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Old wounds reopened, their leaking scabs stealing his breath and making his wolf snarl. Even after all this time, the pain from their rejection was still as sharp as the day they’d inflicted it. But he’d never admit to it.
“Nothing to knot your braid over, Pet.”
His forced casual tone sounded flat even to his own ears. Fists curling around the handlebars of the bike, Riaz edged the engine toward great speeds, hurtling around curves at a rate he knew Cortana wouldn’t appreciate.
Though she didn’t say anything else, he knew that she was holding her tongue, both on his sudden recklessness and the unanswered question. When they reached the underground parking garage and she dismounted, he felt instantly bereft.
“Alpha!” Gadriel’s voice reached them the instant he dismounted, finding the other wolf beaming ear to ear as he jogged up. “The shipment of vaccines has arrived!”
Relief filled him alongside an equal portion of angst. Mentally, he’d been preparing himself for allotting vaccinations for the pack members who’d be on the front lines—and for denying them to those who weren’t.
Given the method of procurement, there were limited doses available, and Riaz needed to ensure any soldiers who’d be doing off-site missions or field work would be vaccinated first. Seth, one of the oldest of their kind, had been developing the vaccine for several years now.
In conversations with the other alpha, Riaz had been warned that the vaccine wasn’t a cure-all, that some still succumbed to the rabidity that liquid sunlight caused, regardless of their inoculation.
“Have you solidified the list?”
Nodding at Gadriel, Riaz glanced at Cortana. “This is the vaccine that helps against the Citizens’ liquid sunlight weapons I told you about. The dose is decently effective, and will hopefully protect those we’re taking on the mission to their compound.”
“Decently?”
“It varies depending on age, strength, and lineage. Age is a factor, and certain lines are less susceptible.”
“How does lineage factor into it?”
“An alpha bites every new person that joins the pack,” Riaz explained as they ascended the stairs, “and we can trace our origins back to the founding wolves if need be. Certain lines are more resistant than others.”
Cortana then asked a question that he never wanted to answer. “So, the majority of your pack is of your line?”
A whimper stalled in his throat, the darkness within swallowing it whole before it could erupt. “No, Ava bites all new pack members. I choose not to continue my line.”
“Why? Who bit you?”
Beside him, Gadriel stiffened, knowing the answer already and not expecting Riaz to answer. But as an alpha, it’d have wounded his pride to cower. The sinking feeling threatened to drown him as he answered her question.
“I don’t know.”
The hint of a smirk on her full red lips twisted the knife in his gut, her belief that he’d make light of the situation a black mark on his soul. “Oh, come on, do tell. How can you not know the wolf who bit you?”
“I was bitten by a rogue, Cortana.”
Chapter Seventeen
Cortana’s nails bit into her palm in an unconscious reaction. When Riaz had said he didn’t know who had bitten him, she thought he’d been joking. It was, after all, his typical play.
She felt nothing but shame for her knee-jerk reaction.
“I’m so sorry, Riaz. I didn’t know.” The apology spilled from her lips as she took in the disquiet of his features. She paused a beat before asking, “You didn’t choose immortality?”
The man didn’t respond, and when she glanced over at him, he seemed lost in thought. Suddenly, the darkness Ava and Gwennie had mentioned made more sense; why he spared no effort to support his packmates and stay balanced. It was now cruelly apparent why Riaz hunted the rogues himself and reacted so viscerally to their presence in his territory. Why he both feared and hated them.
Arno greeted them with a smile, the brilliance of it fading a bit when he took in Riaz’s discomfort. “Alpha, we’re ready when you are.”
Without another word, Riaz launched into discussion with his beta, the two of them drawing away toward where a group of pack members eagerly waited. They greeted their alpha with the warmth of a loving family, radiating happiness at his proximity. Immediately, the man was smiling and embracing as though their grim conversation hadn’t just happened. Cortana noticed Gadriel staring at her with the icy eyes of his wolf.
“Is it common among werewolves to be bitten by rogues?”
Inclining his chin only just, Gadriel gave a slight shake of his head. “No.”
