I could, actually. Was I being silly? Were my worries unfounded?
“Have you talked to him?” Grandpa asked. “Since the banishment?”
“Not yet,” I said. “We didn’t really have time. He had to go meet with the other alphas.”
“Well,” Gran said, “I’ve always said it’s better to get things out than to hold them in. You should have a nice, long talk with him. You don’t want something like this to fester.”
“She’s right,” Grandpa added. “Talk to the man. Get on the same page. If nothing else, you can try to plan for what you’re worrying about.”
They were making sense. Ididneed to speak with Levi. Maybe if I explained it better, he’d see my worries were well-founded. I just had to hope we weren’t too late to prepare. The Red Maw were coming, whether we were ready or not.
83
LEVIATHAN
Istared out at the street beyond the window of my living room. My beer had grown warm in my hand, not a drop sipped. My mind kept going back to the moment I banished Anders and Eugenia. The look in the man’s eyes. Like he’d doanythingto get back at us. It made me wonder if June had been right. Maybe itwouldhave been safer to keep them here where we could keep an eye on them. It was making me second-guess myself.
That wasn’t something I did often. It wasn’t arrogance, just a simple fact. In all my years as alpha of either Idlewild or Hidden Grove, I’d approached things carefully. I always tried not to act rashly. I’d taken June’s ideas into account, but in the end, I simply couldn’t see a safe way to keep Anders and Eugenia in town—not as forgiven members and not as prisoners. Both options sounded like a recipe for disaster. If that was how I felt, thenwhywas I having these doubts?
Setting my bottle down with abang,I pulled my phone out. Maybe if I got some confirmation on how the drop-off had gone, it would make me feel better. If I could tell June that our two enemies had strolled off into the sunset, hand in hand, ready to start a new life, it would erase her worries, along with thenagging thoughts I was beginning to have. Probably too much to hope for, but I had to do something, otherwise these feelings would keep eating at me.
I’d managed to swipe the phone open and was about to dial when the device started chirping in my hand. Startled, I nearly dropped. Rainier’s name showed on the screen. An inexplicable sense of dread filled me as I answered.
“Hello?” I said hesitantly. “Rainier?”
“We got a problem.”
Clenching my eyes shut, I rubbed the bridge of my nose to stave off the headache that was already forming.
“What is it?” I growled.
“Not on the phone. Get your ass down to the southern edge of town. Right by this little white farmhouse.”
“I know the place. See you in a minute.”
I shoved the phone into my back pocket and rushed out the door. Leaping off the porch, I shifted in mid-air and landed on four paws. My mind whirled with possibilities as I sprinted down the road. A dozen different problems occurred to me somehowIknewwhatever was happening had to do with Anders.
A few minutes later, I spotted the white van the men had used to haul Anders and Eugenia away; it sat on the side of the road, a heavy dent in the side, and two men sat on the asphalt beside Rainier.
I shifted back to my human form in an instant. “What happened? What’s going on?”
Rainier turned and gave a weary shake of his head. “Nothing good.” He gestured to the two men sitting, and I took in their faces for the first time. Both were smeared with blood, and the younger man had an eye that was swollen shut and purple.
“Holy shit, what happened to…” I trailed off, looking around. “Wait, where are the other two? I sent four of you to take them.”
“County hospital,” Rainer said. “They were in worse shape than these guys. Sent them with some random dude I grabbed off the street. Called you as soon as they were off.”
“Are they going to be okay?” My heart slammed against my ribs, worry and fear for my new pack members making it hard to think straight.
“Broken bones, some pretty deep bites and lacerations. I think one of them has a dislocated knee,” Rainier explained. “They’ll make it, but they’re gonna be pretty damn sore for a few days. It’ll take a while to feel better even once their healing kicks in.”
I knelt in front of the two men, doing my best to keep my voice steady and calm.
“Tell me what happened,” I demanded.
The older man sighed and shook his head sadly. “We drove out to where you told us, about ten miles. Anders was bitching the whole time.”
“And then?”
