“I didn’t know that my son would attack me, either. That he sent his men—”
Whatever else Emory was going to say was never uttered. Instead his eyes went wide with horror as Raoul sprang forward, teeth and claws bared. Emory was too weak to react fast enough, and though Simon tried to step in between, he didn’t have the angle. Everyone else was either too far away or was caught flat-footed.
Emory went down beneath his son’s assault.
Gunshots rang out, rapid and strong. Frankie screamed, “No!” and Ryan leapt forward to try and hold back his captain, but it was too late. Captain Abraham had pulled his weapon and gotten off three shots.
Raoul was dead, his wolf body bleeding from multiple wounds. Simon dropped down beside Emory, shoving the wolf aside to look beneath. But it was too late there, as well. Emory’s throat was gone, and his eyes stared blankly ahead.
Raoul had just killed his own father. Ryan didn’t know if it was an act of rage or mercy. Emory surely would have spent the rest of his life in prison. Either way, they were both dead now. Meanwhile, his captain was staring around in shock.
“What the hell is wrong with you people?” Captain Abraham bellowed. “Why would you bring wolves to a community center? God, they’re even dressed up like people.”
No one answered. No one except Frankie who cried out, the pain of her loss reverberating through the room. Ryan grabbed her before she collapsed in grief. Simon grabbed the captain’s gun, yanking it free with a shifter’s strength. And then the others started to react. Children cried, parents murmured, and everyone did whatever they could to keep the situation contained. But Ryan’s focus narrowed to his mate’s.
“I’ve got you,” he murmured as he held her tight. “I’m here. I’ve got you.”
Frankie gripped him, and her whole body shuddered from the force of her sobs.
He stayed with her then. He held her tight through the endless cleanup of the bodies, the interviews from the police, and the inevitable dispersal of her pack back to their own lives. Nicole helped, as did Hazel, but so many questions were directed at her. Why did Raoul do this? How could you mate with a bear? What’s going to happen to the pack? How can we survive this?
She answered those she could; dismissed those she couldn’t. He ran interference with the police all while refusing to leave her side. Eventually it was done. The police interrogations were over, the pack had gone to their homes, and he was left with her.
They went to her apartment next to the community center. They dropped onto the bed and settled into the safe harbor of each other’s arms. And just before sleep claimed them, he whispered the truth into her ear.
“I love you.”
“‘Love’ feels like too small a word for what I feel for you,” she answered.
He knew exactly what she meant.
Chapter 25
Eight Months Later
Cleanup always took longer than expected. Frankie thought Raoul’s serum and the Detroit Flu were the roughest part of the past year, but actually, it was the aftermath. The city had not been kind once the news went public that Raoul and Emory Wolf were responsible. Frankie had turned over everything she could find to the police and the entire pack had tried to disappear into anonymity under the onslaught. And no one spoke again of trying to reveal werewolves to the general public.
Shifters were back in the shadows, and that was a good thing.
The public part of the nightmare had ended within a few months, but the investigation from other shifter alphas had taken much longer. In this, the werewolves had come together, supporting Frankie in taking over the pack and declaring in one voice that she had fought her brother and father from the very beginning. Even better, no one had fought her when she declared Ryan her beta. In truth, she and Ryan were co-leading because they had complementary strengths. But since she was the wolf, he let her claim the alpha title while he took beta. He didn’t care about titles anyway.
And now it was spring. The time when the newest shifters burst into their animal forms and went looking for the wildest spot along the River Rouge. Frankie walked along the edge of it, breathing the spring air and appreciating the shoots of green that waved in the early morning sunshine.
“I did good here,” she said to no one in particular. Her first act as alpha of the Detroit Wolves had been to establish a regular patrol of this stretch of the park. She wanted it safe for all the shifter young to come here and get their animal on. It was something every shifter could get behind, and even the humans liked it when the park was safe. Thanks to Ryan’s help, the Griz and two new shifter cops were part of the rotation.
To her right, she saw the grass near the water move. She smiled, knowing what was coming, and she held out the cup of coffee she carried. Ryan crept out from behind a tall patch of wildflowers and volunteer trees. Technically, they were all weeds, but they looked pretty nonetheless, and he looked ruggedly handsome as he shook leaves out of his hair. Good sleep, good sex, and a good life did that to a guy. He looked as healthy as a…a grizzly bear.
“Everything okay?” he asked.
“Shouldn’t I be asking you that?” she teased as she helped him brush some dirt off his jeans.
“All good. A new cougar-shifter came through around three a.m. A girl and she was all,I love the water, I hate the water, no, I love the water!”
She smiled. “You like seeing the new shifters in spring.”
Ryan took a grateful pull on his coffee. “Yeah, although cats are weird. Bears just shuffle around and roar.”
“Wolves love the water. We can hardly get our teens out of it.” That had been last week’s problem when two new teen wolves had started playing in the river and refused to leave despite the presence of family, cops, and one city official. She’d managed to smooth things over even though the wolves were hated by most of the population. They were still called a “disreputable gang” by most journalists, but at least she could walk the streets without someone spitting at her.
