“Well… I think that’s why they were fighting,” Angela said awkwardly. “And it got bad. They were shouting insults at each other and they started to beat each other up. If the others hadn’t arrived, they could have really hurt each other. And when the three of us were in bed together and they were holding me, it was so wonderful. Magical. And then that happened. And I don’t…”
Miriam wrapped her arms around her, stroking her hair as she broke into sobs. It was bad enough that someone was attacking them. Bad enough that she was put on bedrest again. Bad enough that all this shit was happening. It would have been bearable… if only Tyler and Max were still friends.
“I think I ruined their relationship,” she sobbed, admitting her worst fears. “They’re never going to be friends again and it’s my fault.”
“No,” Miriam said at once. She drew back and cupped Angela’s face in her hands. “It’s not your fault if they’re idiots who think beating on each other is a proper form of communication. It’s just like with my brother. It’s not my fault that he dropped his boys off with me and took off, never to be seen again.”
“But he didn’t leave because of you. They were fighting over me.”
“Honey, listen.” Miriam stared intently at her. “If they are coming to blows, then clearly there is something else going on. You can’t blame yourself for this. And you have to think about what you’re going to do. Are you still going to sue for custody of the babies? You have a case if Max wants you to terminate.”
Angela shuddered. Somehow over the past few months, she had started thinking of the three of them as a unit. She had stopped thinking about the babies being theirs or hers. Even with Max, she thought she’d been seeing change in him.
“I don’t know what to do,” she admitted. “I just wanted to have my little farm and my own business. Now… now I don’t know what is going to happen. I don’t know if they want me and I don’t know if I’m strong enough to make it work if they do.”
“Then you know the first step, don’t you?” Miriam wiped Angela’s tears.
Angela shook her head. She had just gone through saying that she didn’t know!
“You need to talk to them,” Miriam pressed gently.
Oh. Yes, of course. She needed to talk to them. Her lip trembled as she looked to Chloe and Sandra, who both nodded. But even so, there was still one question on her lips. “But how?”
Chapter Fourteen
Another day, another big load of nothing.
Tyler glared at the pile of books he had by the cot he’d been sleeping on. There was just one cabin less than what they needed for everybody to have their own place to live and Sly had put Max and him together. Either he didn’t realize just how serious they were about not wanting anything to do with each other anymore, or he was being a dick and trying to force them to get along.
And Sly was far too clever not to realize when fighting was serious.
There was no way that Tyler was going to stay with Max, though, and so he’d turned to Lucas to bunk with him. They were cousins in some convoluted way that was hard to keep track of, and being family, Lucas was obligated to take him in, right? Only, Lucas’ cabin was small and had just the one bedroom. Made for some cramped living quarters.
Which was something Lucas made a point of saying when he kicked him out. “You have done nothing but take up space and mope around here for the past month,” he said as he pointed at the pile of books. “You haven’t even read any of them. I’m tired of treating you with kid gloves, Ty. Go get your life back in order.”
Tyler scowled as he picked up the books. “Go fuck yourself.”
“Oh, if I could, I would.” Lucas smirked at Tyler’s deepening scowl. “But since that’s not possible I’d like to fuck Angela’s brunette friend. Miriam’s her name, right? Or maybe since Angela herself doesn’t seem to be too interested in letting Ian run off the rabble—”
Tyler’s fist lashed out so quickly that Lucas had barely enough time to duck out of the way. He laughed as though he was playing a joke. Tyler shoved the cot aside and went at him, but Lucas planted his feet and rose his fists, ready for a fight. Tyler stopped and glared at him. If they did end up fighting, he knew who would end up in Sly’s bad books. And it wouldn’t be Lucas.
“Shut your mouth,” Tyler grumbled. “Don’t talk about her like that.”
Lucas let his fists drop and he laughed again. “I knew that you were getting feelings for her. All that time she was spending at your place. Cutting off your parties for her. Man, you’re whipped aren’t you?”
“For one thing, providing a stress-free situation for someone with medical issues is not called being whipped, it’s calling not being a douche. Especially if that person happens to be pregnant with your kids. For another thing,” here Tyler’s glare deepened, and he made sure to add a growl to his voice, one that his wolf was only too happy to contribute, “I never denied that I have feelings developing for her.”
Lucas leaned against the door, humming under his breath. “Then why are you living here with me instead of pounding that—” He held up his hands again as Tyler came at him with a snarl. “Instead of living with her? You could have gotten a cabin if you’d asked.”
“Because I did ask,” Tyler snarled. “And Sly told me that I was sharing a cabin with Max. He’s the bastard I don’t want to have to deal with. None of this has jack to do with Angela.”
“You sure about that? ‘Cause I don’t recall you and Max ever fighting before she came along. If you don’t think you can share, then you can always challenge Max straight-out and beat him to a pulp to prove that Angela belongs to you.”
Tyler resumed packing. He’d thought about that. It was an old way of figuring these things out. But with Angela not being a wolf, he doubted she’d understand. Even if it would mean getting Max to stop being an idiot and finally sign out of his contract. Tyler didn’t think that Angela would take kindly to them fighting. Maybe after the babies were born. But right now, it would cause her too much stress.
He wasn’t going to explain all that to Lucas, though. So instead he grunted, “I’m not going to take advice from a creep with a slave fetish.”
“Oh, like you’re any different with your whips and tying women up.” Lucas rolled his eyes. “It’s not like I kidnap women and force them to be my slaves. It’s all above board and consensual. What’s the problem with that? Just taking subbing and domming to a new level.”
Tyler rolled his eyes. He didn’t care to get into this argument now. There was plenty for him to think about that didn’t involve talking about various sex fantasies. He finished stuffing his things into his pack and let out a heavy sigh.
“Don’t start moping again, I will not let you stay here,” Lucas snapped.
“Whatever.” Tyler flipped Lucas the bird and left the cabin, grumbling to himself.
By the time he’d completed the two-minute jog over to Kristoff’s cabin, Kristoff was standing on the front step and glaring at him. Tyler tried to step around him, but Kristoff blocked his path.
“We might be cousins,” the smaller wolf said, narrowing his eyes, “but no fucking way.”
Tyler growled as his wolf pushed him toward Max’s cabin. And that only made him angrier. Didn’t it understand that they were fighting? His wolf pushing him to Angela he understood, even with Ian being all growly and snarling and Sandra and Theron having to pull him away on the regular. But why Max? Especially after the attitude he’d had toward the babies!
“Listen, you can’t stay with me,” Kristoff said when Tyler tried to dodge around him again. “My cabin is on the edge of everybody else’s and it’s more dangerous if we were attacked. The scouts saw some evidence of vampires yesterday, so you know that it’s a possibility.”
The vampires that they had been keeping an eye on before all this claimed to have no knowledge of these goings-on. Sly had sealed them in their cave for now, making sure that they weren’t going to cause trouble. So that either meant that t
hey had escaped, or other vampires were hanging around, making trouble. Sly and Devon were putting together a plan to take the fight to them before anybody in Deville could get hurt.
“Just for a few days,” Tyler pressed. “You know I don’t have anywhere else to go.”
Kristoff glared at him. “There are plenty of places for you to go. Just not here.”
Tyler scoffed. He hitched his pack higher onto his shoulder and turned on his heel. His grumbling fiercer now, he marched toward the cabin next to Theron and Ian’s. That was where Sly, Devon and Chloe were staying. Sly might be a hardass and Devon might think this whole thing was being blown out of proportion, but if Tyler could get soft-hearted Chloe on his side, he might have a chance.
Sly and Devon were talking with several other of the wolves, leaning over a map of the area, when Tyler entered. Devon gave him a cursory glance but otherwise ignored him, while Sly straightened with a frown.
Chloe was nowhere in sight and Tyler could have kicked himself. She had gone to help Angela that morning before the sun rose and wouldn’t be able to make the trip back here until after it went back down.
“Looking for new accommodations?” Sly asked, arching a brow at him.
“Put me on the night patrols, and I’ll just take a hammock during the day.”
Sly’s frown increased. “You know why you aren’t on patrols. You will keep to kitchen duty for the foreseeable future.”
Tyler snarled. “I’m getting really sick of listening to everyone bitch about eggs on eggs on eggs.”
“Then tell them if they whine, they don’t eat.” Sly shook his head. “Ty, I get that you want to be doing more. But you know why you can’t.”
“They’re after Max, not me!”
Sly rolled his eyes. “Don’t be an idiot. You can bunk with Omar for tonight. Tomorrow I’ll have Max move out of the cabin and you can take it.”
He shook his head and mumbled something under his breath, but Tyler didn’t catch it. Tyler was tempted to go ahead and demand that Max be moved out tonight but had a feeling that Sly might just end up getting fed up and making them live together out of pure spite. So, Tyler shrugged and left the cabin.
Omar put up a stink, but when he received confirmation from Sly that this was his arrangement, he backed off. Kept shooting annoyed looks at Tyler, though, which made it impossible to read. So he jumped to his feet and left, headed for Angela.
Sandra let him into the cabin. The blinds were all drawn tight against the sunlight as Chloe washed dishes and their other friend, Miriam, dried them. Ian and Theron were both with Sly planning out their attack. Tyler nodded in greeting to the women before he stepped through to the room where Angela was on bedrest.
He stiffened when he saw Max lying beside her in the bed, his arms around her and his hand gently stroking over her belly. What right did he have to touch her? What right did he have to put his hands on her stomach when they all knew how much he hated her pregnancy, how much he wanted to kill those babies?
His hands clenched as Max glanced at him, but Angela’s eyes were shut and her breathing deep. Tyler didn’t want to wake her, didn’t want to cause her more stress. So, he slipped out, leaving the cabin with Chloe calling after him.
Angela had been asking him to talk with Max, to try to make things right. But right now, that seemed impossible, even for her. They couldn’t resolve what was between them—not without punching each other’s lights out, at least. And right now, their silent and uneasy truce was better for her than beating the crap out of each other.
Maybe they’d be able to fix things once they were free to fight it out. Maybe they wouldn’t. Tyler kicked the dirt as he headed back toward Omar’s cabin. If it was just the stuff with him and Max, it might be bearable. But add in all this crap with the Pack coming back to haunt them and the rest of this pack involved… it was almost unbearable.
His wolf snapped at him, telling him to go right back to Angela. Or maybe it was Max. He didn’t know. His teeth ground together as he made an abrupt turn. Fuck this. He wasn’t going to sit around in the cabin all the time and mope. True, he couldn’t go too far from the campground, but one short run at the perimeter wouldn’t hurt, would it?
He’d just jogged to the outer circle of the cabins when a sharp howl burst from out in the trees, only to cut off abruptly. His whole body tensed, his wolf stiffening. That had been Roman.
The other wolves were out of their cabins in an instant. Sly was already out and barking orders.
Something moved in the bushes and Tyler shifted. He sprang after it, bellowing a battle cry. The big black wolf turned to meet him. They clashed in a spray of blood and fur, but even as Tyler battled the wolf to the ground, something bit into his left thigh—and his wolf started to fade. His heart jumped to this throat as he turned, seeing a needle jabbing through his fur. He grabbed it and tore it out, but it was too late.
Blockers swarmed his system, tearing his wolf away from him. The black wolf let out a pleased snort, seized him and dragged him into the woods. Tyler heard others shouting behind him, but the branches whacked across his naked body, sending spikes of pain as his skin was scraped off his body. Finally, he managed to punch the wolf in the face, forcing it to release him.
It didn’t seem too bothered by that, though. And soon he found out why. A man stepped through the trees. His face was heavily scarred with burns, but Tyler recognized him at once.
“Well,” he murmured as he stared up at Brian’s father. “Hello, Seth. It’s been a while.”
“It has,” Seth agreed. His fist shot out, slamming solidly into the side of Tyler’s face. He laughed as Tyler collapsed. “Sounds like the Howling Ops are coming for you. Predictable. Sly never could accept reasonable sacrifice, could he?”
Tyler growled under his breath. “What’s this even about, Seth? You picked the losing side. The Pack was brought down. And now you get your son involved?”
Seth whipped out a gun. Tyler’s stomach clenched but he glared up along it, not showing fear. The barrel pressed to his forehead and Seth laughed. “Don’t worry, I’m not trying to kill you lot. I accept that the Pack is gone. I’m just looking for a little compensation. Now that I have you all nicely riled up and squirming… well, it’s time to get what I want.”
“And what do you want?”
Seth smiled. “Remember when you, Max and I ran that mission in Kentucky?”
Tyler’s blood ran cold. It was a kidnapping. They’d taken a daycare hostage in order to get the Pack on the front-page news as well as a good bit of hostage money. It had been ordered by the Pack and they’d had to see it through in order to keep their covers intact. Seth, however, had seemed to enjoy it.
“What do you mean?” Tyler rasped.
Seth laughed. “Figure it out.”
And then he thumped Tyler hard over the head with the butt of the gun. Tyler scrambled to keep his wits about him but another thump and everything went black.
Chapter Fifteen
Max howled again, a sharp cry for Tyler to call back. There was no answer. His heart slammed into his ribs as he followed the trail that had been left by the wolf dragging Tyler through the forest. What had he been doing, anyway? Charging into the forest when they knew someone was after them! If Tyler survived this, Max was going to beat some sense into his stupid head!
Lucas and Kristoff ran at his flanks. Max’s wolf slammed into the left side of his ribs, making him careen off the trail. Lucas yelped but through some heavy brush, they came on Tyler. Blood ran down his forehead. Max shifted to his human form, reaching for Tyler’s wrist. Relief washed over him when he felt a strong, steady heartbeat.
Which begged the question, why would the wolf drag him out here all this way only to knock him out and leave him? Had it decided to continue on to lead them away and then circle back to finish him off?
Whatever. Max hefted Tyler up, slinging his unconscious body over Kristoff’s back. “Let’s get him back to camp.”
Kristoff g
rowled but whether he was angry at Tyler’s condition or just didn’t like being chosen to tote him back, Max didn’t know—nor did he care.
He shifted back to his wolf form and lead the way back to camp, keeping his ears peeled for any sign of attack. A howl sounded, a call to arms, and his ears swiveled, facing forward. His heart started thrumming as he realized it had come from camp. Angela!
Max went off like a shot, Lucas and Kristoff close behind him. Just before they got back to camp, Kristoff shrugged Tyler off, rolling him beneath some bushes to hide him. The three of them sprang into the camp to find the wolves under attack. A good four dozen wolves swarmed the camp, isolating each of the wolves left. How had so many managed to convene without them knowing it?
It didn’t matter. Max threw himself into the fray, Lucas and Kristoff helping him to drive off several wolves who were backing Adrian into a corner. Sly and Devon fought back-to-back in the center of the camp. Max led his group toward their alpha, with Kristoff at his side and Lucas and Adrian taking up the rear to keep the wolves off their asses. Omar and Roman had managed to wedge themselves between two cabins and their group broke through the wolves surrounding them in order to add them to their group.
A flash of light hit Max’s eye just as he reached Shawn, who had been pinned to the ground. He twisted his head to see half a dozen men crouching on the roof of Kristoff’s cabin. And they weren’t alone. Max’s lungs were suddenly devoid of air as he saw all around them the enemy wolves shifting to their human forms, catching guns tossed at them by their compatriots.
Max howled as the first gun went off, pointed at Sly. Sly stumbled, biting at a silver dart embedded in his hip. Blockers.
The wolves redoubled their fury. Max let the berserker take over. He was unaware of anything around him except the eyes of the enemy. Their fur turning red with blood.
And then the pain. It drove him to his knees, white-hot stakes driving through his body at every angle. His howl turned to a scream, and he was human by the time he hit the ground. The rest of the wolves were all trussed up and pushed into the center of the campground. Devon, looking limp, was tossed in with them.
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