AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Stop being a fucking pussy, Wattie. We’re not cutting our losses. End of.” The days when Sebastian ran from anything were long gone. He wasn’t that reedy little kid anymore who’d been preyed on by his own grandfather. Sebastian did the preying now.
Once upon a time, he and his brothers had been a mere group of lone shifters—no pack, no land, no other family, no protection from shifter groups. So they’d built their own pack. They’d pulled in other loners, expanding it one by one.
Their pack was what shifter groups should be. There was no hierarchy. No ranks. No weak links like submissives or omegas or females.
When they wanted to fuck, they brought in women—shifters, humans, it didn’t matter—and had their fun. Then they either killed them or sold them.
Occasionally they’d let a female leave so she could spread the word that the pack was still something to be feared.
Fear was important. It kept people in line. It kept them cooperative. It kept them at bay.
For years they’d been public enemy number one. They liked it that way. No matter what group of shifters they took on, they always came out on top. Always.
This time would be no different. Sure, they’d had a few… issues here and there. But that would just make their triumph over the Olympus Pride so much sweeter.
Wattie exhaled heavily. “Let’s at the very least back off for a little while; let them think it’s over. We could come back months from now, when they won’t be expecting it. Come on, Davide, you have to agree it’s the best option.”
“I would agree… but we can’t walk away when they might have Tommaso,” said Davide. “They know he’s missing, so they either have him or they’ve killed him—just as we’d already suspected. We have to know what happened to him.”
Wattie swore beneath his breath. “We need to make this quick, then, or we’re not going to get out of this alive. As soon as she realizes we’re in the house, Hale will know something’s up. He’ll feel her fear. He might not know what’s wrong, but he’ll know she needs help.”
“He’ll only sense that if they’re fully imprinted. There’s no way they’re that tightly bonded. They were mere strangers when they mated.” Sebastian glanced at his wristwatch. “We’ll give the cats time to drive a fair distance away and then we’ll head over there. We have questions to ask, a black-foot to kill, and a nice surprise to leave for Hale to find when he gets home.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Slumping onto the sofa, Quinley swore long and hard. All she’d done since Isaiah and the others had left was repeatedly alternate from sitting to pacing. And there’d been cursing. Lots and lots of it.
Stuffing her hands between her thighs, she rocked forward slightly. God, she felt like screaming. She really did. Anxiety crawled over her, making her skin prickle and itch.
It made Quinley feel shitty that she couldn’t be relieved to be tucked up in the safety of her own home right now. Isaiah had wanted her to be, to feel, safe and therefore at ease. But it was hard for a person to be left behind at times like these.
It would absolutely be harder for those driving into danger, yes—ten times harder. But it was a kind of torture to be here alone while others risked their lives, especially when one of those people was your mate.
Watching Isaiah go, waving him off, going back inside and doing nothing… She felt useless. Powerless. Useless to him.
If she’d been dominant, an enforcer, she could have gone with him. She could have helped, could have had his back and fought at his side. But Quinley was neither of those things, so she would only have been a hindrance to him. That hurt in a huge way, as did the fact that she’d need to trust the others to watch his back. They had their own mates to look out for.
Her inner cat was in no better state, anxiety-wise. She was all knotted up inside, worried for Isaiah and Raya and Lori; annoyed that she wasn’t part of the hunt for the Vercetti Pack.
For the feline, it wasn’t only about wanting to help, though. It was about answering her craving for vengeance. The animal wanted to savage the bastards who’d shot her and tried to take Isaiah. She knew they wouldn’t stop coming until someone was dead.
The cat was determined that that “someone” would not be either her or Isaiah. So was Quinley. But here in the house, she wasn’t able to do anything to ensure it didn’t come about.
Sitting up straight, she took a stabilizing breath. It didn’t help much. Impatience, panic, and uncertainty badgered at her.
It felt as if time had slowed down. Every minute felt like an hour. Every five minutes without a call from Isaiah made her stomach bottom out.
The occasional faint vibe of reassurance skipped down their partial bond. It made her heart squeeze that even now, when he had so much to think about, he made sure to take moments to comfort her and set her mind at ease.
But even with that reassurance he offered, her stomach kept rolling and her chest kept tingling and she couldn’t shake off the dread. Her mind kept obsessing over what might be happening to Raya and Lori; over whether they were even still breathing.
Please don’t let them be dead.
Fear for them lived and breathed in her gut. Quinley felt that same fear for every member of her pride who’d gone to the mines. She even feared for the three wolverines.
But most of all, she feared for Isaiah.
As mates went, she couldn’t have done better. He was amazing. Everything she could ever have wanted. And if something happened to him at the hands of the Vercetti Pack—
