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With a nod, I continued toward one of the empty houses he pointed out. “Thank you for being here in my stead. I appreciate it.”
“Of course,” Sebastian said as Beau tilted his head in acknowledgment. “We would all do the same for each other. But right now, you have some answers to get.”
Knowing he was right, I went up the front steps first and pushed through the door, immediately met with a man chained up inside the living room. He rested against the wall as his arms were tightly chained behind his back, and despite having the same regenerative powers as the rest of us, he looked exhausted.
Logan and Ezra stood around the captive, both perking up as we entered the house.
Relief flooded my beta’s face. “Good, you’re back. I didn’t want to disturb you, so I called Sebastian and the others for backup.”
Waving him off, there was no sense in him explaining himself. “Don’t worry about it, it was the right thing to do. You did well.”
With the faintest proud smile, Logan nodded absently as he backed up to offer me space. “I had to do something about it.”
“Now that Levi is here, tell him what you said to us,” Ezra demanded of the worn-down wolf as he nudged his foot.
At last, the captive lifted his eyes from the floor and showed no sign of intimidation at the sight of me. He looked like a shell of himself, and I could already tell that much without knowing him. He let go of an exhausted breath and began.
“I was sent here by Sam Richards with a message to give you,” he said, not mustering much energy to speak. “Sam wants you to know he’s offended that you took one of his wolves without making any kind of deal first, and since you chose your wolf to trade, he’d like to claim his own.”
While I wasn’t surprised to hear that Sam didn’t like how Ivy switched sides, I was surprised to hear that he meant to make a trade out of it. “And who does he want then?”
“Sam wants to reclaim Jane. Since word spread about her being divinely blessed and possessing genuine abilities, he has focused on her. She’s the cream of the crop, so to speak. He wants her for himself.”
I immediately bristled at those words. As they came out of his mouth, everything in me recoiled, and the mere thought of Sam thinking such thoughts about my mate enraged me.
She was my fated mate. Mine. Nobody was going to try and take her away from me.
When I glanced at her, shock filled Jane’s face, followed quickly by disgust. To my relief, she didn’t seem too keen on the idea either. She crossed her arms over her chest uncomfortably, meeting my gaze.
That look seemed to say over my dead body.
At the very least, her silent response reassured me that she was just as committed to me as I was to her, and there wouldn’t be any contest in her mind.
We were mates with a stronger connection than ever before, which was more than enough to keep us together. Not to mention, she was pregnant with our child, and there was no way in hell I’d let anyone, let alone someone like Sam, take that away from me.
As grateful as I was for her rejection of the idea, turning back to face the wolf sent that anger through me all over again.
“Sam has no claim on Jane. She is the Luna of this pack, and she isn’t going anywhere,” I told nobody in particular.
Everyone but the captive agreed with nods of their heads.
“He was the one who willingly offered her in the first place, and now he wants to go back on his word?” I questioned, letting that anger fester within me. I knew I’d need it again. “That’s a joke, and he’s a coward. He can think again if he thinks I’d ever agree to this.”
Despite how ridiculous the situation was, everyone seemed to sit in disbelieving silence. Then, the wolf sighed and lowered his eyes again as if his message had been delivered as intended. He made no move to fight or try to free himself. Instead, he sat there in a heap like he had nothing better to do.
After a moment, Logan piped up, “What are we going to do with this one then?”
Lost in my wrath, I didn’t care about that random wolf. He didn’t mean anything when I was more concerned about keeping my mate safe and stopping any potential attempts from Sam at taking her from me.
“Get rid of him,” I instructed Logan, not even bothering to look at the captive.
Prepared to walk out of the empty house, I stopped the moment Jane stepped in front of me with concern written on her features.
“Wait,” she said urgently, looking between me and the captive. “Please don’t kill him.”
My brows pinched together in question, wondering why she would care about the wolf. “Why shouldn’t I kill him and send a message of my own in return?”
“Because Sam probably assumed you’d do exactly that, and because of it, he probably didn’t send someone important to him. If you kill him, then an innocent life will be taken for no reason, all because of Sam,” she explained, giving me that look of sincerity. “Plus, he’s probably hoping you will help prove his claims about you to the others. It’ll only make things worse.”
