Page 71 of Oakheart

I turned to look at Viktor, who was almost dancing around, he was so damned excited. Then he froze, so I turned to look where he was looking, and saw—Grant had gotten up, and was throwing himself toward Fyse’s back.

As he hadn’t before but I’d known he could, Fyse reacted faster than the eye could follow properly. He turned, growing his claws, and simply ripped Grant’s throat out. Grant fell to the dirt, just as Marcus had earlier, trying and failing to breathe.

It was less horrible somehow, and I didn’t think it was because I’d been the one to kill Marcus. It was so much faster, when added to Grant’s relative size and the injuries he’d already had.

“Pathetic bastard,” I muttered, kicking Grant’s body away from us. We’d have to get rid of it more permanently, but for now, I just wanted it away from me. Wanted him away from me. I turned back to Fyse, who... fuck me, he looked like he’d been the one gutted, not me or Grant.

He looked like having to kill Grant was the worst thing he could imagine, when he’d literally just set my pack free, however accidentally. I should have torn his throat out myself, damn him.

“Hey,” I said to Fyse, sticking my own hand out for a shake. “We will need to work together, yes? To make these shit American pack laws better. Make those assholes out there see us as we are, not like—” I motioned toward my uncle’s body. “Your pack, and mine, together. We will change things, step by step.”

Fyse gave me a strange, confused smile, but I figured it was enough. Then he reached out and grabbed my hand, shaking it firmly. “I’d like that.”

“Yes, what will we do with all my intelligence and all...” I stopped and considered him, cocking my head. “Your millions of dollars? It will be so hard to change the world with our many impressive assets.”

Somewhere nearby, the huge Crescent pack enforcer snorted and corrected me, saying, “Billions.”

I turned back to Fyse in shock. “Billions? You havebillions?” He nodded, and I shook my head in confusion. I could barely conceive of such a number, and blurted out exactly what I was thinking. “What the fuck does a werewolf need withbillions?” He didn’t answer me, so I finally shook my head and went back to the point. “Well, we will have plenty to work with. Clearly, you do not know what to do with it. I will tell you.”

Next to him, Dakota laughed. “We can discuss it, sure, but it’ll be our decision what our pack does.”

It was cute that he was trying to defend his alpha’s honor. I felt like regardless of who was alpha, Dakota was the man in charge of the Crescent pack, so I nodded to him. “Yes, but you know good ideas when you hear them. I have plenty. You will see. We will show them, yes? Remind them what wolves do.”

Next to me, Viktor howled into the night.

Victory.

CHAPTER 35

Cash

This time,when the Crescent wolves went to meet the Wildwood pack, I wasn’t alone in the house.

They’d left Maia behind too.

The last time they’d met, she’d nearly died, locked in the pantry in a burning building.

I still thought she would have gone, if Seth hadn’t looked at her with a pucker between his eyebrows and said in a voice so gentle it was almost heartbreaking, “Please. I need to know you’re safe.”

She’d softened for him, and now, she was stuck in the giant house with me. We were sitting on one arm of the oversized couch, and she shouldn’t stop shaking her leg. It was driving me crazy, but that was only because I felt the buzzing in the world around us too, the danger and the agony of not knowing what was happening to the people we loved.

They’d left twenty minutes ago.

Surely, Jax wasn’t going to draw this out.

Maia sighed and fidgeted with the fabric bunched at the bend of her knee.

I wasn’t sure what to say to her, and for once, she was quiet too, so the feeling had to be mutual.

I chewed on my lip and shoved my hands beneath my thighs. Aleks said he would take care of this, and I had to trust him and Viktor, but did that mean I had to sit there like a lump?

Surely he’d work with Jax. They were aligned, at least in wanting Grant gone, and neither one of them was anything close to unreasonable. Aleks might like making Jax squirm, but... well, Jax’s life was perfect. Somebody needed to give him a little trouble, right?

I sucked in a deep breath through my nose, and Maia looked at me from the corner of her eyes.

“Do you think we should go?” I asked.

She grimaced. Seth had specifically asked her to stay behind, but she clearly didn’t want to.