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“Dru.” Her name escaped my lips, but I didn’t know what to say.
“Two weeks. She tried….for two weeks.” Bitterness laced her voice. “It’s inherited you know.” She tapped her blue eye. “Passed down from generation to generation, each one stronger than the last.” I reached for her hand as she dug her finger a little too deeply in her eye. “Except when you commit suicide.” She smiled at our entwined fingers, knowing what I was doing. “Interesting fact, it goes back to the earth. But her,” Dru sighed, “But her grief corrupted it. It’s why your senses don’t work in human form. It’s why there’s barely any life in the forest here. Even the animals run from her pain.”
I nodded slowly. Her story explained the wrongness I’d sensed in the forest, but it had happened years ago. “It’s been twenty years?” I guessed, since Dru had to be at least my age.
“Twenty-one.”
“Wouldn’t it have faded by now?”
Her mouth quirked. “Our mother had inherited her mother’s pain when she died. My mother was powerful indeed.”
I didn’t know what to make of her answer. For everything question Dru had answered, I’d thought of a dozen more, but only one concerned me at the moment. “Why tell me all of this? Why now?”
Dru studied me, then leaned forward until our cheeks touched. “I thought you should know the truth,” she whispered softly, brushing her lips against mine before untangling our hands and stepping back. “Before she kills you.”
***
Her words lingered long after she had escaped up the stairs. My brain felt overloaded and empty at the same time, and I knew it must have something to do with the mating bond, but at the moment there was no one to ask. My Pack was a scant two hours to the south but it could have been a million miles. I wouldn’t drag Dom into a situation I’d created for myself, not at the risk of his life.
And I knew it would be his life at risk.
Dru had given up hope, but I was determined to figure a way out for both of us – no matter how impossible it seemed at the moment.
I paced the cell, not bothering to test the strength of the bars. It wouldn’t be brute strength that won this battle. I still wasn’t entirely sure what I was up against, other than an old woman powerful enough to oust an Alpha and retain control of his Pack.
“Pack,” I whispered to myself. “Ghost Pack, but there is no Pack.” I’d aptly named the Pack, albeit unknowingly. It truly was a pack of ghosts. All the wolf shifters were gone or dead besides Dru and it didn’t appear like she was under the control of an Alpha.
I stopped pacing, but couldn’t remain still, positive I was onto something.
“No Alpha,” I muttered aloud, trying to remember long ago lessons from my own Alpha father. He’d drilled them into me repeatedly, trying to shape me into his image, and I’d spent the last decade doing my best to forget them. But now, they might come in handy. “The Pack ceased to exist before Dru shifted, leaving her without a Pack to shift into. Her Gran inherited the previous Pack, but once it was gone, she was no longer Alpha.” Technically, everything I was saying was true, but I’d never once heard of a non-wolf shifter being able to assume an Alpha role either. I also still didn’t know what Dru’s great grandmother was exactly, besides insanely powerful.
“And dangerous. Don’t forget dangerous,” I muttered to myself.
Your lips are moving but there’s no one here who can hear you. I twisted to find Paige staring at me, her head tilted curiously. Dru did beat you up, she added, sounding impressed.
What are you doing down here? I glanced at the stairs, sure I would have seen her. How did you get down here?
I walked? She suggested, giving me a look like she thought I was the crazy one. How else would I do it?
I threw up my hands. Walk through the wall? At this point, I wouldn’t put anything past these blue-eyed women. What are you?
How hard did she hit you? Paige asked in concern. You might have a concussion.
You are as irritating to talk to as Monster, I muttered and Paige hurried to open the cell door and come inside.
I should heal you. Dru must not have realized how badly injured you were. Paige reached for my head and I moved out of range.
I’m fine, I growled. Just bruised.
You’re talking about monsters, she exclaimed. Clearly, you’re not fine.
I blinked at her, then chuckled. That’s his name, I explained.
You know someone named Monster? She asked in disbelief and I nodded. Who would name their child that?
His sister and it’s actually very appropriate, I replied, remembering Dom’s many stories about Monster’s exploits. He’d just turned sixteen and only the combined efforts of Dom and Jess kept him under control. He was too smart for his own good and one of the most powerful wolf shifters any of us had ever seen. Add in the fact that his best friend was also a dominant wolf shifter with Down syndrome who could also ignore his Alpha’s orders and Dom had a lot on his hands.
