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Though deep in my gut, worry clenches at me. Someone sabotaged us, and I’m going to rip their head off when I find them. Coupled with Meira running away, this whole catastrophe couldn’t have come at a worse time.
I emerge from the shower and wipe down the water from my body with a towel, then I drag on my jeans and step into boots. I reach for a clean black tee and tug it over my head and down my body.
If I’m going to address my pack and help them calm down, I’m not doing it covered in blood. They need to know that despite today’s tragedy, things will get easier. They have to. I need to believe this, because I can’t charge into the woods after Meira if I’m worried about my pack’s safety. The longer I take, the farther she’ll travel, so I need to move fast.
I march out of my room and down the corridor. My plan had been to work with Meira and find a way to bring out her wolf before her time ran out. If she could just shift, her wolf would heal the blood disease that’s ravaging her human side.
Well, that plan had failed miserably. Just thinking about it has me balling my hands into fists, my muscles throbbing with frustration.
Why run, little one?
From the corner of my eye, I notice a figure on the balcony as I pass the doorway. I turn to take a second look. Short cropped white hair. He’s in all black, his hands gripping the railing as he stares out to the yard below, where everyone else is working tirelessly to bring back some semblance of normality.
My bristles rise, and my wolf shoves forward with aggression, growling in my chest. My blood boils as I charge toward him.
“You no longer pay your Alpha respect after a mission?” I roar.
Mad whips around to face me, his movement fast, but his smile slow.
My nostrils flare, and I march right up to him, face to face, and I’m breathing down on him. I’m trembling to rip him apart for defying me.
Hostility pours off him, fueling my anger, charging the air with electricity. His eyes narrow with a primal challenge. His mouth pulls into a sneer, accentuating the healed scar on his jawline.
“You stole from Ander.” I spit the words in his face. “What the fuck were you thinking? Hand over the serum!” I roar. He’s lucky I haven’t ripped off his head yet.
My whole trade agreement depends on me returning the serum to the X-Clan. I don’t plan to lose the ability to gain new technology and resources from Ander just so Mad can try to play god. This little shit has always looked out for himself. For so long, I justified his actions by telling myself he’s younger than me, so he’s still got a lot to learn. But this latest stunt might end my patience for him. I’ve had enough of saving his ass every time he does shit like this.
Mad doesn’t move, instead looking me in the eyes, challenging me. “I did this for us,” he snaps, likeI’mthe unruly one. “I saw an opportunity and I took it.”
I grasp his neck, squeezing. “This isn’t a fucking joke.”
When I glare into his pale blue eyes, all I can see is my father. In my head, I hear him yelling at me, slapping me in the back of the head and telling me that I’m not good enough. That I’ll never make a good Alpha because I’m too weak. Mad would crouch in the corner, whimpering while I got beaten, trying a few times to stop our father. But now he’s changed, no longer the stepbrother I grew up with, but a wolf looking for his own path. And I wish him every fucking luck, but it’s not going to happen under my roof.
He shoves a hand against my chest, and I release him as he stumbles to find his footing. His lower back presses into the metal railing, cracking a wry smile. “It wasn’t like I could call you while in enemy territory and discuss stealing an antidote that could help all Ash Wolves.”
That smirk and his words are like gas on my fury. “X-Clan is not the fucking enemy. If you’re incapable of understanding a treaty, then I’ve wasted my time making you my second.”
“Dušan,” he growls. “That’s not fair, man. I did this for us.”
My heart slams in my chest, my adrenaline a ticking time bomb about to go off under my ribcage. “You did this for yourself. Otherwise, you would have told me. Instead, I heard it from Ander.” A snarl spews past my lips, and he flinches at first, then straightens his shoulders, as if finding his bravery.
He’s shaking his head.
I snatch his jaw and squeeze until he winces. “Listen very carefully so your brain understands: The serum from X-Clan does not work on Ash Wolves. It’s made specifically for their wolves. It has no effect on us. If you’d asked me, I would have told you that before you went and almost ruined our relationship with Ander.”
His eyes grow as wide as the moon at my revelation, and this is why I’m ready to tear off his head. I put him as my second for one simple reason: he’s my stepbrother, and I believed he could step up and take the role seriously, keep the Ash Wolves leadership in the family. But that was a mistake, and I won’t be making it again.
He yanks back from my grasp, bumping into the railing, a snarl peeling his lips back. “Fuck, fine, you can have them back. Get the hell out of my face.”
I shake my head, my fingers curling with the urgency to beat sense into him, though I doubt it would make much difference. I see clearly now the mistake I made by giving my stepbrother this kind of power in the pack.
“Tell me what happened with the delivery of women to Ander. How did you lose one?” I stand tall, my voice rising and patience thinning.
He shrugs. “No idea, but I’d say it’s fate considering that little bitch has blood that could be our cure.” He leans closer. “Think of the possibilities, brother. I’ll take one for the team and fuck her to claim that Omega’s cunt, and we use her blood for the cure to help all Ash Wolves.”
I’m fuming and throw my fist into his face without hesitation. I clip him in the head, and he lurches backward from the strike, clutching the side of his face. His wolf awakens behind his gaze.
That’s what I want… for him to attack. I’ll destroy him.
