“I talked to your brother,” Tully called after him. “He’s been sending me messages. Said he needs to talk to you. It’s a family emergency.”
Austin spun around. “When did you talk to him?”
“Well, originally about six weeks ago. I’ve been trying to contact you, but you kept ignoring my calls and texts, because you’re a little bitch. It wasn’t until Jason approached us yesterday and ordered us to put the hit out on you that I decided to come find you here myself.”
Austin slowly strolled back to face his friend. “I’m surprised that Cliff didn’t tell you to just kidnap me and drag me back to Hidden Hills.” Raw emotion from old wounds burned through Austin. Cliff was a domineering asshole, a my-way-or-my-teeth-on-your-throat kind of guy.
“Who said he didn’t?” Tully cocked an eyebrow. “If you were back on your own home turf, you’d be safe. Jason won’t challenge your family.”
Or Austin would flip out and go on a killing spree, ripping out the throats of his family and former packmates. Or his family would try to help him by locking him up in a padded cell, and throwing away the key.
Austin barked out a harsh laugh. “Seriously. That’s fucking hilarious. Cliff sentyouto haul my ass back to Hidden Hills. You honestly think you can take me?”
“Of course not. But a sufficiently large tranquilizer dart can at least keep you out for long enough to get you back to Cliff. It would be for your own good, you stubborn fuck. You’re giving up without even trying. And I know why.”
“Oh, please enlighten me.” Austin was getting pissed now. Bitterness burned through his veins, leaving a sharp metallic taste in his mouth. He was going to die young, never mated, never knowing love, never finding a place that felt like home. He just wanted to go out on his own terms. Was that too much to fucking ask?
“Because you don’t feel as if you have anything to fight for, not really.” Austin hated the pity glinting in Tully’s eyes. “Oh, your stupid wolf will fight to stay alive on instinct. But you’re sabotaging it your wolf at every turn. You cut yourself off from your family’s pack, and you never really let yourself get close to our pack. If you had a mate, it would be different. But you’re giving up without even realizing it.”
“Hey, thanks for the pop psychology lecture, Freud,” Austin sneered.
It stung because it was true. Why was he even fighting the madness so hard, when he didn’t have a pack? Nobody and nothing to live for? Shifters were social animals. They needed family and friends and that sense of belonging.
And he’d never really had that. No wonder he was losing his mind.
“Sorry,” Tully said apologetically. He lowered his hand in a sharp slash. Something stung Austin’s arm, and he staggered and went to his knees.
Tully had brought another pack member with him, someone watching from the tree line, no doubt. Someone Tully had just signaled to.
Someone who’d just shot Austin with a tranquilizer dart.
Fury burned through his veins, and his fangs descended. A wave of dizziness swept over his body. Everything around him shimmered and disappeared in a haze.
His wolf howled inside him, hackles raised, ready to fight. To tear into tender flesh, to drink the blood of any who threatened him.
No. Don’t kill Tully. No.
He snatched the dart, pulled it from his arm, and concentrated with everything he had. His fight or flight instincts kicked in, and he burned the sedative from his system with a bonfire of pure rage and jumped to his feet.
A car was pulling up to the rest stop. More of Tully’s pack? Had they come to help with the kidnapping?
Fuckingassholes.
“I am aDominus.You fucking moron,” he spat at Tully. “You’d need ten times that level of tranq to take me out.”
Tully’s eyes widened, and he took a step back. “Well, shit,” he said.
“Try saying that again after I knock your teeth down your throat!” They’d grow back, but Tully would be chewing mush for the next month. With a snarl of rage, Austin clenched his fists and advanced on his friend. He was about to hand down a serious ass-whipping.
Then he realized that it wasn’t Tully’s packmates getting out of that car. It was Jason. And half a dozen of his men.
He froze where he stood. “Jason’s here,” he said, in a low, urgent voice.
“Well, double shit.” Tully followed his gaze, glaring as Jason and his men hurried towards them. “I didn’t bring them with me, Austin, I swear. They followed me.”
Tully might be a lot of things, but he wasn’t a backstabber. “I believe you,” Austin growled.
As they got closer to him, Austin’s wolf paced restlessly inside him, and his Dominus power sent a wave of rage sizzling towards them.
