“You don’t,” she replies.
And I agree with her.
After Tieran’s howl came through the phone, Alpha Dirk fell to his knees and bowed his head.
Not for Tieran.
But forme.
He remained that way as we listened to the aftermath of that howl, overheard Tieran’s conversation with Alpha Crane, and his inevitable frustration over the phone not working on his end.
Not once did Alpha Dirk stir.
As the phone went quiet, my wolf started to move, sniffing the alpha male with interest.
He didn’t move, allowing her to circle him while scenting the air for any signs of malcontent.
She found none.
I eventually stepped away from him with a grunt.
Only then did he start to sit up, his dark green eyes intense. “I won’t hurt you, Clove. But I’ll accept whatever punishment you wish to deliver. It’s my responsibility to manage those in my clan, and I failed.”
His words still swirl around me now, along with the astute disappointment in his tone and the sadness of his failure.
He blames himself for Alpha Kin’s crimes.
I almost shifted back to tell him it wasn’t his fault, but logic kept me in wolf form.
Itispartially his fault. He should have suspected Alpha Kin’s nefarious intent. I can’t imagine Volt or Caius being able to do something so horrible beneath Tieran’s nose.
So in that regard, I do blame him.
But I won’t let him bear the punishment of another’s sin.
I sit on my rump by the door, waiting for my intended mates to find me. I sense them prowling,hunting, their Alpha energies an aphrodisiac calling to my very soul.
They’re coming, my animal is saying, her excitement palpable.They’re coming. They’re coming.
We’ve been sitting in the dark down here for hours. No phones. No way to communicate. Using our enhanced night vision to see.
Alpha Duncan is dead. And Alpha Ebony is healing, thanks to Alpha Dirk removing the bullets from her skin.
He did the same for Alpha Edwin, but he’s still unconscious on the couch.
“Kin took out the telecommunication tower,” Alpha Dirk said earlier. “And he cut the power to the island.”
It’s what tipped Alpha Dirk off that there was a problem—he could smell Alpha Kin’s essence all over the sabotage. So he went looking for him.
And found him with me.
“I didn’t think, I reacted,” he told Alpha Ebony shortly after she woke up. “I ripped his throat out.”
“Good,” she replied. “He fucking deserved it.”
They discussed a bit about what they thought happened, comparing notes between Alpha Dirk’s observation of events and Alpha Ebony’s pre-established knowledge of Alpha Kin’s betrayal.
“He must have found the secure line that Alpha Caius and Alpha Pan set up,” Alpha Dirk said at one point. “Or maybe he had his own surveillance set up to detect interference. Regardless, it’s clear he warned Bryson since they were working together.”
