“Well,” Oliver lifted a fist to cover his mouth while he cleared his throat again before dropping his hand. “I’d just like to announce now that I’m opposed to whatever it is Daemon is goingto suggest we do to get information from Jury when he returns from his shift.”
That had Koe’s brows hiking.
“You know how he is,” Oliver defended.
Yeah, Koe knew. But he also knew that Daemon hadn’t been blessed with something that the rest of them had. A loving relationship with their mothers. That absence meant Daemon was more protective of females than most in the pack. He was in awe of them and knew they were something to be coveted.
“He won’t hurt her,” Koe explained.
“He won’twantto,” Oliver parried.
And that pissed Koe off. It pissed him off that Daemon kept so much to himself that his own packmates didn’t know his true nature. It pissed him off that, because Daemon was aggressive, irritable, and mostly kept to himself, the rest of the pack assumed the worst of him. Yeah, Daemon would want to keep Jury locked up, and yeah, he’d want to question the hell out of her, but he wouldn’t torture her. Daemon reserved that for their male enemies.
“Get back to patrols,” Koe snarled, unleashing his Alpha authority. “I’ll handle Daemon.”
Both Oliver and Cyrus lowered their heads and their eyes with a nearly synchronized, “Yes, Alpha,” before ducking from the room.
Koe didn’t like using his authority over his men, but in this case, it was a sign to them that they’d displeased him without him having to explain how or why. Oliver would think about it and conclude that Koe had a different opinion about Daemon, which meant Oliver should too. Absently, Koe wondered if the fact that he’d promoted Thrall to pack Beta rather than Daemon wasn’t having an adverse effect on the pack’s opinion on Daemon. The true reason Daemon hadn’t been promoted was that when he grew enraged, it was difficult to talk him down. Daemon’s wolf, Demon, was a thousand times worse. Once, it had taken four days for Demon to snap out of a blood rage incited when they’d been sent by the Alpha of the great northwestern pack, Dell Blackbird, to escort the Jackal of a small band of coyotes to the Blackbird pack in Glacier National Park. When they’d arrived at the coyotepack’s compound, they’d found all female coyotes in the pack slaughtered by their own Jackal for supposed insubordination. There had been no Jackal or any other members of the pack left to deliver to Dell Blackbird. Demon had decimated them all, and then stayed in his rage for days. There’d been no talking Demon back. He couldn’t be reasoned with.
Grabbing a remote from his desk, Koe pointed it at the large flat screen TV on the wall and turned it on. Punching a few buttons, the screen cycled through the trail cameras set up throughout his territory. Unlike other packs, Koe embraced technology. Trail cam s, trip wires, motion sensors, infrared cameras, he embraced it all. It didn’t make sense not to.
After surveying the screens, he hit a few more buttons, and the screen blinked, then showed the view inside Jury’s cell. Yeah, he’d lied to her about the cameras; he’d had to. She wouldn’t have changed otherwise. He told himself the lie was okay because not only had he not gone back and watched the video of her changing, but he’d deleted it entirely, so none of his men would find it if they chose to check the pack house surveillance.
Now, he breathed in deep and settled his ass on his desk as he watched Jury sleep. She looked comfortable with the blankets drawn up beneath her chin. The tray of food he’d taken was empty on the floor. She’d eaten everything.
Good girl.
He’d been up the better part of the night watching her. Not sure exactly what it was he expected her to do. He told himself it was to make sure she wasn’t up to anything nefarious, but truth be told, it just made him feel better to have eyes on her. She’d been horrified at the prospect of going back to Bragga, and then her worry about the males in his pack seeking her out had revealed another layer of fear. Enemy or not, he’d told her she would be safe here, he’d given his word, and now he felt compelled to keep it.
A ping sounded, and Koe quickly changed the channel to the motion-activated camera that had just chimed. On the screen, an impossibly large black wolf stood staring at the terrain before it turned, stared directly at the camera, and shook its massive head. Demon was letting him know that he’d found no sign of Biters,which was a relief. If there were an enemy on or around their territory, Demon would have found it, so the fact that he’d reported that there was nothing was enough to have Koe finally relax his tense shoulders. He’d keep patrols doubled and tightly spaced, but knowing they hadn’t missed anything was reassuring. Now, he’d just have to worry about how to proceed with Jury.
Chapter 5
Four days later, Koe sat in his office. Body reclined back in his leather office chair, his hiking boots propped up on his desk, he prodded his Beta, “So what did she say?” His eyes were on the large flat screen, watching Jury where she sat on the edge of her cot, head down, rocking back and forth.
Thrall lay on a reading couch in front of a wall lined with shelves of books. He was tossing a baseball up and catching it on repeat. “Same shit as yesterday. I gotta get to my sister. My sister this, my sister that, blah blah blah.”
Koe tore his gaze from the screen to shoot Thrall a menacing look. “I know what she said, Fuck Face!” He tossed a hand toward the large flat screen. “What I want to know is shit I can’t pick up from watching her through the camera feed. What’s her scent? Is she doing okay? How does she look?”
Thrall caught the ball and then grinned at the ceiling. “She smells fucking great, and she looks,” he paused to inhale audibly. Before he could finish the thoughts, a book sailed across the room and slapped him hard in the side of the head, causing him to drophis ball before he turned and shot Koe an offended look. “What the fuck?”
Koe pointed at the door. “Get out and send me D.”
Thrall sat up, eyes rounding. “Daemon? You thinkDaemoncan do a better job than me?”
Koe snarled, “I think a fucking rock can do a better job than you.”
Getting to his feet, Thrall shook his head. “It’s not my fault, Koe. Have you seen her?”
Koe’s hard gaze sliced back to the TV. Yeah, he’d seen her. He’d been watching her every move since he’d put her in that cell. It was becoming something of an obsession. It was something that he told himself he was doing for the good of the pack, but damn, he just couldn’t stop checking on her. The day after she’d arrived, he’d taken her to the private bathroom and shower located in the corridor just outside of her cell and given her freshly cleaned clothes back to her. She’d showered and changed into her own clothes, and when she’d stepped out of the bathroom with her long, dark hair braided into a damp twist, Koe felt his gutclench. She was like a sleek black cat with crystalline eyes and fuck if he didn’t want to pet her. That day, he decided to keep his distance.
Now, pacing away from Thrall to keep himself from punching a hole through him for the comment, he thundered, “Go and get me Daemon!”
Thrall hurried from his office, and alone and waiting for Daemon, Koe wasn’t sure what it was he was expecting his guys to deliver. Pissed, he turned and looked at Jury on the screen. He watched her for a minute, feeling sick to his stomach at the sight of her rocking. She seemed agitated and…scared? Ill? Lonely?
Plowing a hand through his hair, he hissed, “Ffffuck!” Before he could change his mind, he charged down the hall to the stairs, on his way to Jury’s cell.
***
