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Their attempt to take Leila failed, and they tried to kidnap Leah when the opportunity presented itself. Even when they set the guesthouse on fire, it isn’t unreasonable to think they might have been waiting to snatch Hayley, but there were too many people around to pull it off. Whoever is behind this wants Grey Ridge to pay for pulling out of the business deal and ruining their plans.
And what next, when they’ve failed in every attempt so far? A shiver runs down my spine as I realise what it is the next logical step if you’re an evil psychopath: a child.
A helpless baby is a much easier target than a full-grown woman. The future alpha of the Grey Ridge pack would be a valuable target.
20
BELLE
Leah’s eyes glaze over as she mind-links someone and I tense, my gaze drifting to the door. I shouldn’t have come here. This is weird. I’m being weird. This wasn’t part of my orders.
“I just told Rex we stopped to eat instead of coming straight back. He worries,” she says it like he’s overprotective and paranoid for no reason. Like she didn’t nearly die right in front of his eyes.
“I’m not surprised.”
Rex was in line to become leader of the Grey Ridge pack but passed the role to his younger brother, Cooper. From what I’ve heard, it’s not because he wasn’t alpha enough, to the contrary, because of his wolf’s fiery attitude, he felt his calmer, more even-tempered brother would serve the pack better. With such a powerful wolf as a mate, I’m amazed Leah is ever allowed out of his sight. Running my eyes over the massive shifter in front of me, I have to admit he’s not a bad bodyguard, even if he could do with a haircut and a shave.
“Did Ethan tell you what happened?” She’s not talking about her own ordeal, but Ethan’s; I can see it in the concern on her face. “He nearly drowned trying to save me, did he tell you that?”
Shaking my head, I try to quickly swallow my mouthful of food, but Leah continues full steam ahead.
“Of course, he didn’t. I doubt you two were doing very much talking!”
When she winks at me, my cheeks flush, and Bodhi pretends he didn’t hear her. Her tone quickly turns serious again, though. “He blames himself, but all he did was go to visit a… uh… friend. There were other wolves around so I wasn’t alone. Okay, nobody as strong as Ethan, but he made sure someone was watching me.”
She grabs my hand as though she needs to convince me, too. “How was he supposed to know that they were going to attack me? Nobody could’ve known. It was just bad luck.”
Bodhi clears his throat to break the tension, and Leah sighs, leaning back in her seat. “Sorry. He just won’t listen to anyone.”
She doesn’t need to be sorry. I can see how much it’s eating her up that Ethan is torturing himself over this.
“So, he had gone to see Lucia?” Bodhi and Leah exchange guilty looks. Waving my hand to put them at ease. “It’s okay, I know they’re together.”
Leah wriggles in her seat, pulling her sleeves down over her hands as she wraps them around the coffee mug. Taking a sip of my own drink, I try to pretend that talking about the woman who’s pursuing my mate doesn’t make my blood boil, but the bear is watching me closely, and I know he can see right through me.
“Yes. Rex and Nathan were out of town, in your pack, actually, and Lucia called Ethan. I don’t think taking me was even part of their plan, but they grabbed me when they had the chance. Figured I’d make a good hostage. Being a weak human and all.” Scowling into her coffee, Bodhi rolls his eyes and hits her with a bump of his shoulder.
“But… then how did he rescue you?” Now I’m confused.
“They worked out which route Toby had planned to use for his escape; Ethan raced there as soon as they figured it out. I was already under the water when he arrived, out of sight; but they refused to give up. Eventually, Ethan found me and pulled me up from the bottom.”
Shuddering at the thought of what she went through, what they all went through, I try to put all the pieces together in my mind. I’ve heard what happened from Alpha Steel but it’s always useful to get the information straight from the horse’s mouth.
“And Rex killed Toby?” By throwing in a detail I know is wrong, it breaks the usual script that a witness or survivor comes to repeat. It stirs up their memories, makes them stop and think about what they’re saying instead of replaying the same record they’ve told a thousand times.
“No, Nathan did. Well, not then or there. He sliced Toby up pretty badly before he fell into the water, then Lucia confirmed later that she felt the bond break. But he was alive when he went into the river, because Lucia still looked fine then.”
“Not freaked out?” I ask, puzzled.
Leah shakes her head. “I think everyone was in shock.”
It must have been horrific for all of them. I try to picture how I’d react if Ethan was floating in a river, grievously injured. I don’t think anyone would describe me as looking “fine”. I’d be a total mess.
“How did she know where you were?”
Leah frowns, “I assumed it was because she had been with Ethan.” She twists her mouth as she thinks about it.
Makes sense. Even though the thought makes me feel like punching something.
