“She decides,” I state succinctly, throwing a growl in to let the fucker know I won’t tolerate him pressuring her.
“Angelina,” Hayden says, calmly, “Garrett’s right. This is your choice. You’re welcome to return with us to Damien’s pack, or leave with Ronin.” He glances at his brother. “Fuck, I can’t believe I’m saying this… or I can arrange for Drake’s people to get you settled somewhere else, far from here. He has a wide network of shifters.”
Drake’s eyes shine as a grin crosses his face. “It’ll cost you, Hayden.”
“It always does,” Hayden replies, with annoyance.
“I…don’t know where to go. I’m not ready to return to my old pack. But I don’t want to be cut off from them either.”
“Lina, don’t let these shifters warp your mind more than they already have. If you don’t return with me now, you’ll never have another chance. You’ll never see your friends or cousins?—”
“Cousins?” Angel’s voice cracks. “I thought my entire family was dead. Who survived?”
The prick’s mouth curls at the end. “I’ve said too much already.”
“You can’t just tease me with that fact and not tell me.”
“That’s exactly what he’s doing,” I jump in. “You can’t believe a thing he says.”
Ronin ignores me, his eyes locking onto her. “Come home, Lina. See your family and pack. Return to those who know and love you.”
“Why can’t you share the location with me? Just me? I’d never tell anyone, if that’s what it takes. I wouldn’t risk my family.”
“And I can’t risk these assholes finding us. You’re either one of us… or one of them.”
“You’d really cut her off?” I ask, in disbelief.
“We’re not your enemy,” Hayden says.
“Until the WSSO captures one of your shifters and he gives up our location to save himself or his own pack.”
Angel approaches Ronin, a softness to her I haven’t seen in a while. My insides knot as it looks like she’s made her choice. I don’t know how to stop this, to keep her from leaving with him. I would never force her to stay where she doesn’t want to be, but… I love her. I can’t lose her.
Her hips sway as she walks toward him. For a moment, I think she’s going to rise up on her toes and kiss him. I force my clenched hands behind me, to keep my claws from emerging.
Ronin’s gaze drags over her, taking in every sway as his body eases and a grin surfaces. The fucker throws me a look that says, ‘she’s mine, asshole.’
My stomach drops as my wolf bites me, objecting to him, to this whole fucking mess. He doesn’t push me to move, to pull her behind my body where she’ll be safe. She’s made her position quite clear.
“These so-called assholes,” Angel begins, her softness quickly turning cold. “…rescued me from the WSSO when they could have easily abandoned me. They risked their lives for me and then they invited me into their pack, and welcomed me as if I belonged. I doubt that was easy for them, considering what I’d been doing for the WSSO.”
“What precisely was she doing?” Drake asks.
“Don’t answer that,” Hayden cautions.
“They used me to lure other shifters,” she answers Drake, with no fear.
Drake’s face grows serious for the first time. “A new tactic. I want to know more.”
“That’s all we know at this point,” Hayden says. “They’dposition her in the middle of the woods and wait for males shifters to investigate her scent. We nearly walked into the trap ourselves, but she warned us off.”
“As I told Damien, they had guns trained on you, but orders not to engage groups of shifters. Only lone wolves, shifters that no one would miss. And if I didn’t do precisely as they said, I’d receive the first bullet.”
“That the reason we don’t go out in small numbers any more. None of us…” Hayden glares at me. “We don’t know how or why they pick the locations they do, but using a female to lure males has been working for them, until Garrett rescued Angel. It’s possible they’ve found another female by now.”
“How did your team or these lone shifters fail to smell the humans if they were so close?” Drake asks.
“We’re still working on that. We’ll share any intel as we get it.”
