Chapter Thirteen
Minutes later, Roy lay on the ground in human form, panting and dazed, his eyes rolling back in his head.
It had taken the combined powers of Austin and his brothers Cliff and Grant to subdue him. Then Austin had fetched the chains and restraints from where he’d stowed them in his truck. There were about twenty pack members with Cliff and Grant, and they were cleaning up the bodies of the former Deep River Pack and taking their cubs into custody. The air stank of blood and gunpowder and rage.
“What will happen to the cubs?” Savannah asked, and Austin saw her face soften as she watched the crying cubs being led towards several vans that were now parked in the clearing.
“They’ll be adopted by the nearest large pack. And it will be the best thing that could have happened to them.” Cliff shook his head in disgust. “This place is a trash-heap. They didn’t send their kids to school or teach them how to function in the modern world, the cubs are practically feral, the adults cut themselves off from other packs. From what I gather, they didn’t have a Council of Elders or a pack charter to guide them. I’m going to recommend to the managers of the database that we start identifying packs like this, paying them visits, and ensuring that they’re not behaving like a bunch of rogues who just happen to have an Alpha.”
Austin avoided looking at his brothers. Their arrival had stirred up the usual bitterness of memory, a gritty sediment that normally settled at the bottom of his soul but came burning to the surface whenever he was near them.
Savannah was staring right at Cliff and Grant, though, with a mildly puzzled look on her face.
Grant quirked an eyebrow at her. “Are you looking at us like that because Austin told you what a bunch of evil, greedy, backstabbing fucktards we are?”
Savannah laughed. “I’m trying to remember…nope…the specific word fucktard was not used in reference to either one of you. As for the rest…” She gave a delicate little shrug and blinked up at him as she flashed a sardonic smile.
Austin saw Grant looking at Savannah appraisingly, and moved to stand next to her so fast that it was almost a blur.
“This is my True Mate,” he informed Grant. “Savannah Orman, soon to be Savannah Bronson.”
“Oh, so now you’re a believer? ‘Old wives’ tale, dumbest idea you’ve ever heard’, that’s all in the past now?” Grant had a mocking glint in his eye.
“Fuck off. Also, if you even think about trying to flirt with my mate, I’ll do things to you that no healer can fix.”
“Austin!” Savannah cried. “Settle down. Please. They saved our lives.”
“It’s all right,” Grant said with a shrug. “It’s actually fair enough. I used to flirt with everything that had a pulse and peed sitting down, including Cliff’s mate before they officially sealed the deal.”
Cliff shot him a look of disgust and snarled. Then he turned his back on him and started talking to one of the men who’d come with them, a tall redhead named Rusty.
“But I am now a reformed man,” Grant continued. “I have a beautiful, perfect mate named Celeste, and a cub named Jeffrey, and another cub on the way. A baby girl. My dick does not wander. My eye does not wander.”
“Congrats!” Savannah said politely. “On the baby, and I guess on the fact that your dick now stays close to home. And thank you for saving our lives.” She nudged Austin. He sighed.
“Thank you,” he said, his tone more grudging than it should have been. Cliff and Rusty turned their attention back to him, and he scowled at Cliff.
“How did you guys know where to find us?”
Cliff shrugged. “Ever since your friend Tully called us, we’ve been trying to track you down. Then we heard that you went after Roy, and we came to help. We hacked in to your phone and tracked you, and here we are.”
“Why the sudden need to be with me, when you’ve only wanted the opposite for the last…let’s see…my entirelife?” Austin’s tone was cool as he fixed Cliff with a steady stare.
Cliff met his gaze, expressionless. “Tully told me something that made me concerned about your welfare.”
Grant flashed his brother an angry look. “What? Why?” Grant demanded of Cliff. “First I’ve heard of it. You’re keeping things from me?”
Cliff’s face remained a blank. “That’s frequently true, yes. I’m the Alpha of one of the biggest packs in the country. I give out what information I consider necessary. The only one I tell everything to is my mate.”
Grant’s face twisted in scorn. “You’re only Alpha because I let you win the Alpha trial.”
“Keep telling yourself that,” Cliff snarled.
Grant shook his head in disgust and let out a low growl. Cliff replied with a rumbling growl of his own. Their fists clenched, and they slowly turned to face each other. Rusty’s gaze swiveled back and forth between the two of them, his expression pained.
“Excuse me!” Savannah called. “Point of order. If you guys all jump in and kick each other’s asses, and Roy wakes up again while you’ve knocked each other out, we’re screwed. He could break free from these chains and kill everyone here.”
Grant and Cliff settled down, grumbling and turning away from each other again. Austin almost laughed out loud. They’d just been sent to their corners by a fierce little fox shifter who was a third of their size.
