That shuts me up for a minute. My sarcasm and attitude… that’s nothing I learned from Damien’s pack. That’s all me.
“Look, Lina?—”
“No, you look, Ronin. I’m not just going to disappear. If you have to meet Saber then find your way to Damien’s pack after. If that’s not an option, give me the location of our new pack and I’ll follow when I’m ready.”
Saying ‘new pack’ sounds so wrong. Oh, how I want to seeeveryone from home who survived, to have that intimate connection to shifters I grew up with, to a pack that’s mine, one that accepts me as is, a pack where I don’t have to figure out how tofit in. I already fit, because I’m a part of them. Always have been and always will be.
But I’m a part of Garrett, too. And he’s a part of me. I won’t just walk away from him.
Ronin’s lips curl downward. He’s not our alpha, but he’s in the alpha line, and not used to being refused, especially by me.
“I can’t risk our pack. If you return to Black’s pack to say your good-byes, they could follow you. They have very good trackers.”
“I know.” Though I’m surprised he does. That’s not information you pick up when casually asking around for information on a blonde-haired shifter.
“How exactly did you find me?”
“I have a contact in the area. That’s all you need to know.”
My heart and wolf are split down the middle. Home. Or Garrett. I shouldn’t have to choose between the two. At least not without talking to Garrett.
I square my shoulders. “Which will it be, Ronin? Are you coming with me to Damien’s pack, or giving me the new location of our pack so I can travel there later, with Garrett?”
“No outsiders allowed.” His tone carries that note of finality that always frustrated the hell out of me. Good thing I’m no longer that compliant shifter.
“That means we go to Damien’s pack,” I say, even though he no longer appears to be listening. “Let me finish getting the supplies I came in here for.”
As I turn to grab the filter from the garbage can, Ronin’s hand covers my mouth. I flail, trying to break free of his hold, but he lifts me off the ground. My kicking and muffled screams don’t slow him as he whisks me down the alley where I see another shifter I know from home. Lars, a guard and very deadly shifter.The type that if we’d had more like him, the WSSO wouldn’t have wiped out my pack.
All I need is one chance to howl for Pryce. He said he’d hear me…
“Problem?” Lars asks as Ronin hands me over to him like I’m a sack of flour. Lars’s hand seamlessly slides over my mouth, keeping me silent as Ronin removes his hand and fishes out a set of car keys.
I bite Lars’s hand. “Fuck, Angelina…”
Before I can howl, something sharp pinches my arm. My wolf’s the first to collapse, then I follow, but I never hit the ground. Lars lifts me and slides me into a car.
“Don’t worry, Lina, you’re safe with us,” Ronin says as my eyes close, wondering if I’ll ever see Garrett again.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
GARRETT
“Idon’t understand,” Damien says as he paces his living room while the entire retrieval team, Hayden, Frank, Callen, Blade, and I, remain seated around the dining table that doubles as a conference table. We’re still healing from the ambush. Frank has a bullet wound in his left shoulder, a through and through that should be examined, even though his wolf has already stopped the bleeding and began closing the wound. The rest of us have superficial cuts and bruises. No one will admit it, but this one cuts deep—it’s the second time in a row we’ve botched a rescue.
“How do my top shifters nearly get gunned down in an open forest? Not a dead-end canyon, ravine, or other area you could get boxed in. Open ground.”
Frank and I trade looks. “We’re still trying to make sense of it.”.
Damien shifts his glare to Hayden. “You let your team get surrounded, Hayden.” Damien’s pissed, and I can’t blame him. Weonly escaped because the sudden snow squall gave us much-needed cover. Sheer luck. We should all be dead, or captured.
Hayden’s jaw, already tight, moves enough for him to grind out what we’re all thinking. “We went in as always. Followed Blade’s intel precisely as he’d detailed. Garrett went in first, followed by Frank. No one picked up any human scent, tracks, or other sign that they were there. There was nothing out of the usual.”
“That bullet hole in Frank’s shoulder says otherwise.” He lifts the bandage Frank’s holding to his shoulder. “Go get that looked at. Mila, not Pryce. He’s in town on a supply run with Angel.”
My ears perk up and I can’t help but grin. She took the job!
Damien slams both fists down on the table opposite me, snapping my focus back to him and our op. “Why are you grinning? You figure out what went wrong?”
