Page 14 of Stolen

Her forehead creased in a frown, but her upbringing had taught her when to ask questions, and when not to. She just looked into Hawk’s eyes for a moment, and then nodded and sat.

The men on duty continued to ignore her.

Hawk’s neck was prickling; if he’d been in wolf form, his hackles would be rising. Something wasn’t right here.

He didn’t understand why the Ridge was in such bad repair. Thanatos had money. Hell, they were a fully-equipped private ops team with state-of-the-art communications, military-grade weapons and equipment, planes, helicopters, and any kind of ground vehicle up to and including tanks, if necessary.

And Thanatos had his own private mansion up the hill, deep in the woods, with an underground bunker underneath. No one except his two assistants, Sugar and Pitbull, knew what the hell all was up there. But whatever it was, it had cost millions.

If there was money for that, there was money to fix this place up.

He wondered why Gregor didn’t ask for it—or insist on it.

But when he met with the alpha, he knew.

Gregor was losing it.

It might have been his age—which Hawk knew for a fact was at least a hundred, maybe more, even though he looked more like a man in his seventies. Or it might have been the decades-long strain of trying to heal the darkness in so many souls.

But there was something very wrong with him.

Gregor had an underlying intensity about him that felt almost feverish, like he was burning out. And although his eyes lit up at the sight of Hawk, there was a little bit of crazy behind them.

But he was still an old and respected friend—the man who had walked Hawk through some dark, dark valleys and out the other side.

Hawk reached out and enveloped him in a hug, feeling the fragility of the bones under his hands. The specter of the alpha’s mortality loomed larger. He couldn’t imagine Outlaw Ridge without Gregor.

In a normal pack, one of the strong young wolves would have challenged him before now, or he would have stepped down. But this wasn’t a normal pack.

He wondered if Thanatos realized how close to the end Gregor was—and if he had plans for what would happen next. Hawk hoped so.

When they finished their hug, Gregor wrapped one of his big, comforting hands around the back of Hawk’s neck. “You’ve been in a dark place, my son,” he said. “And it has followed you home, dragging at you with its tentacles, trying to pull you back—or destroy you.”

“Yes,” Hawk said. “I need your help, Gregor. I need to get Ricardo De León out of my brain. Out of my soul.”

“Tell me.”

Hawk told him about Colombia—about the cartel, the brutality, the sick and twisted way Ricardo had taken over the pack bond. The way it haunted his dreams.

And finally, he told him about Ariana.

Gregor frowned. “She is a part of his pack, and a relative?” He shook his head. “She has bound herself to him, and you have bound yourself to her. Through her, he can destroy you.”

Well, yeah. But Hawk hadn’t completely bonded to De León; he was worried more about Ariana than himself. “She didn’t voluntarily bind herself to him,” he explained. “He magically stole the bond her father had with the pack. What I want to know is, what would happen if I claimed her? If we had a mating bond, would that break her bond to her brother?”

Gregor immediately grew agitated, shaking his head. Hawk could see a slight tremor beginning in his left hand. “The mating bond is its own prison,” Gregor said. “It could pull you both down in darkness, or raise you into the light.”

He stopped talking and stared into the distance, his eyes growing unfocused. Was he feeling psychically for the bonds between Hawk, Ricardo, and Ariana? Or was he just… out there?

Gregor’s body gave a sudden jerk, as if recalling itself to the present, and he fixed his eyes once more on Hawk. “I must meet this female,” he said. “Did you bring her?”

“She’s out in the other room. I’ll get her.” Hawk went to bring Ariana in, feeling even more uneasy. He trusted Gregor—had trusted him for years—and yet…

Gregor fixed broken men. He never dealt with women. Broken wolves came; some stayed, some left.

None of them brought mates here.

Maybe this was a mistake.