The wolf didn’t move, just bared his teeth. To his credit, the threat wasn’t aimed at her but at Ryan. Didn’t matter. She lost her temper with the kid.
“Your mom knows you’re having unprotected sex. She said if you get an STD, you’re enlisting so the government pays for your health care. And if one of the girls gets pregnant, then your ass is getting a job. In fact, she asked me to write down a list of the ugliest, dirtiest jobs I could think of.” Frankie grinned. “I told her the government is always looking for more sewage grunts. Gave her a few names to call.”
Wolves don’t get pale, at least not that can be seen. They show fear in the tremors along their fur and stiffness in the tail. Right now, Stark’s tail stood out rigid as stone. The kid was terrified, probably because he knew his mother didn’t make idle threats.
He jumped off the steps with gratifying speed.
She moved past him and put her hand on the center’s door, but she didn’t push through. Instead, she took a moment to find that place inside her where Ryan held strong. She found it quickly, but just to make sure, she glanced behind her to where he stood with quiet power. His blue eyes were clear, and his blond hair was a soft yellow under the streetlights. He smiled at her with a slow, sweet curve of his mouth.
Right there was the image she wanted of him. One to hold on to in her mind for as long as she lived. Even if it was for only a few more minutes. She returned his smile, wishing she could put all the words she’d never said into her one expression. Then she opened the doors.
The place was unsettled. Given that it was barely four a.m., it should have been quiet. But most of her brother’s men had come back and were milling around disturbing kids and parents alike. Raoul was in a back room, and his angry voice beat the air of even this huge space. She couldn’t make out the words, but the growling tone was obvious enough.
But first things first. She looked to the “quarantined” section of the room to check on her friends. Sure enough, Noelle was there, giving her a grinning thumbs-up. Even Hazel was awake, waving her bandaged arm then clenching her hands in a get-fierce gesture. Frankie headed there, hoping to get a word in before the trouble started.
She was at the edge of the quarantined area when her brother came storming out of the back room. One of the sentries must have told him she was here. His face was flushed, and his men flanked him on either side. And then there was Delphine, back in her wolf form and spandex pants. She bared her sharp white teeth the moment she came into view, and even Frankie had a moment of envy for her rich brown fur. If nothing else, the woman had good hair.
Thinking of the hypodermic in her pocket, Frankie extended her arms out to hug her brother. He’d never been a touchy-feely kind of kid, but maybe things had changed. He had a girlfriend now, after all.
No such luck. He drew back from her with an appalled look on his face. “You are not welcome here, Frankie,” he said darkly. Then he glanced at Ryan. “And his presence is a declaration of war.”
Frankie let her arms drop to her sides. “I thought one of your demands was that they turn me over to you.”
He acknowledged the point with a dip of his chin. “Is that what you’re doing?” he asked as he turned to Ryan. “Are you turning her in to me?”
Frankie tensed. If Ryan responded to the jibe, it would make her look weak. He had to keep silent and let her be the power. She opened her mouth to forestall any of his comments, but she needn’t have worried. Instead of responding, Ryan simply turned to smile at a nearby child who was whimpering in his mother’s arms.
It was perfect. Not only had he shown himself to be friendly, but he’d completely dismissed her brother as unimportant. And if there was anything her brother hated, it was being ignored.
She watched Raoul’s neck flush, but she didn’t give him a chance to speak. “What makes you think you have the right to make any demands or speak for the pack?” she asked. She held up her hands. “Our alpha isn’t dead. You aren’t the beta. And yet you stand there and declare war as if you think our lives are your toy soldiers. We aren’t. And we certainly aren’t going to war on your say-so.”
“We don’t have a beta because they killed him!” Raoul snarled.
“Derek was killed when he attacked an innocent CDC doctor in front of her mate. If you ask me, he got what he deserved for being so stupid.”
Raoul shook his head. “Why are you spreading lies?”
“Why did you poison the city? Why do you want war?” She made an expansive gesture. “Are their lives nothing to you?”
His lip curled as he looked around. “You have no voice here. You can’t even shift.”
She watched his words impact the people around them. As one, the onlookers winced. It wasn’t fair or right, but full shifters had a stronger voice.
“I can shift,” she said loudly. “And I speak to the pack with an alpha voice.”
“Alpha voice!” he scoffed loudly. “That was disgusting. How dare you share your filthy relations with a bear over our link?”
She hated that her skin heated at his words. What she’d done—and shared—was neither filthy nor intentional. “I stopped the pack from following your stupid orders. Do you think the bears were defenseless? And the National Guard was on the way. Our people would have been slaughtered.”
“You have no faith in us. You’ve abandoned everything that makes you a wolf.”
She held her tongue, biting back an angry curse. This kind of back-and-forth spat helped no one. Worse, the antagonism keyed everyone up, and not in a good way. She had to end this now, which meant it was time for desperate action. She fingered the hypodermic in her pocket and judged the distance. She needed to slam it into his neck, but she’d have to get past his guards first.
She knew Ryan was ready to leap into action, but would that be enough? Didn’t matter. She’d have to risk it. So she said the cruelest thing she could think of. She felt sick to her stomach as she spoke, but it was the only way to push Raoul into attacking her.
“No, Raoul, I have no faith in you. You’ve backstabbed your friends, poisoned those who love you, and betrayed the pack at every turn. Everyone knows it. And for those who don’t, I have pr—” She was going to say proof, but she didn’t get the chance.
He leapt for her as he screamed, “Lies!”
