Peyton took a step closer and my hands were already shaking with the need to shift and tear her throat out.
“Calvin. I didn’t know he was going to hurt her. He said he was in love with her.”
Abraham’s laugh was full of derision. “She’s my mate, Peyton. And you tried to take her away from me.”
She took another step forward, her dark eyes narrowed in anger. “She’s not your mate,” she hissed. “She’s not like us. She’s not worthy of standing beside you as your mate. You have to see that.”
Abraham took a step closer to her, his body tightly coiled and ready to strike. “What I see is a woman who doesn’t know when to give up. You’ve been excommunicated, and that means I don’t want to see your face and I don’t want to hear your voice. Nothing you say means a damn thing to me. Walk the fuck away, Peyton.”
Her eyes were just barely slits now as her whole body trembled. I looked around at the humans that were crushed around us and knew it would be a disaster if she shifted. My eye caught Beatrice’s and Callie’s, and from their faces, I could tell they were just as pleased to see Peyton as we were.
“You know what, Abey? Fuck you. I tried for years to make you see me as more than just your sister’s friend and I’m done. You’ve got a whole shit storm heading your way and I’m just going to sit back and laugh while it destroys everything you’ve worked for.”
She spun around, but Abraham reached out and grabbed her arm before she could get far. “Explain yourself.”
She tipped her head back with a humorless laugh and shook him off. “I don’t have to tell you shit.”
Beatrice and Callie had made it to where we were standing, and the former spoke up. “What are you doing, Peyton?”
Peyton turned her fiery black eyes toward Beatrice and the shaking in her limbs got worse. “What are you doing? I thought you hated her just as much as I did, and now look at you. Best buds with the human that fucked everything up.”
Beatrice shook her head. “She’s not the enemy, Peyton, and I had no reason to dislike her. She’s a great wolf and I’m happy to call her my friend.”
“You’re just as bad as him. Just as wrapped up in this piece of shit human. Can’t you see what she’s doing to our pack? Can’t you see she’s ruined everything?”
Beatrice shook her head slowly. “It’s not your pack anymore.”
Peyton’s pale face turned an ugly shade of red as her body shook more forcefully. “And where were you when I was getting excommunicated? What did a decade of friendship mean when I needed you the most?”
Beatrice was still shaking her head, her face the saddest I’d ever seen it. “You brought this on yourself. I told you to leave it alone. To leave Ellie alone and you wouldn’t listen. You got yourself excommunicated and you need to grow up and accept the consequences for your actions.”
Peyton’s head fell back with another laugh that held no joy in it whatsoever. “Accept the consequences of my actions? Here’s some acceptance for you: pretty soon you won’t have a pack. Pretty soon I’ll watch as everything gets taken from you like it was taken from me.” She turned to Abraham, and I watched the longing slither across her features. As much as she hated him, she was still in love with him and it made my stomach turn. “I came here today to give you one more chance. To see if you’d come to your senses.”
Abraham shook his head. “If you think I’m letting you back in my pack, you’re wrong. You lost the privilege of being a part of us when you betrayed one of us.”
“Betrayed who?!” she screeched.
Abraham nodded toward me and Peyton’s eyes widened.
“Her?! I betrayed her?! Who the fuck cares about some pathetic human who couldn’t even die when she was supposed to? I never accepted her as a member of my pack.”
“Well, unfortunately for you, the decision of who is or isn’t a pack member isn’t up to you. El is my mate, and the future alpha, and you almost got her killed. There’s no way I’d let you back in.”
Peyton’s face was almost the same color as the crimson dress she had on. “Alpha? You’re going to make this human the alpha of one of the most prestigious packs in North Carolina?”
Abraham shrugged. “She already is.”
Peyton laughed again, the sound even more vile than before. Her eyes landed on me and I stood up straighter. I wouldn’t let her think she could intimidate me for even a second. This woman had clearly lost her mind, but I’d never back down from her.
“You’ve ruined everything, and soon, I’m going to take it all back from you.”
“What does that mean?” I asked.
She shrugged and looked away. “Just that you don’t cross me and get away with it. If I can’t be a part of the McCoy pack, then I’ll make sure there is no McCoy pack.”
Beatrice and Abraham stepped forward simultaneously, growls rumbling from both of them.
“Is that a threat?” Abraham asked between gritted teeth.
Peyton shrugged again. “More like a warning. You really don’t deserve one, but I guess I still have a soft spot for you.” In the next instant, her demeanor changed completely. Instead of a woman feigning nonchalance, she was spitting mad again, the craziness she kept so well hidden splayed across her pinched face. “War is coming to your doorstep. You can try to prepare for it, but you can’t stop it. I’m going to watch as everything you love is ripped away from you. Then, maybe we’ll be even.”
“Peyton get the fuck out of here,” Beatrice growled, her body crouched and poised to attack.
Peyton reeled all that crazy back in, and her face transformed again into an almost bored expression. “Don’t say you weren’t warned. See you all soon.”
With that, she spun around and was lost in the surrounding crowd.
For a long time, we just stood there, our eyes doing all the talking because I figured, like me, everyone else was too shocked to actually speak.
A loud roar went up around the room and we turned toward the stage.
“How’re y’all doin’ tonight?!” Del called from the center of the stage. She had on a flowy pale pink dress and her signature cowboy boots on her feet. She lifted the guitar hung around her neck and strummed the first chords of what I recognized as one of her original songs.
Abraham wrapped his arms around the four of us. “We all need to seriously discuss everything Peyton just said, but for now, we need to shelve it and support Del. As soon as her show is over, we’re all getting out of here and reconvening at the lodge. Got it?”
We all nodded, varying degrees of apprehension and anger dancing across our faces. As one, we turned toward the stage and did our best to participate in Del’s show. We clapped at the appropriate times and swayed to the music, but I could tell none of our hearts were in it.
I honestly didn’t know how I’d get through her whole set after what just happened with Peyton, but before I knew it, Del was thanking the audience and exiting the stage. Abraham grasped my arm and leaned down to whisper in my ear.
“We need to collect Delilah and get out of here.”
I nodded and let him lead me and his sisters toward the back of the stage. It took some convincing from an intimidating Abraham, but finally we were granted access by security. Abraham dragged us down hall after hall, presumably following her scent until we came to a closed door and he knocked loudly.
When Del opened it, my stomach sank. Her face was so bright, she was almost glowing with happiness, but as she took in the rest of us, her expression slowly fell.
“What’s goin’ on?” she asked.
Abraham nodded toward her room. “You need to pack up and we need to go. Now.”
She glanced at each of our faces once more before nodding. “Okay. Let me get my things.”
She raced around the room, packing up her instrument and gathering anything else she brought with her, and within minute
s, Abraham was leading all of us toward the back door of the venue.
Once we were out in the fresh air, I took a deep breath with the hope it would settle my nerves. I knew it was Peyton we were talking about, but her threats sounded real. And I had a bad feeling we hadn’t seen the last of her.
“What’s goin’ on, guys?” Del asked as she struggled to keep up with Abraham’s long legs.
“Peyton,” he grunted.
Del slowed down, but Abraham grabbed her arm and dragged her behind him.
“Wait, what about Peyton?”
“She was here at your show,” Beatrice supplied, the anger brimming in her voice, too.
“Okay, so what? Tell her to fuck off.”
I would have laughed if my head wasn’t still swirling with Peyton’s threats.
“We’ll tell you more when we get to the lodge. We need to brief the enforcers,” Abraham said as we reached his truck and he opened the doors for all of us.
Now that we had an extra person, I had to slide into the middle of the front bench seat, but I didn’t mind. Despite my best efforts to not let Peyton’s words bother me, I was worried, and being this close to Abraham alleviated a lot of that anxiety.
We drove the twenty minutes back to the lodge in mostly silence. I didn’t know about everyone else, but I was playing her words over and over in my head, looking for anything we could use. Anything that might hint at what she was up to.
We made it back to the lodge in record time and filed out of his truck as quickly as we could.
“Beatrice, round up the enforcers. Evey, Callie, and Del, meet us in the conference room in ten. El, you come with me.”
We all broke apart at Abraham’s command. I slid my hand into his and let him lead me into the lodge. He stormed up the stairs and into our room without another word. When the door was closed behind us, he spun around and pulled me into his arms. He squeezed so tight it was a little hard to breathe, but I wasn’t complaining.
“Are you okay?” he asked into my hair.
I chuckled once. “Of course. Why wouldn’t I be?”
He pulled back so he could look in my face. “I know how you feel about her.”
I shrugged. “She doesn’t mean anything to me anymore. I have everything I want, and she has nothing. I think that’s an appropriate outcome after what she did.”
Abraham sighed and pulled me back into his chest. “I think I need to leave tonight.”
I wrenched myself out of his arms, my heart thundering in my chest. “What?” I breathed.
His face was grim, mouth a thin, determined line. “The sooner the better.”
“But, why?”
He sighed and looked over my head before meeting my eyes again. “You heard her. Trouble is coming our way and we need to prepare for it. The sooner I go, the sooner I can bring back reinforcements.” He leaned down and cupped my face between his big, rough hands. “I’ll do anything to keep you safe. Anything. That means finding the help we need to defend ourselves. That means being ready when Conrad moves against us.”
I took a step back. “You think Conrad is behind this?”
I nodded slowly. “I think Conrad is behind all of this.”
My mind raced while the pieces slipped into their places and the picture was revealed to me. “You think Peyton’s working with Conrad.”
It was more of a statement than a question, but he nodded anyway.
“It makes sense that she would turn to him after she was excommunicated. No other pack would have taken her and I’m sure she found a kindred spirit in my uncle. Both of them want revenge against me. Why not team up?”
He was right. I could feel in my bones that he was right, but I still didn’t want to believe it.
“Maybe Peyton was just talking out of her ass. Maybe her threats don’t mean anything.”
Despite the situation we found ourselves in, Abraham’s lips twitched with a grin. “Talking out of her ass?”
I shrugged. “Just something I’ve picked up from Del. I think it’s appropriate here, don’t you?”
His lips were still twitching like he was fighting a smile. “I need to keep you away from that sister. She’s a bad influence.”
I rolled my eyes. “She could be though, couldn’t she?”
The smile fell from his face. “Could Peyton be talking out of her ass?” He shrugged. “Sure, but I think we both know she isn’t.”
I sighed, my shoulders slumping as I let the realization sink in that he was right. Peyton was really up to something and we had a huge problem on our hands.
I spun away from Abraham and paced the length of his sitting room. “This is bad, Abraham.”
He sighed. “I know.”
“Do you realize how much she knows about this pack? About these lands? She knows this lodge inside and out and now she’s working with someone who’s out to hurt us. There’s no telling what kind of information she’s given Conrad.”
He sighed again. “I know, baby.”
I continued to pace while my mind raced with all the possibilities. Having Peyton as an enemy was going to prove to be a bigger pain in the ass than I’d thought. As my legs pumped furiously across the room, I realized something else.
I came to a stop in the middle of the room and turned to face him. “You need to leave as soon as possible.”
His face was grim when he nodded. “I know.”
My nose burned with tears, but I held them back. Instead, I crossed the distance between us and wrapped my arms around his waist. I would miss him so much, but this was more important. It didn’t matter how I felt about it, Abraham needed to find us some help and he needed to get back here as soon as possible. We could only hope that help got here in time.
Chapter 33
“I’ve been made aware of some new intel that I need to share with you.”
We were all squished into the conference room, eyes riveted on Abraham. Every enforcer and every McCoy was present, the latter of which wearing grim expressions. We already knew what Abraham was there to discuss.
“It is my understanding that the Charlotte pack is preparing to move against us.”
Murmurs erupted from every corner of the room. Abraham waited while the initial shock wore off and everyone quieted back down.
Finally, he nodded and spoke again. “I’m leaving tonight to meet with as many packs as possible to reinforce our numbers. I will return with enough enforcers from our allies to stand against Conrad and his pack.” He looked around the room, meeting every pair of eyes there. “While I’m gone, Elizabeth and Beatrice will be in charge. You are to defer to one of them as you would me.”
I swallowed harshly as that news sank in. He hadn’t mentioned he’d be leaving me in charge. I suppose it made sense, but I felt woefully unprepared for the job. I shot a glance at Beatrice who didn’t look surprised at all. Hopefully, the enforcers would turn to her for help because I had no idea what I was doing.
“I want patrols doubled running around the clock. No one gets within a hundred miles of these lands without one of us knowing about it. I know that will stretch our resources to the max, but I’ll be sending back help as soon as I find it, so our numbers should swell soon. Speaking of our numbers, it’s about to get pretty cramped in here.”
Someone snorted, but most of the men stayed silent.
“Anyone who has a single room, I’ll expect you to triple up immediately. If you don’t want to be rooming with someone you don’t know, I suggest you invite some of your fellow enforcers in now. Things are going to be tight around here, but this is all necessary.”
Abraham grasped the back of a chair and dipped his head. His shoulders were drawn with tension and I yearned to reach out to him. To comfort him. To take some of his burden. To help in any way I could.
But I knew it wasn’t the right time, so I fisted my hands in my
lap and waited for him to speak again.
“As you all know, the Charlotte pack outnumbers us about three-to-one. We don’t know exactly how many of them are enforcers, but we can assume about a third of them are. I don’t have to tell you that’s a fight we would be hard-pressed to win.”
He looked around the room again and I took a minute to do the same. The familiar faces of my pack came into focus and my chest swelled with pride. Instead of fear, all I saw was determination. Instead of submission, I saw the desire to fight harder.
In that instant, I knew we’d come out on top. That there was nothing the Charlotte pack could do that would break us. These werewolves had fought from the beginning to find a foothold and they weren’t about to let it go now. I’d never been more proud to be a member of the Asheville pack.
I sat up straighter and gave Abraham a small nod. He shot me a tiny smile before the grim determination was back on his face.
“With the help of our friends, we’ll come out on top. We’ll push the Charlotte pack back and defend our homes. If there’s any way to avoid the conflict, I’ll do it, but I want us to all prepare for the worst-case scenario. War is coming to our doorstep and we need to be prepared.”
A cheer went up somewhere in the back of the room and the rest of the wolves joined in. I felt that warmth in my chest blossom as I hollered along with them.
We had a treacherous road ahead of us, but we’d come out on top. There was no other option.
Abraham stood up straight and crossed his arms over his chest. “Are there any questions?”
The room was quiet for a prolonged moment and Abraham nodded. “You all know what is expected from you while I’m away. Make me proud.”
There were murmurs of agreement as the enforcers filed out of the conference room. When they were gone, that left just me and the McCoy siblings. Abraham shut the door behind the last enforcer and walked over to have a seat at the head of the table.
He took a deep breath and let it out slowly, his shoulders falling a fraction of an inch. “Evey, you’re in charge of accepting the visiting enforcers I send this way.”
I looked to the youngest McCoy who nodded, her expression grave.
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