Page 53 of Savage

I glanced at Rob, who nodded.

“I’m a council enforcer,” I said. “Well, I was.”

The room went still. “You knew this?” Colton demanded of Rob then muttered, “Of course, you did.”

“Fuck, brother. For how long?” Rand asked. He sat in one of the kitchen chairs.

“Years.”

“Do Mom and Pop know?”

I shook my head. “Only Rob, until now.”

“Jesus, no wonder you’re so fucking… chill when you’re home.”

“Thanks,” I said, not feeling it.

“That guy was someone you’d been tracking?” Rand asked, leaning forward and propping his elbows on his thighs.

I shook my head then dropped it into my hands, elbows propped on my knees.

Rob took over explaining. “Clint carried out a council execution last week—shifter who’d been murdering convenience store workers in Wyoming.”

“I heard about that,” Colton said.

Rob nodded then leaned against the counter, as if settling in with his tale. “This was his cousin, Donald, who was after Becky to make Clint suffer, but Donald ran into her ex at her place first and killed him.”

“Fuck, I heard about that, too,” Colton added, taking off his hat and rubbing his head.

“Then Donald somehow found Clint up here.” Rob came over, dropped a hand on my shoulder. “I’m sorry, bro. I don’t know how he found you. No vehicles came up the road past the ranch.”

“I’ve been tracking him by scent,” the stranger in the room said.

Everyone looked at him. It wasn’t like I’d been ignoring the guy, but I knew he was an enforcer, and I wasn’t going to out him. I also wasn’t going to ask his name. The less I knew, the safer it was for him.

“I’m Ben Davies,” he offered. “The council sent me.”

“Another enforcer?” Colton asked, dark brow raised.

“That’s not for us to know,” Rob reminded him.

Colton huffed out a laugh.

Rand stood and went over to shake the guy’s hand then dropped back into his chair.

“I got his scent over at your mate’s house,” Davies said. “He must’ve been there in wolf form.”

“He ripped my mate’s ex’s throat out.”

Davies nodded. “Makes sense then. I followed it to a motel by the highway. Then it cut up into the mountains. I’ve been trailing it all night. When I realized it led to the cabin where Rob said you’d be, I called him for reinforcements.”

I should’ve saidthank you. I knew I should’ve, but I couldn’t make my lips work. None of it mattered—none of it—with Becky gone.

No, that wasn’t true. Donald was dead. I’d protected her from him. She was safe with Boyd. My pup was safe. That was important. But she’d left. She wanted nothing to do with me, and it made me want to howl at the moon again.

“All these years… all those trips. That’s where you were going?” Rand asked.

“Yeah.” I spoke into my hands. I forced myself to lift my head and look at him. He was my younger brother. The kid who’d looked up to me. Who’d tried to emulate me. And now he was finding out I put down rogue shifters. That I’d lied for years. “Do you hate me, too?”