“I have my orders, Garrett. We both do.” With a thud he drops his boots and finishes stripping. “I’ll give you the space you need.” He shifts seamlessly into a tan and white wolf, making me wonder if he’s part white wolf, especially given how fast he shifted.
I shift quicker than expected. It appears my wolf is cooperating. For now.
At first, I run toward the border, my wolf aware of Sutton behind us, closing the gap. They all think I’m going to run.
I shouldn’t disappoint them.
Putting every ounce of energy I have into darting through the trees, I disappear from Sutton’s view, creating trails where none exist, coming dangerously close to the border.
Sutton’s howl is my only warning. I don’t heed it, pushing on parallel to the markers. When I catch a patrol’s scent nearby, I follow it, race toward them, catching their attention. By now, Frank’s informed them I’m not to leave the territory. The guards’ primary function—keeping outsiders from entering—has shifted to keeping one of their own prisoner. I don’t know what means they’re allowed to use to accomplish that task, but I’m about to find out.
I nearly collide with the patrol, forcing my wolf to take a hard right, sending a wall of dirt into Tiberius’ and Mason’s wolves. Immediately, both wolves are nipping at my heels, a little too close for comfort.
The guards have speed, I’ll grant them that, but they don’t know what I’m doing. I can outrun them easily… but I don’t. Not yet.
Another howl echoes through the woods. This warning’s from Mason. I’ll have to watch myself with him. He’s the more experienced of the three.
It takes two miles skirting the border before I finally lose the guards, and only because I left our territory and bound across the four-lane interstate. Most shifters avoid the highway. I’m notmost shifters. But I’m also not one to defy orders, not easily. That’s what gets a shifter killed.
Damn it, Marla… why didn’t you listen?
My wolf turns back, with barely a nudge from me. We’re in sync for a change. He and I both needed the run, the challenge of losing the guards, but this is about more than outrunning packmates. Which is why I head past the patrols without stopping to explain myself and take the most direct path into camp.
Dead center of the camp, I shift back to human form, in front of the Christmas tree, though I keep that behind me where I don’t have to look at it and think of Marla. She died a week before Christmas.
Breakfast is outdoors today, on tables set up in the center of the camp. That means someone forgot to open the vents in the cookhouse chimney again and the place is being aired out. And I’m standing here like a naked fool, staring at the woods.
Despite the dozens of people passing me on their way to and from breakfast, no one throws me clothes, no one says a word.
Damien finally stands up from the table where he and Tess were eating alongside his top shifters. I run my eyes down the line of shifters. Tess’s expression betrays her concern, though I’m not sure if that’s for me or Damien. The others, Hayden and Mila, Frank and Del, Blade and Anna… they’re watching, but remain seated.
I’m no threat to Damien or his rule. It’s not like I’ve ever shown any desire to challenge the alpha, even though I’m from the alpha line. And Damien’s already made it clear that Hayden takes over if anything happens to him.
Damien stops three feet from me, his eyes locking on mine. I know that stare all too well. It’s a mix of trying to figure out what the fuck I’m thinking and what to do about me.
Three wolves—Sutton, Tiberius, and Mason—shoot into camp at top speed, slamming to a halt when they see me andDamien facing one another. Tiberius lunges for me, but Sutton and Mason hold him back. I guess I pissed him off with my run.
“You want to do this here?” Damien asks.
“Does it matter where?”
“Not really.”
“You put a guard on me, Damien. I haven’t done anything wrong.”
“I’ve been telling you that since Marla’s death. Two years, Garrett. I won’t tell you to get over it, no matter how I’m tempted, but something needs to change, before you destroy yourself.”
“Are you past Zachary’s death?”
Damien’s lips thin at the mention of his brother.
“I didn’t think so.”
“We all lose people, good shifters, but we can’t lose ourselves in the process. We have to be strong for the pack.”
“Are you saying I’m a threat to the pack’s safety? Or that the pack matters more than the individual shifters? You’ve condemned Angelina without even meeting her.”
“I trust the people I send out on ops to report to me with honesty, and they did. You lost your objectivity. Hayden says this female shifter?—”
