I stood, wiping my hands on my jeans. “Thalia, pack hall. Bring Axel and the young ones with you.”
“Thalia is coming,” I told them.
“Why?” Cody asked, standing straighter. “What did I miss?”
“Wait,” I murmured. I went to the tree and looked up, then back down at the ground, tracking, sensing, seeing the lie.
Thalia arrived a few minutes later, the golden-haired girl in her arms, Lake looking nervously between Rowen and me. Billy stood close to Thalia. A rustle in the trees, and Axel came through the bushes, the other boy with him. I recognized him.
“Did you find him?” Billy asked. His hands were jammed in his pockets, his eyes searching us all and the trees behind us. “Where’s Fitz?”
“He’s gone. I doubt he’ll be back.” I heard Rowen’s gasp at my bluntness. “Why don’t you tell me the truth?” I looked at each one of them. Silence met my question. My head dipped as I forced myself to remain calm, reminding myself they were only children. “How long have you been helping the enemy?” I asked softly.
Cody, Axel, and Thalia looked surprised at the question, but their posture changed, becoming alert rather than sympathetic.
“Wolfe?” Rowen looked confused.
I pointed to the window high above us. “My wife used to use that very window,” I told them conversationally. “Whenthe pack hall became too much, when she was supposed to be studying her lessons, either in schooling or how to lead. She’d go into her bathroom, shed her clothes, and shimmy out the window.” I watched the young shifters’ reactions. “It looks small, but it’s bigger than it is.” I turned to the grass, flattened not with the weight of young children, but something much heavier. “It’s amazing what you can sneak out of that window if you have a system in place.”
“Sneak out?” Thalia asked me, putting the young girl down, who immediately turned to Billy, his hand gripping hers tightly.
“Supplies. Boxes of food. Clothing.” I considered the children. “Fitz’s family is part of the shifters attacking us, aren’t they?” Silence. “Lake?”
The young boy raised his head, his eyes wet with tears. “Yes, Alpha.”
They were using their children.
“He asked you to help him?” I guessed. “He asked you to keep quiet; he didn’t want to get in trouble. You helped him the first time,” I carried on. “When you refused the second or the third time, he told you what? You were already guilty?”
Billy looked away, his grip on the little girl’s hand steadfast. “He told us they would take Ciara.”
“Why?”
“She’s pretty.”
The words fell heavy between us. Thalia’s hand was over her mouth, while Axel looked sick.
“We couldn’t let them take her, Alpha.”Lake stepped forward. “Fitz wasn’t bad. He just wanted to go home. You taking an interest in us yesterday…”
I scoffed. “Me noticing you all yesterday, after he brought you tomyattention, was what? Orchestrated?” I wasn’t sure I believed them.
“He wanted to go home,” Billy spoke up. “His dad made him stay. He decided today was the day he was going.”
“What did he give you?” Thalia asked him, her eyes hard.
Their heads went down.
“Nothing,” I answered. “He offered for them to go, but they said no.” I looked at Lake. “Whose idea was it to pretend to be drugged?”
Oscar stepped forward. “Mine. We didn’t want to go. Rowen and Adair have been kind to us; we don’t want any part of the killing.”
I nodded as I listened. “You stick with Axel so you can learn the routes.” I heard Axel curse. “Every single one of you has betrayed your pack.” My eyes fell on Lake. “You should have left with your friend.” I turned to Cody. “They have information. I want it all.”
Rowen started, “Wolfe?—”
I looked at my mate. “It stops today.” She held my stare and then, with a sigh, she dropped her head in a nod. “Cody, you know what to do.”
“Children, Alpha?”His voice was soft, no plea, no objection. Just seeking confirmation.
