I was so looking forward to the festivities that night. Word about a boxing match between the pack’s alpha and a vampire zipped around the compound like white lightning. For the last three days, I’d heard bragging and arguing about who would win. Money was changing hands, and wolves were eager and hungry to watch a fight rather than a movie. I’d been surprised that some shifters were rooting for a vampire.
I was quite excited myself. My boring routine and chores were becoming old and drab. I hadn’t had time to visit their gym either. Above all that, I was sick over the fact that I wasn’t with my family and my kids were growing up without me.
I pulled open the door of the L-shaped admin building and strutted down a wide hall, the stench of dog saturating the air. I would’ve thought I would be used to the disgusting smell by now, but I wasn’t. I passed Cooper’s empty office, then banked right toward Dane’s.
As of last night, Dane hadn’t yet spoken to his pack about taking in my family. He’d been tied up in video meetings with other packs about the same crap vampires were dealing with—humans knowing about their existence. No one had an answer or a plan other than it was time to confirm humanity’s fears and curiosity and deal with the consequences as they hit us. But that was coming from the alphas who Dane knew and not the supernatural bigwigs in charge of each of the secret groups within the armed forces. In my opinion, whether we confirmed or denied, either choice had its own demons, and whatever we did plan, it wouldn’t happen overnight.
I knocked on the open door as I entered the spacious room where two walls of windows met in the corner with a view overlooking a dense forest of massive trees.
Dane glanced up from his computer screen, rolled his chair back, stood, and circled around his wooden desk, clutching the back of his neck. “Have a seat.” He pressed his lips into a thin line, nodding at the black leather couch in front of him.
“Why do I get the feeling you’re about to scold me?” I almost addedmuttat the end of the sentence, but I would save the barbs for our fight tonight. Besides, I didn’t want to shit where I ate, so to speak. I could be an arrogant fuck, and Dane and I weren’t best buds, but he and his pack had opened their gates for me.
He leaned against his desk, crossing his legs at the ankles. “Just sit, bloodsucker.”
I gritted my teeth and obeyed only because I’d been standing and swinging an ax for the last two hours. “Talk.” I snarled the word. “Your errand boy made it sound like your message was urgent. Is someone here to chop off my head for the million-dollar prize?” My voice was thick with sarcasm.
“My pack could use that kind of money,” he fired at me.
I growled, showing fangs. Anyone on the compound could turn on me, and that notion felt like a cobalt stake through the heart. Not that I hadn’t thought about that since I’d learned of the contract three days ago. Sleeping with one eye open was my reality. But hearing the alpha saying shit like that out loud and to my face gave me reason to pause.
Maybe I wasn’t safe here.
Motherfucker.
“Chill, bloodsucker,” he said. “I’m not stupid. We need each other.”
“What about your pack? They could leak to some hunter where I am. People do crazy shit for that kind of money,” I said, my anger simmering under the surface.
He whisked a large paw through his white hair. “If anyone here does, we’ll know about it. Cooper monitors all calls in and out.”
I’d spaced out on that tidbit. “Why am I here?”
“The pack has agreed your family can stay here, but we don’t have an empty cabin. But Greta has offered her home. She’s a lone wolf and would love the company.”
Greta, my boss and chef, had lost her mate three years ago to a hunting accident. A human shot him dead while he’d been in wolf form.
I retracted my fangs. “I’ll ask again. Will any of the wolves leak anything to the press or anyone?”
His features darkened. “Look, Sam. My pack doesn’t want to go to war with anyone. We’ve been off the grid for years. But the important thing to know is, if any pack member leaks anything to someone outside this compound, they know I will deal with them personally. We have no room, especially with the tides turning, for fuckups or greed.” He delivered that speech with authority and stoicism, reminding me of Webb. “I want to apologize for the barb. We’ve had a tumultuous relationship, but I wouldn’t put your wife and kids in harm’s way.”
The fact that he called me by my first name instead of bloodsucker told me he was serious. “I appreciate all that, man. I feel like we should hug.”
He threw me the middle finger, and we both laughed.
“Also, there’s someone here to see you.” He eyed the door.
I followed his line of sight as Tripp’s voice trickled in.
My jaw came unhinged as my lieutenant and best bud stalked in alongside Cooper. Tripp had a backpack over his shoulder and was wearing casual clothes like some mountain man—jeans, hiking boots, T-shirt beneath an unbuttoned plaid shirt jacket. His sandy-blond hair was tied at the nape, and he was sporting a beard.
“The fuck are you doing here?” I asked, hugging the crap out of him.
I couldn’t even begin to conjure up theories. We had so much to deal with that what was up or down was becoming one big blur. But Layla was always on my mind, although if anything had happened to my wife, he would’ve called immediately.
“Layla’s okay,” he said, feeling my anxiety. “What I have to tell you needs to be said in person.”
As if Cooper knew my next question, he said, “We just got wind an hour ago that Tripp was on his way.”
