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“She’s of no use to me. Just use her to get to him,” Lukka suggested. “I never accepted her. She’s not one of mine—”
Bang!At first, Eric thought someone had shot off a gunin the room, before he realized that the monstrous sound had come fromLoreckslamming his fist onto the desk. A crack appeared within the wood, and Eric winced. It was an antique.
“You woulddareleave one of your own? One of us? To fend for herself out there, pack-less? Have you no honor? No shame?”
His voice bellowed across the room. The territory, even. If the whole pack wasn’t aware of this outburst, Eric would resign from his position on the spot. He doubted he had ever seen the Alpha so angry, without invoking the shift at least. Those hazel eyes flashed—emerald, brown…gold.
Wait a minute…
“No,” Lukka admitted on a sigh. For the first time, he seemed to realize that he’d stepped too far. He shifted uneasily on his feet and cleared his throat. “But, I have a...liaison whose close to McGoven. I’ll try to see if she can convince him to give up the girl.”
“You do that. Orwewill take her in. I will see to it personally,” Loreck said.
Eric couldn’t tell if he meant the threat, though he didn’t feel the need to argue. A new female would be welcomed among them, as she should.
“There will be no need,” Lukka said thickly. “She will be accepted into Black Mountain. Once she arrives.”
“And after that,” Loreck continued, his gaze electric, “we will have our justice.”
Eric barely heard him. He was too busy trying his hardest to convince himself that it couldn’t be—shecouldn’t be…
The girl’s father was dead.
As he stared into his Alpha’s hazel eyes, he knew that there was no damn way. Obviously, what he’d seen had been a trick of the light.
37
They entered the living room to find Naomi sitting upright, with one hand braced against the back of the couch, and the other clutching her throat. She looked entirely different from the confident, smirking figure Loren had become accustomed to avoiding. She was pale. That signature blond hair hung limply down her shoulders, dirty and clumped with mud.
“Where…where the hell am I?” she croaked, though Loren wasn’t sure how she managed to speak at all.
Her throat...
Looking at her in the harsh light of morning, the futility of what they’d done hit Loren like a punch to the chest. All of it. Camping out, waiting for a miracle, had been foolish. A childish exercise. Forget McGoven’s spiel onlycansand magic—Naomi needed a hospital.
Now.
She scanned the room, looking for a phone to do just that, but before she could so much as blink, McGoven moved...and every single shred of common sense just left her mind in an instant.
She could only watch him.
His exhaustion seemed to vanish. So did the guilt and hesitation she’d witnessed while on the porch. Now, only grim determination shined in those silver eyes.
Even covered in dirt and grime and streaks of blood, he looked one hundred percent… She couldn’t seem to come up with a wordstrongenough, but one popped in her mind, unbidden—like anAlpha.
“Naomi.” His voice was deep, silencing the blond’s cries instantly. “Listen to me now. Get up.” He didn’t raise his voice, but he didn’t have to.
Even Loren flinched, rocking on the balls of her toes. Despite her injuries, Naomi scrambled upright, leaning against the couch for balance. Those green eyes were wide, trailing from the bay window to the half-naked police officer facing her from across the coffee table.
“Wh...Where am I?”
“Follow me.” McGoven turned, heading for the door without explaining.
And, for the first time, probably in her whole life, Naomi Tanner obeyed without so much as a snarky word in edgewise. Loren could only stare. It was strange—like watching every interaction she’d had with this same man, though from the outside looking in.
His knack for controlling people was…eerie,to say the least.When he says jump, you don’t even have the time to ask how high, a part of her remarked in awe.
As if reading her mind, he cut his eyes to her. For a heartbeat, some of that icy strength softened.Trust me,he seemed to say. Just as quickly, his attention returned to Naomi. Her blood dripped onto the floor, leaving a trail of scarlet, as she struggled to follow.
