Cliff looked away, suddenly uncomfortable. “If you know anything about abusive parents, then you know that the parent often singles one child out for the worst abuse. Austin was always stubborn and defiant. Maybe he reminded Lloyd too much of himself.”
“Lying,” Savannah informed him, but Cliff just flicked her an annoyed scowl and didn’t answer her.
“Whatever.” Austin bit the words off bitterly.
Cliff was making him doubt everything that he’d ever believed. Had his older brother really sent him away out of concern rather than cold-hearted competitiveness? He wanted to believe it, and he hated that weakness in himself.
Rusty emerged from one of the cabins. “No sign of the rifle anywhere!” he yelled.
Savannah’s hand tightened on Austin’s arm. “We can’t do it,” she said despairingly. “We can’t keep him under control for two more days. We’re…we’re going to have to kill him. I don’t want to, damn it, but what else can we do? We can’t let him get loose and kill people, and you and me together just aren’t a match for him.”
“No, you’re not,” Roy’s voice croaked, making Savannah start. He looked up at her, eyes glowing with malice. “And that’s the smartest thing you said all day. Think you can do it? Of course you can’t – you’re a fucking pussy. What about your boyfriend. Think he can do it?”
He started hurling himself back and forth on the ground, and Rusty ran over, carrying the rifle he’d brought with him. He shot Roy with his tranqs.
He gave up after shooting him six times with no effect at all.
“Told you,” Savannah said, frustration drenching her words. She moved back away from Roy, watching him uneasily as he continued to thrash and struggle. Austin stepped forward, putting his body between Roy and her.
They heard the sound of snapping chain links.
Quickly, Austin, Cliff and Grant gathered around him and blasted him with their power.
It was exhausting and draining. He was struggling to shift into wolf form now, and they beat back at him, forcing him to stay human. The air was thick with fury and hate.
He writhed and shouted and struggled, hurling waves of force at them, and it took them a good couple of minutes to crush his resistance and finally knock him out again. They were panting with effort, sweat running down their faces, when they finished.
Rusty just paced back and forth, glaring in frustration. He wasn’t a Dominus, so there was nothing he could do to help.
Savannah walked up to Austin and laid her hand on his shoulder, not saying a word. Just lending him her strength. He felt her quiet warmth flowing into him, and he covered her hand with his own, giving it a gentle squeeze.
Thank you.
“We’ll go with you,” Cliff said to Austin quickly. “We’ll help you keep him under control. Listen, we know about your deal. We know Jason threatened your pack. And I know that Jason insisted that you do this alone, but we’re going to show up on his doorstep with you and point out to him that requiring you to transport this prisoner alone goes against shifter code. It puts every shifter in existence at risk, because if Roy kills you and escapes, he’ll expose us. If Jason tries to give us any crap, I’ll fucking death challenge him on the spot, and not only that, he’d be going up against every shifter pack on our database.”
Austin looked at him suspiciously. “If I bring anyone with me, he’ll kill Tully and his males, and he’ll take the women and cubs. You honestly think I’d trust you with the life of my entire pack?”
“Austin. Do you trust me?” Savannah asked quietly.
He looked down at her, his beautiful little mate with her sweet, loving gaze. “With my life.” And his heart swelled as he said it, because he meant it more than he’d ever meant anything.
“We need them.” She stroked his arm gently. “And they genuinely want to help you. They care about you, Austin, they really do. You’re too close to the situation to see it, but I know what a squabbling family who love each other looks like. And yeah, your family is way more screwed up than mine, you totally win first place on that, but underneath it, the love is there.”
Something twisted inside him, fighting. He’d walled himself off from them for too long. “You said yourself that my brother was lying,” he protested.
She glanced at Cliff, then turned her focus back to him. “Heislying about something. I don’t know what. But that doesn’t change the fact that he still loves you. And so does Grant.”
“Barf?” Grant suggested, looking horrified.
Rusty shook his head reprovingly. “Dude. Alpha Dude, for whom I have enormous respect, so please don’t chew my face off. Maybe not the time to be a dick?”
“Okay, okay,” Grant sighed. “You’re an enormous pain in the ass, but you’re my brother, Austin. I have your back. Always.”
Austin glanced down at the semi-conscious Roy.
“All right,” he said reluctantly. “Let’s get going on the road trip from hell.”
