AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I need to start locking that damn door,” Everett grumbles. “Can’t I have a moment of peace?”
“No,” Zeke, Arsenio, and I answer at the same time, and I can’t help the conspiratorial grin that spreads across my lips as Zeke and Arsenio try their best to swallow their laughter. I almost expect Zayn to open the door next to join us, and I make a mental note to check in with him about his training session.
Everett mutters a curse under his breath and takes a step away, putting some distance between us now that the others are here. The grin falls from my face as cold sweeps in, my body nearly shivering at the absence of his strong chest pressed against my back.
“What the hell do you two want?” Everett grumbles, his thick boots stomping back behind his desk.
“Nice to see you too, bro,” Zeke huffs out in amusement, smiling at me before he focuses back on his friend. Despite the bereft feeling crashing through me at Everett’s distance, I can’t help but give him an answering smile of appreciation. I’m sure a bit of that loss crept through our bond.
His eyes shine brighter than before, some of that sadness and pain from the last week finally fleeing, letting his light shine back through the darkness.
“Seriously,” Arsenio groans as he walks towards me. He wraps a comforting arm around my shoulders and turns me to face Everett with him before tucking me into his side. “It’s never ‘how are you doing?’ but more like ‘why are you disturbing me?’ Where’s the love, man?”
A flicker of annoyance sparks at the protective, comforting gesture, and I nearly push him away just to prove I can stand on my own, but I stop myself short. Just because I can, doesn’t mean I always should, not when I have supportive mates, ready and willing to help me shoulder any burden I might face—even if said burden is their alpha and best friend.
A low rumble vibrates from Everett’s chest, his wolf clearly just beneath the surface.
“Fine,” Zeke groans. “We’re here to discuss the plans for tonight.”
“Out with it,” Everett growls, some of his anger dissipating at the reminder of what’s happening tonight. We’d considered waiting, but decided not to in the end, since we have no idea how often they change the codes. We can’t afford to take the chance that they’ll be the same in a few days’ time.
“We found another way to get onto Langley’s land,” Zeke explains. “It’s the perfect place to send Zeke, Silas and Seline with the backup team. A farmer owns the land on the other side of the forest and the farmland just so happens to be owned by the Draven pack.”
“What?” I ask, my brows furrowing as I look between the three of them.
“It looks like it was purchased about a year ago,” Arsenio says, his hand clasping my shoulder tightly. “It was put in your name too.”
I chew on my bottom lip as I let that sink in. What was my father planning? He bought land in my name that happens to be right beside the very bears that were stealing and killing our wolves and couldn’t even tell me about it? It’s no surprise he had legal documents in my name—caring about the law wasn’t really my father’s style—but the why is what’s bothering me.
Was it because it wouldn’t have to be disclosed during the reading of his will? Did he know back then that someone close to him might’ve been trying to kill him?
“I’m assuming you didn’t know about it?” Arsenio says, rubbing his thick palm over my biceps.
“No.” I shake my head, my thoughts still a million miles away. There are too many questions buzzing around now, too many loose ends with no way to tie them up, not now that my father is dead.
“Maybe we can see if Silas knows anything or if he knows where your father would’ve kept any plans or paperwork for it?” Zeke asks, and I nod, swallowing back the bile at yet another of my father’s secrets being uncovered. “We’ll go out there early to make sure it’s a viable way. If it’s been sitting vacant for who knows how long, I doubt the bears will have any security measures around it, but who knows.”
“We have enough explosives that we’ll be able to both implode the storage, and the distraction team can set up charges around the compound to draw the guards away,” Arsenio says, thankfully changing the subject.
“I have half a mind to unleash our full arsenal on them, to take them out at the knees while their defenses are down,” Everett growls, his jaw ticking as he looks between us.
I can’t lie, the thought had crossed my mind too, but I quickly dismissed it. “There are shifters in there who don’t deserve to pay for Aldric’s sins,” I remind him, frowning. “Innocent shifters and potentially children who I won’t allow to be collateral. Besides, we don’t know if we have another leak, and we can’t chance it, not when we have an opportunity to cripple their operation. The more people we tell about tonight, the higher the likelihood that Aldric will catch wind, and we’d need both your pack and mine to bring them down.”
And that would mean telling Monte—something I’m not willing to do, not until we can definitively prove if he was behind my father’s murder or not.
“You’re right,” Everett sighs, some of the tension easing from his rigid posture.
“Let’s get ready,” I declare, giving them a tense nod before I reluctantly pull out of Arsenio’s grip and stride for the door.
We have the chance to change the fate of this struggle tonight, and that’s something I refuse to squander, not after the death and destruction Aldric has caused.
Chapter Fifteen
Skylar
Nothing.Ofcourse,therewas nothing there about the farm. Why would my father actually leave paperwork for me to find? That would be way too easy. Instead, he left me to pick up the pieces and guess his plans.
I pat my pocket, feeling for the raised lines of the wolf carving as I stride down the long hallway and past Everett’s office, reminding myself the trip hadn’t been entirely in vain.
