I don’t hold her up any longer, instead letting her shield the children she’s with as they run from the tent.
I need to know what’s going on and I need to find Jasper, so I try to steady my breathing, close my eyes, and focus.
At first it’s hard to make anything much out. There are so many wolves, all of their thoughts and emotions heightened, making them loud and hard to ignore. But I expand my consciousness, looking specifically for Jasper’s familiar figure plus anything out of the ordinary.
“Yes!” I shout when I find him, but my celebration is short-lived because he’s standing in an open space between tents, surrounded by wolves who are snapping their jaws and emanating a furiously angry energy. And to top it off he’s not alone. Janie is with him, shielded behind his back, clutching onto his leg, terror flying off her in panicked waves.
There’s something about the invaders, these snarling wolves, that’s familiar, but for some reason I won’t let myself believe what I’m sensing. They can’t be…are they…Elite Pack wolves?
There’s no time to stand around while Jasper is potentially in danger from his own people, so I take off running.
Chaos reigns as I sprint through the rogue settlement. People are running, darting into tents, shifting, and there are pack wolves too, all in wolf form, tearing doors off tents, knocking over chairs, and digging up gardens. They’re sniffing around inside people’s homes, backing innocent people, children even, into corners.
And I don’t need my blood-wolf senses to confirm what I already knew. These are Elite Pack wolves—soldiers, gammas in the alpha’s security forces. Their scent alone gives them away, I’d recognize it anywhere. But what are Elite Pack soldiers doing here? Why are they treating these people like criminals?
Luckily, Jasper isn’t too far from the school. He must have run with Janie but then became trapped when the explosion happened, before the Elite Pack wolves surrounded him.
“Stand down,” he bellows.
And while they don’t come any closer, the circle of Elite soldiers doesn’t follow his orders, either. Instead, they remain en garde, their lips pulled back to show their teeth.
“I am Jasper Apollo,” he continues red-faced, one arm behind him, holding Janie to his leg, keeping her safe. “The son of your alpha. I command you to stand down.”
“Jasper!” I call out. A couple of wolves turn to watch me as I dart between them, sniffing the air to assess my threat level, but they let me pass. “What is this?”
“I don’t know.”
“Why do you ignore a direct order from your superior?” he asks again, his voice loud, commanding, strong. “These are innocent people. Stand down!”
Then a voice cuts through the chaos. “They won’t follow your orders because they are following mine.”
Beta Castillo emerges from behind a nearby tent and saunters all too casually into the circle of wolves—hiswolves.
“I outrank you,” Jasper growls.
“Yes, but you don’t outrank the alpha, from whom my orders were given.”
The circle of soldiers isn't lessening their intense energy, they still look about ready to pounce and flay us.
“When my father hears what you’ve done here, Salazar—”
Another explosion erupts somewhere across the settlement, more screams rising with the smoke from the fires, plural, now burning in all directions.
“Your father has charged me with rescuing you. I’m simply ensuring your captors are sufficiently brought to heel.”
“Stop this!” Jasper spits desperately. “We weren’t in any danger. These people have done nothing wrong.”
“You disappeared,” Salazar continues. “When you didn’t return to your father’s property, your security detail contacted me. We assumed the worst. When we discovered this encampment of rogue reprobates we assumed you’d been kidnapped.”
“Well, I’m telling you we’re fine, these people are not our captors. We chose to stay here. Tell your wolves to stand down.”
“Unfortunately, we can’t do that. Now that we’re here it’s important we ensure this rogue faction is subdued.”
“Since when did Beta Castillo go all cartoon villain?” I whisper to Jasp.
His eyes flick to me but he doesn’t let his guard down. My curiosity gets the better of me, so while the standoff continues I try to reach out and see if I can glean anything from Salazar. I probe his mind with my senses and have to clutch my chest at the pain I feel radiating off him.
“He’s hurting,” I say. “Great loss and anger.”
