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I shake it off.
“You’re so intense,” Peter muses. “Did you ever consider that your mate might stop running from you if you would just ease up a little?”
“I don’t need advice from you.” Just answers.
I take a long pull from my beer, even though I couldn’t be less interested in it. I can feel Peter staring at me, and it’s unnerving. When our family fell apart, most of us agreed we were better off spreading out. At that point, we were all so damn sick of always being lumped together. Never having our own identities. Always being told our sole purpose was to exist for the good of the pack.
The only reason I wound up keeping touch with Callie was because she followed me around the first couple years after Greg’s shitty attempt at reviving our parents’ pack failed.
By the time she joined up with that asshole Baylor, I had gotten used to checking in with her. Making sure she didn’t need anything.
I helped keep her safe for years, and now I see how much loyalty that bought me. The second she was faced with a tough situation, she threw me under the bus rather than returning the favor. If the sibling I dared stay close to could betray me so easily, I’m not sure what I’m supposed to expect from the rest of them.
Peter has no loyalty to me. The only thing between us is blood.
“Have you heard about all the problems cropping up amongst the rogues?” I cut my eyes over to see Peter watching carefully for my reaction. I’m cautious not to give him one. “After all those years running away from pack life, it’s the rogues that are turning.”
“Rogues have always had issues with fighting.” I didn’t learn to fight for nothing.
“Not like this. They’re turning on each other out there. Not just the ones trying to collect the bounty on Tasha’s head, but all of them. No one trusts each other anymore. If I didn’t know better, I’d think the timing of losing the last Luna Sovereign is awfully suspect.”
I freeze with my beer halfway to my mouth and slam it down on the counter. “If you’ve heard something, spit it out instead of talking around it.”
“I already warned Tasha.”
“Tellme,” I grind out. If he told Tasha, I doubly need to know. I don’t want her dealing with any potential problems on her own; I want to protect her.
Peter leans in and lowers his voice further, even though no one is close enough to hear us. Not with their human hearing and the commotion still happening around the pool table.
“Up until recently, I was splitting my time with the West Canyon Pack. Alpha Mitch was hearing rumors leading up to all of the chaos. There were human developers checking out the land up North. The Sovereign Pack territory and everything surrounding it.”
“What’s surrounding that area, besides the Anchorage Lake Pack?” I try to picture what else is in the area, but it’s been a long time since I’ve been any farther North than the Sovereign Pack to retrieve Tasha.
“The Hunter’s Stone Pack territory is on the other side.”
I only know a little about the Hunter’s Stone Pack led by Alpha Benji Hunter. The rumors are that the pack is strong, but they keep mostly to themselves. I don’t know if Benji would be an ally if we needed it or not.
“I assume they would be looking at the Luna Sovereign house too since it’s the northernmost point of that area.” Peter picks at the label on his beer. “Mitch said most of the surrounding human land has been sold off in the last fifteen or so years.”
“Maybe someone got tired of playing the long game,” I suggest, picking up my beer to take a long drink. I need something to distract my hands as they start to shake, the reality of Peter’s words sinking in.
As much as I want to discount Peter listening to rumors, especially from some Alpha I don’t know, his words make my wolf bristle. Is it possible that the sudden unrest could have all been manufactured for someone’s financial gain?
This is the humans we’re talking about. If they’ve decided they want shifter lands and have done too much digging, it’s possible they’ve learned enough about us to be dangerous.
“If you’re right,” I muse, “every day we don’t have a working Luna Sovereign puts us at risk.”
“I know.” There’s a flash of worry that crosses his face so quickly he’s probably hoping I didn’t see it. But I sure as hell did.
I shove out of the stool so fast it falls to the floor behind me as I book it out of the bar. I can hear Peter calling after me, but I’ve lost interest in his musings. Even if he’s right about all of it, the only part that truly matters to me is making sure Tasha is safe in the middle of it all.
Because that’s exactly where she must be. Right in the middle of everything.
* * *
The first thing that becomes clear to me is that Peter was right. No one has thought to look for her right under their noses, which means security is too lax heading up to the Sovereign House from the side.
This area should be crawling with Sovereign Pack wolves. Even when the house was empty, I had to avoid using this direction to get close to Tasha because the coverage was so thick.
