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Della pushed open the mess hall door as sudden panic flared in Cal’s chest. What if the village was silent because everyone was already gone and some trap awaited inside?
“Della wait—” he said, stepping in behind her as hundreds of eyes—Alpha, Omega, and pups alike—turned toward him, all of them spitting with surprise, suspicion, or outright hatred. Whispers hummed from one side of the room to another as a hush fell over the rows of benches and tables.
Everything paused for a taut, pregnant moment, a collective breath holding. Cal surveyed the room, zeroing in on Simon and Matteo, his two loyal friends in this pack of wolves. Matteo flashed a glance at Della, his face lit with surprised delight, and Simon gave an imperceptible chin dip, the unspoken message plain: his friends were with him. He returned the gesture, beyond grateful to have the assurance, although doubtful they’d be able to turn the tide if things went south.
As if some secret signal had been given, the room exploded. Chairs and benches were thrown back and crashed on the floor. Pups were wrangled and drawn away by worried-looking Omegas. Alpha footsteps thundered on the wooden floors to surround them in the time it took for the door behind him to slam shut. The smell hit him first: musty, Alpha musk from far too many, ripe with the tang of impending violence. After days of breathing in fresh air and Della’s pure scent, he wanted to gag as the smell rammed into his mouth so intense he could taste it.
He reached for Della, wanting her against him, but it was too late. His hand closed on a sickening grasp of air. An Alpha he didn’t know pulled her away, protectively tucking her into their midst like reshelving a book. Enraged at someone handling what was his, Cal lunged, his movement checked by hands locked on his arms and shoulders, trapping him in place. A wicked snarl ripped from his chest. “Don’t touch her!”
“Wait! No! Stop! It’s okay, it’s okay!” Della screeched, her eyes wide and scared as she fought to get free from the Alpha who strapped an arm around her chest. “We need to talk! Colt!”
“For fuck’s sake, let her go!” Cal thrashed with all his strength, hurling himself against the—three? four?—Alphas that held him back.
A face appeared in front of him, a vision of lethal disdain blocking his view of Della. Fucking Colt. “Pretty stupid to come back here,” the Second said quietly, his eyes spitting daggers. “What did you think? You could waltz back in and everything would be forgiven?” He shook his head with disgust.
Cal harnessed his urge to fight and forced himself to mimic Colt’s overly controlled tone. “It isn’t like that.” He jerked against the Alphas holding him, feeling his right shoulder strain to stay in the socket.
“Colt,” Della demanded, “stop thisnow. We need to talk.”
The desperation in her voice tore at his insides, and he flexed his neck this way and that, trying to make eye contact, to reassure her that he’d fix this, he’d get them out of this and back together. But Colt drew his fist up, catching him on the jaw instead.
Cal’s head snapped back, his vision fizzing out into white for a moment, coming into focus as the second fist hit him from the other side. The skin on his cheekbone popped under the impact, opening a cut that immediately began to ooze. Alphas snickered and jeered, Della screamed, and the sound of her pain stabbed at his heart more than the blow ever could. Too frightened to guard her emotions, her fear lashed at his insides, the bond snapping and angry and scared.
“What’s going on?” A deep voice cut through the din, and Cal blinked and blinked again, trying to rearrange his brain cells to see who was speaking. Two blows wouldn’t normally affect him, but taken by surprise, pinned in place, and unable to dodge even in the slightest, the punches landed harder than any Colt had delivered in their prior fight. And maybe they’d been thrown with moreoomphas well. Jealousy flared deep inside him. Did Colt have designs on Della? Is that why he hated him?
“Hunter, listen to me,” Della pleaded, and Cal looked up to the formidable Alpha striding into the middle of the group. Hunter wasn’t the tallest, or even the broadest, of the Morris Hill Pack, but what he lacked in physical parameters he made up in sheer arrogant presence. The room stilled around him. “There’s a group of rogue Alphas on the edge of the territory to the north, and they’re planning to raid Morris Hill.” The words flew from Della’s lips, rushed in her desperation to relay the message. “Tonight. Please, you have to listen.”
Hunter’s shrewd eyes scanned the room and collided with Cal’s. Without breaking his gaze, Hunter stepped to where Della was restrained a mere yard away. Nudging her shirt collar to the side, he displayed the fresh claiming bite, swollen and nasty and stained with blood as they hadn’t had time to properly clean it. A fresh wave of hisses and discontent rumbled through the Pack. As plain as an admission from his own lips, right there out in the open, evidence he’d broken the hallowed Morris Hill rules about only claiming willing Omegas. Della had been willing, but fat chance of proving that to them in this particular moment.
“You did this?” Hunter asked, deceptively calm. “You took her from her home and did this?”
“That’s not important right now,” Della stammered, desperately clutching Hunter’s sleeve and tugging for his attention. “There’s a threat to the settlement.”
“Yeah, right,” a voice sneered to Cal’s left.Silas.“They’re making up a story to distract from what he’s done. Don’t fall for it, Alpha.”
“That’s not true,” Della shot back. “We overheard them. They were stalking Rue and Zorah in the woods earlier today. The girls are lucky they got away.”
“Listen to this,” Silas scoffed. “Boogeymen hiding out in the woods. It’s a fucking tall tale.”
Several voices joined in at that point. Della still pleading her case. Colt snarling something and curling his fist like he was lining up his next punch. Silas, shooting his lazy mouth off and a few other Alphas telling him to shut the fuck up.
Hunter held up a palm and faced Cal, his expression stony. “You wanted to join my Pack, and you helped me find Kess, so I welcomed you in.” He thrust an index finger toward Della, his face twisting with anger. “And this is how you repay that trust? You steal a woman away from the Pack and claim her against her will?”
“It wasn’t. He didn’t.” Della’s voice broke. “I’mfine.”
Hunter scoffed and threw a glance over his shoulder. “You don’t look fine. You’re dirty, exhausted, covered with blood, I can hear your belly rumbling from over here, and every Alpha in here can smell him all over you.”
Pink shot into her cheeks, and she opened her mouth, yet no response jumped out.
Cal wet his lips, tasting his blood. “No disrespect to you, Alpha, but if all that’s true, why would I bring her back? Why not take her, claim her, and keep on moving, get far the fuck away from here?”
“To insult our Pack,” Colt spat. “You were pissed about what happened with Silas and the patrol, so you snuck off in the night like a fucking dog, taking her along for spite, and now you’ve come back to rub it in our faces. That’s all this is.”
Cal’s lips twisted in a cruel, mocking grin. “When I want to insult you,pup, I’ll do it to your face.”
Expression contorted with rage, Colt pulled back a fist for another punch, only to be stopped by Hunter sliding between them and laying his hand on the younger Alpha’s chest. “That won’t help.”
In the brief reprieve, Cal circled his gaze around the gathered Alphas, making careful eye contact with a few familiar faces as he made his argument. “What’s between Della and me is between us, and she’ll tell you the same if you’d listen to her. We came back here, youstupid fucks, to warn you.” He glared at Colt and Hunter in turn, willing his reason and good sense to prevail. “I didn’t want to, but it’s important to her, and that makes it important to me. So you can spend all night yelling or sucker punching me when I can’t fight back,” he sneered at Colt, “but you’re wasting time and leaving your people vulnerable.”
