“It didn’t work, not like she expected, because one alpha shifted, tore his arms when he broke free.”
Fucked up shit, Gray, Mace hissed through our mental bond, while I shuddered as if something primal was being sliced away.
“She killed that wolf, then burned the bone knife in her hand, obliterated it. After that, she killed those who hadn’t already died—except the vampire. She wanted him alive and suffering.”
“She let you go?” Mace again, as unmoving as a waiting predator.
“Not intentionally. Some of her hybrids broke out from wherever she kept them. They’d turned feral, crashed through the gathered crowd. Probably drawn to the blood. In the chaos, we found an open door, kept running.”
“Davie woke during the night, cold sweat, trembling, waiting for her to come,” Donnelly whispered. “He worried about Elana, the unborn pup. The two young ones, falling into that witch’s hands.”
Cashel turned away, his knee jerking. Pike drank, then dragged a hand across his mouth. I decided Davie hadn’t been the only one unable to sleep through the nights.
Elana, too, if Davie shared his nightmares with her.
“But we figured,” the elder continued, despite his raspy voice, “that’s why random men went missing. She was sending her soldiers into the settlements. Ran out of alphas, I guess, and a wolf is a wolf, isn’t it? Just… strip it away.”
My hand fisted on the table. The barbarism didn’t shock me. Amal had ordered Brin to burn Julien. Hatred sank to every depth, crossed every boundary. What better revenge on the kings than to learn how they’d broken the queens, then turn that knowledge against her enemies? Anyone who wronged her, or refused to obey her, would be powerless and at her mercy.
Pike and Cashel stared at nothing, maybe memories. I asked anyway. “You two fight beside Davie when she came to your settlement?”
Pike’s jaw clenched. “We were part of the bug-out team protecting Elana and the kids, get her into the mountains until Davie could join us. He was supposed to join us. He wasn’t supposed to die.”
“Half his unit defected.” A flash of canine from Cashel, the wolf who’d shifted when we found them. “They dropped their weapons and did nothing while hybrids ripped Davie apart.”
“Where are they now?” Mace asked quietly. “The men who defected?”
Cashel held Mace’s gaze. “Snow’s easy to knock down.”
Through our mental bond, Mace added, Silence runs deep. Pike has the flash while Cashel has the heart.
He’d be good as one of yours.
Maybe.
Angel had been silent through the discussion, and I asked, “You have anything to add?”
Her mouth twitched. “I’ve been told similar stories.”
I sent a quick order through the pack bond. The men standing against the wall stepped forward.
“The guards will take you to the barracks. Settle in, rest while you can. I’ll have a decision in the morning for Donnelly and Elana.”
I told the old man, “You’ll take your family to Westvale if the Alpha approves. She needs their medical facilities. If it’s not Westvale, you’ll go to one of our settlements, and we’ll transport you out of the area if you wish. Pike and Cashel—you’re welcome to remain. We need fighters. Just know that if you run off, no one will chase you except the vampires. They hunt for men like you, turn them into hybrids. Half don’t survive the process, and half of those who live turn feral within a year. Not a way I’d want to go. Make your decision by morning.”
They stood to go, but I hadn’t finished with the orders. “Angel. You stay.”
She sat down.
“Tell me about yourself,” I asked when we were alone.
“Not much to tell.”
“You’ve been on your own a long time?”
She folded her hands on the table. “Long enough.”
“How’d Donnelly get in touch with you?”
