“Oh.”
“Thank you, though,” Brand said cordially. “I’ll go,” he told me. “Once I find the boy.”
“I’ll find the boy,” Killian corrected. “D, you go with Brand. The point we came back from Stonefang, it’s the narrowest point of land between our packlands, so if you run?—”
“I can unseal and reseal in minutes,” he nodded thoughtfully. “We’ll need patrols along the border to ensure there is no breach.” He dug into his back pocket and pulled out a phone. “Why didn’t we call someone sooner?” he asked ruefully as he hit dial. He waited and then grinned when they answered. “Cale, what the fuck’s going on?”
I tried not to bare my teeth. But Brand nudged me, and I knew I’d been caught.
“Who’s looking for Fitz if you’re here?” I asked him quietly.
“Cody and Thalia.” He leaned closer when Diesel shot him a look for being too loud. “Thalia found Ciara up a tree.” He shuddered. “She hasn’t even shifted, and she’s up a tree. She was half-asleep, disoriented. Thalia knew something was wrong. She asked her where her friends are. Thalia found them in a heap at the back of the pack hall.”
“Drugged?” Rowen asked, concern setting a deep line between her brows.
“We think so.” Brand looked at Diesel, who had moved into the kitchen. “When we find out what this is, I came to ask if you would search for them, Alpha.”
“I already tried.” I pushed my hands through my hair. “Lake connected with me; the others were too young or not as willing to accept me yet. The mindlink won’t work for them.”
“They’re barely past their first shift,” Rowen said softly. She’d moved closer to me.
“Diesel?” Killian asked, seeing the other beta put his phone back in his pocket. “What is it?”
Diesel looked ready to blow, and I moved myself between him and my wife. Not that he would hurt her, not intentionally. “Diesel. Talk to me.” I kept my voice calm, my tone soothing. Wildness flashed in my friend’s eyes. “Everyone out,” I told them quietly. “Now.”
“Wolfe—”
“Now, Rowen.”
I wasn’t sure if it was Brand or Killian who made her leave; my eyes were on the male in front of me. “Diesel.”
His eyes changed color. It was rare for anyone not an alpha to be able to change their eye color when still in human form, but Diesel’s shifted to black. Pure black. The first time I saw it, I’d almost shit myself. He looked possessed.
“Diesel.” My Will was heavy in my tone. “Tell me. Now.”
Diesel’s head rolled from side to side on his shoulders, his body twitching, almost as if he were fighting the shift, and I really hoped he was, because I’d come to like our new home and didn’t want his wolf destroying it.
“Speak.” My Will forced his head down, but he was watching me with those black eyes, through the curtain of his black hair. His top lip curled upward in a snarl, and he looked ready to pounce. “Speak.Now.”
“They were in the pack,” he answered, his voice guttural. Low. “I took them into the pack from this pack ofweaklings.” He took a step forward, his claws coming out of skin, elongating to talons. He slashed a hand through the air, and my couch got ripped open.
Fuck this.
“Stand down,” I ordered, my eyes shining silver, my Will focused on the male in front of me. “Who attacked them? Who is hurt?”
“The woman.Solana.”
No. The female we removed from the pack after we learned her husband was abusing her? I didn’t hide my shock fast enough. Diesel saw it, and the snarl turned into asmile. A smile so sinister that I knew I was going to have to fight him.
“This pack isn’t worth saving.” He straightened, shedding my Will with the shake of his shoulders. “I will kill them all.”
He lunged.
His wolf tried to barrel past me, and I threw myself at it, my arms wrapping around the torso like a defensive end taking down the quarterback. Diesel’s wolf was massive; my arms barely reached as I grappled with him. Teeth sharp as razors snapped at me, and I winced as I felt the graze on my shoulder.
“You’re going to pay for that,” I grumbled. “Submit.”
My Will felt heavy as it wrapped around him. His jaws snapped again, his wolf unleashing an inhuman surge of strength as it flipped us both onto our backs. Its hind legs tore down my left leg. I bit back a cry of pain; when he calmed, he was going to regret this.
