'm not denying that," Aster said. "We're on it. You need to let us take care of it to preserve the agreement. We don't want any trouble in Bucklin."
"Bucklin invited trouble on itself," Abaddon said, his fists clenching. "But I'm a reasonable man. I'll give you two weeks to find my dear Leena. If she isn't returned to me on this spot in two week
s, then your entire town will burn."
Rowan took a deep breath. That was the night of the full moon. Every wolf in town would be amped up and wanting to run, the perfect chaos for Abaddon to strike.
"We'll get her to you," Rowan said. "Don't worry about that."
"Fine," Abaddon said, waving his hand and turning his back to them. "Make it so, because if you don't, it's bye-bye Bucklin!"
"God dammit," Aster snarled, turning and stomping back towards his truck.
Rowan started to follow him, but Crow remained in place, staring at Abaddon.
"Let's go, Crow!" Rowan said, his voice full of command.
"You can't hold us to that," Crow muttered, still staring at Abaddon. "We are doing our best to find her, but you can't punish the entire town because a few rogues took her."
"Watch me," Abaddon said, his back still to Crow.
"I won't!" Crow said. "We will find and punish the rogues if we can, but that does not break the agreement. The council and head alpha had no knowledge of this."
"Cry me a fucking river," Abaddon said. His gang, which had been silent until now, all laughed at the foolish alpha trying to argue them down.
"This isn't right," Crow said again. His normally calm and cool demeanor was completely gone, replaced by a scared child.
Rowan stopped and started to walk back, intent on dragging Crow away. However, the look on Abaddon's face as he turned stopped him dead in his tracks.
"What was it you said to my guy earlier, Rowan?" Abaddon said. "An eye for an eye?"
"I didn't kill him," Rowan said.
"You did kill my lieutenant, though, didn't you?" Abaddon asked.
"That was different," Rowan said. "He was going to rape and kill my mate."
"Oh, was he?" Abaddon asked. "Still, you said an eye for an eye."
With blinding speed Abaddon's hand shot forward, a flaming blade shooting out of his wrist. Rowan didn't even have time to react as the blade plunged into Crow's throat, silencing him forever.
Crow tried to speak, but the only thing that came out of his mouth was thick blood. His eyes looked helpless as he fell to his knees, clutching at his throat.
A demon blade, Rowan realized, dropping to his knees beside Crow. He looked up to see the flaming blade retract back into Abaddon's forearm.
"An eye for an eye," Abaddon said. "Let's roll out, boys!"
"Crow!" Aster screamed, dropping down next to Rowan. "Oh, God."
The dying alpha tried to speak, but no words would exit his critically injured throat. Instead he just gurgled.
As the motorcycles pulled away, Rowan could feel his anger bubbling under the surface. They would get Leena back, but she damn sure wasn't going back to this psycho. Abaddon would not get his way. He would not win.
Chapter 30
Eva sat in the back row, not wanting to draw attention to herself. The church was overflowing with wolves, all howling and whining over the loss of an alpha. Nobody had shifted, but Rowan had warned her when they got to the gravesite that everyone would shift and howl at the moon. She had never experienced a nighttime funeral before, but it was apparently customary in Bucklin for that reason.
Even though Crow wasn't alpha to everyone in the church, he was still an alpha of Bucklin and was respected and revered by most of the common wolves.
Her sad eyes traveled up to the front of the church as the pallbearers picked up the heavy oaken casket. Rowan, Forrest, Aster and Thorn each took an end of the casket and picked it up. The burden was there for each of them: they had lost a brother on the council, even if they hadn't fully trusted him.
Rowan had confided in her that night that he thought Crow was the one who had betrayed the town, but as he watched him die all the thought of betrayal had left his mind. He wasn't so sure it was Crow anymore, which frustrated him to no end. He was right back at square one, with no idea who might stab him in the back.
Eva took a deep breath and tried to fight back the tears, but they came flowing out anyway. She felt Rain's graceful arm snake around her shoulders and squeeze her in close.
"Why are you crying?" Rain whispered in her ear, trying to sound soothing. "You didn't even know Crow."
"It's Rowan," Eva blubbered. "He's so sad, so confused right now. I can't help it; his emotions are amplified in my head."
Eva looked down at the bandages on her leg and up at the black eye Rain was sporting. It all brought back memories of the night Crow had died. As Rowan knelt down next to his fallen comrade the anger inside of him had reached a boiling point.
The anger amplified inside of Eva, too, driving her nearly insane. She had become so angry that she began kicking and thrashing inside his truck, swinging for the fences. In the end she had elbowed Rain in the face and kicked the passenger's side window out.
"There's something wrong with your link," Rain whispered. "There's got to be a reason you feel his emotions so heavily."
"There's nothing wrong with it," Eva said, tears streaming down her face. "Our love is strong and I've never felt anything supernatural before. The other humans told me they feel their mates' emotions that strongly too."
"Really?" Rain asked. "That's odd."
"Humans and wolves were not meant to be together Rain," Eva said, trying to compose herself. "But that won't stop me, I love Rowan and I'm going to be there with him through all of this."
"I wouldn't want it any other way," Rain said, kissing Eva on the cheek softly. "You're my sister now and I'm here for you."
"We're going to die," Eva said, the tears coming back. "I felt it from Rowan that night. He doesn't intend to give Leena back. He wants to kill Abaddon."
"It's out of his hands now," Rain said. "Hawk left for the forest this morning. He's going to bring her back and hide her."
"Rowan will find her," Eva said. "I can feel it on him. He's way too determined."
"He will have to go through several alphas to get her," Rain said, trying to sound reassuring. "Hawk won't let him and neither will Aster."
"That's what I'm afraid of," Eva said, Rowan's emotions overwhelming her. She was a blubbering mess at this point. "They're going to kill him. He's too much of a hothead to think it through."
"You have to convince him," Rain whispered. "You have to stop him."
Eva sniffed, wiping the tears away. "I'll do my best."
* * *
The morning light shined in through the window, waking Eva up like it did every morning. She could think of worse ways to wake up.
As she rolled over and groped for the slab of granite she called a mate she found nothing.
"Oh, yeah," she thought, remembering the night before.
Rowan had asked if he could run through the fields with the rest of the wolves, a common tradition after they howled at the moon. She could sense the longing and desire to be free of his human body and she had happily told him it was fine—but she didn't realize it meant he wouldn't come home.
She sat up and stretched out, trying to bring herself to wake up. It had been a rough couple of days ever since Crow had died. Everyone in town was on edge, unsure what would happen. Thus far no member of the pack had stepped up to claim leadership of the Red Moon pack. Many felt they were just going to fold into other packs.
Rowan said it was a horrible idea; there needed to be five packs. Four alphas voted, and if there was a tie, then the head alpha broke the tie. It seemed like a good plan to Eva, so she tended to agree with her man.
Unfortunately, due to Crow's deceitful and sneaky nature, there were no members of the pack who were strong and willing to step up. Most of them were the weaker gamma males, preferring to ride Crow's coattails as he flew to the top.
"What a mess," she muttered, heading for the shower. She didn't know a lot about Bucklin politics, but she knew enough to know things had been completely mucked up with Crow's death. It didn't help that one prominent alpha, Hawk, was gone on his mission to retrieve Leena. At least they hoped it was Leena that he would find; if not, then God help
them.
The sound of the backdoor opening drew Eva out of the bathroom and into the living room. Rowan stood in front of her, wearing nothing but a pair of blue briefs.
"Well, hello," she said, smiling sarcastically. "Done carousing all night? Are you drunk on deer blood?"
"I can't tell if you're joking or mocking me," Rowan said, laughing. "I'll just assume you're joking."
"I'm joking," Eva said, rolling her eyes. "Don't worry, I don't mind. I understand there are certain things you do that I won't, well, understand."
Rowan stepped forward and put his hands on her shoulders, leaning in and kissing her on the forehead softly.
"I love it when you do that," she said.
"I love to do it," he said.
"So what now?" she asked.
Rowan's face looked worried as he pushed past her to the bedroom.
"Nothing," he said.
"What do you mean, nothing?" she asked, turning back towards him.
"Our part in this is done," he said. "Aster's orders."
"Huh?" she asked.
"There's nothing we can do," he said. "It's all in Hawk's hands."
Good, Eva thought. We don't need you doing something crazy.
Rowan shot her a knowing look before sighing deeply and looking away. He put his fist between his eyes and let out another deep breath. Whatever he was thinking was causing him some pain.
"What?" she asked.
"You know I'm not finished," he said.
God dammit, she thought.
"Please Rowan," she said, rushing up behind him and putting her hands on his wide shoulders. She laid her face against his warm back, trying to comfort him. "Just let them take her back. It'll save us all."
"Abaddon can't do this," he said, beginning to shake. "We can't let him continue to do this."
"You have to," she said. "We can't beat him. He's not human or wolf."
"He was once," Rowan said, spinning around. "He still bleeds, so he can die."
"You saw what I saw," she said. "The flaming blade? He's possessed, Rowan. I could feel the evil radiating off him and so could you."
Rowan sighed deeply. "Is this your wish?"
