“What do you mean they got away?” Gerald slammed the door to the small house they’d used to keep their two captives.
“Frank is laying in the basement with his throat torn out.” Oliver stood in the open basement door. “They killed him and got away. Must have taken his car because it’s gone.”
Gerald ran his hand over his face and growled. If he wanted anything done he had to do it himself. “Just make sure they’re nowhere in town and that Lilly Pierce is where she’s supposed to be. Check on Jennifer, as well.”
Oliver held Gerald’s gaze. He was the only wolf who could. They’d been friends a long time, and in a fight, neither of them knew who would win. But they both understood they’d made an unspoken decision to never challenge one another, and Oliver let Gerald lead. That didn’t mean his longtime friend didn’t give him hell from time to time. “Are you sure this woman is truly worth our attention?”
Gerald growled. “It’s like the Great Luna dropped her in our lap, Oliver. We come passing through town, and the first diner we stop at happens to have a woman sitting two tables away that smells like a Canis lupus male, yet after scouring the town we find none. Then, the woman I manage to scratch an itch with happens to be this girl’s best friend and spills her guts to me about the whole situation, which then leads me to getting to meet this Lilly Pierce, who is pregnant with a Canis lupus baby.” His words got louder and louder as he spoke as the conviction in him grew. “Yes, she’s damn well worth our attention. If Lilly has a female, then she will belong to my son. I’m not going to force Lucas to go through what I’ve gone through. Living alone all these years.”
“Gerald,” Oliver said, his voice low. “Lucas isn’t your son.”
“He’s as good as,” Gerald snapped back. Gerald didn’t talk about the brother and sister-in-law he’d lost, and he wasn’t about to start now. Lucas and his sister had been left in the world without parents and Gerald did what any good brother would and claimed Lucas and his sister, Cynthia, as his own. He would do everything he could to give Lucas a fighting chance in this life. For all they knew this child growing inside of Lilly Pierce actually was his nephew’s true mate. Maybe that’s why Dillon Jacobs wound up in Coldspring to begin with. It had to be fate, Gerald decided. And he would make sure that Lucas got his mate no matter how many wolves he had to take out in the process.
Huck pulled over at a gas station two miles after the gas gauge touched the E mark. He’d been pushing it hard to get as far from Coldspring as he could without getting pulled over by the human police. They’d managed to nearly make it to Dallas but had finally been forced to stop. He was still trying to decide if they should call Jeremiah and let him know about Lilly or wait until they arrived back at the pack mansion. As Huck pulled into the parking lot, he noticed a door on the side of the building marked Bathroom. They’d need to clean up as much as possible before getting gas. He checked his back pocket, and by the grace of the Great Luna, his wallet was still there. That was seriously the goddesses' work. There was no other explanation for it. “Thank you,” Huck whispered as he closed his eyes and let out a shaky breath. They had money, which would get them home. He’d never wanted to be back in pack territory as much as he did in that moment. With their pack, they were safe. Even under Jeremiah’s rule, at least they were safe from rogues like Gerald.
“You look like you’re in pain,” Orson said from his slumped position in the passenger seat. “You shouldn’t think. It’s going to give you brain damage.”
Huck huffed. “I think you got brain damage from being hit one too many times by those wolves.” He sighed and rested his forehead on the steering wheel. “I think we should wait and tell Jeremiah when we get back. We don’t know the whole story. We know that Dillon was with a human, and she got pregnant, but he doesn’t know he’s got a kid baking.” His hand tapped against the side of the steering wheel as he spoke. “And he’s most likely Tanya’s mate. I have no idea what the alpha will do when all this shit hits the fan, but more than likely he’s going to try and kill Dillon.” Huck raised up and looked at Orson. “Even though I don’t agree with what the man has done, if he’s Tanya’s mate, it’s her decision if he dies, and she should be the one to pass judgment on her mate.”
Orson nodded. “Sounds good to me, bud.”
Decision made, they cleaned up, got gas, and hit the road again. It was a fourteen-hour drive from Coldspring, Texas to their pack home. They made it in twelve. Huck was still in pain, and though his werewolf blood was doing its best to heal his injuries quickly, the long drive had not done him any good. Unfortunately, Orson had been in no condition to drive, so he couldn’t give Huck a break while on the road. And because they both felt like the rogues that had captured them might appear in the rearview mirror at any second, they only stopped for bathroom breaks, did their business as quickly as possible, and got back on the road. He and Orson had learned their lesson about wasting time choosing gas station snacks. Huck would’ve loved to stop and stretch his legs, maybe take some time at a rest stop diner and have a nice meal, but he kept up an unrelenting pace all the way back to the Colorado mountains.
Thankfully, Orson had slept most of the way, so his friend seemed a bit better when the pack mansion finally came into view. Huck brought the car to a screeching halt in the headquarters’ concrete driveway. He wanted nothing more than to take a shower, gobble a handful of painkillers, and sleep for three days. But he knew such luxuries would have to wait. Jeremiah was already going to be upset that he and Orson hadn’t reported in, but Huck hadn’t dared take the time to stop at a payphone, not that he planned on telling his alpha anything over the phone to begin with. That would have to wait until they were face to face and they could gauge his reaction.
The pair unfolded themselves from the sedan with a chorus of grunts and groans. With a quick stretch, they made their way up the mansion steps. The door opened and Nell appeared.
She gasped at their appearance. “What happened?”
“No time to talk, Nell. We’ve got to see the alpha, ASAP.” They both pushed past her and made their way painfully up the stairs to Jeremiah’s office.
“Come in,” came his gravelly voice when Huck knocked.
Huck pushed the door open, and they both shuffled inside.
“What the hell?” Jeremiah said before either Huck or Orson could speak. “I haven’t heard from you two for over two days. You look like you’ve been tied up and dragged behind a horse.”
“I wish,” Orson grumbled.
“Half of that is true, Alpha.” Huck explained everything that had happened in Coldspring, starting with the revelation that Dillon had had a human lover who was pregnant with his child and ending with their escape from the rogue pack.
Jeremiah listened intently as Huck spoke, not believing what he was hearing. He wasn’t sure what was more surprising: that Dillon had a secret human lover or that a rogue pack was operating in Texas. Well, only one of those things really concerned him. When Huck finished speaking, Jeremiah looked down at his desk. He turned the information over and over in his mind. That son of a bitch Dillon Jacobs. How could this degenerate be his daughter’s mate? Not only was he a bastard liar, but he had a freaking kid with a human? There was no way Jeremiah could let his daughter be with someone like that. He didn’t care if he was her mate or not. This man would cause her nothing but pain. Not to mention the embarrassment of having a half-human stepchild. She was better off without a mate than with this guy.
Jeremiah growled low in his throat. This revelation was problematic, to say the least. He couldn’t let his daughter find out about Dillon’s past. But how could he keep it quiet? There was no way to keep something like that from getting out to the pack. Unless…
Finally, Jeremiah looked up. “Did anyone see you two come in?”
Orson shrugged. “Just Nell.”
“Hmm.” The alpha scrunched up his face and looked at the ceiling. That damn dormant. She is a constant thorn in my side. He looked back at Huck and Orson. “I need you both to come with me.”
Huck watched Jeremiah get up from his chair and walk over to the far wall. He reached out and pressed a hidden switch. There was a click, and the bookcase on the wall swung open, revealing a secret door in the wall. Jeremiah went through without a backward glance.
Huck and Orson looked at one another with wide eyes and shrugged. They rose and followed him with tentative steps. Stepping through the doorway, the pair found themselves in a cramped passageway. Ahead, a flight of steps led downward. The passage was lit by dim lamps on the walls, casting the entire area in a soft orange glow. Jeremiah disappeared down the stairs, and they followed. Descending the steps was pure torture. Every time his foot landed on one of the wooden steps, a lightning bolt of pain shot through Huck’s injured ribs.
When they mercifully reached the bottom, Huck guessed they’d descended roughly four flights, which would put them somewhere below the basement. A heavy locked door stood before them. Jeremiah turned the lock and pushed it open, passing through into a stone hallway. Orson and Huck continued forward.
“What the hell is going on, Huck?” Orson whispered.
