Even with the evidence staring me in the face, I struggled to believe it had actually happened.
Elliot’s hand on my shoulder made me jump. “You okay?”
“No.” I shook my head, not sure what else to say.
His grip tightened for a second before he let go and his attention turned to Max. After wrapping the wounds with clean bandages instead of the blood-soaked blanket, Elliot stood and held out a hand. “Can you help me get him upstairs?”
“No.”
“Yeah, okay. You probably shouldn’t risk that leg just yet.”
“No,” I repeated, hauling myself up to sit on the sofa. “I meant we’re not taking him upstairs.”
Elliot glared. “He’s lost a lot of blood. He needs to rest to let his body heal and I’m not leaving him here on the fucking floor.”
“Xen tried to kill him,” I said, voice catching as I remembered the look in Xen’s eyes. “He would’ve done if you hadn’t stopped him.”
Elliot ran a hand through his hair but didn’t correct me.
“If you think either one of us is staying here to wait for him to come back and finish the job, then you’re insane.”
“Where to then?” With a heavy sigh, Elliot sat down on the arm of the sofa. “We can’t take him to the pack house.”
There was only one place where I felt safe enough to take Max in this state.
“Clumber Park,” I said, gingerly getting to my feet. “I want to take him to Rys.”
Elliot stared at me, the conflict in his eyes obvious. It went against every pack instinct to take a wounded pack member into another pack’s territory. The fact that I felt none of that spoke volumes.
“Fine,” he said eventually. “But you’re going to tell me everything on the way there.”
“Deal.”
“That motherfucker!”Elliot gripped the steering wheel hard as we pulled onto the long road into Clumber Park. The car rolled to a stop and he turned to face me. “I fucking knew something was wrong when I found him searching through the old pack laws, and then the accounts, butfuck me… I never imagined he’d go this far.”
“The accounts?” I said glancing in the back seat where Max lay wrapped in a clean blanket. Still unconscious. He’d woken briefly when Elliot had to get him into the car, but only for a few seconds.
We weren’t quite in Rys’s territory yet, and being out here with Max injured like that left me antsy. I needed him safe. “And can we keep moving?”
Elliot stared at me incredulously. “Forgive me for needing a minute after finding out our alpha covered up a murder and forced you into an arranged marriage.”
“Your alpha,” I muttered, meaning it. My wolf stirred in agreement.
“Fuck.” Elliot sighed, shoulders sagging. “Are you sure about that? We’re your pack, Jake.”
I reached over and gripped his shoulder. “You are,” I said softly. “But he’s not. Not after what he did.”
Elliot didn’t comment. Instead, he put the car in gear, and started driving again.
“What about the accounts?” I asked, suddenly remembering what he’d said.
“That’s why I wanted to see Max.” The pack house loomed up ahead and Elliot rolled his shoulders, clearly uncomfortable. “I finally got access to the pack accounts after months of Xen giving me excuse after excuse.”
“And?”
He parked next to Rys’s SUV and turned to face me. “We’re in so much debt. I don’t know where the money’s gone, but it’s fucking gone somewhere.”
Max moaned, snapping Elliot into action. “Fuck, we’ll talk about this later. Let’s get Max inside.”
