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“Come and meet my pack,” Dani said, holding a hand out to the young woman. After being introduced to Malachi and Jeremiah, Tesli handed a piece of paper to Dani.
“I wrote my information down for you. Liam and Dragos are talking about starting up a website for our people to communicate through, but in the meantime, I don’t want to lose touch with you. I like what I heard about pack life.”
Malachi’s brow arched, but he said nothing.
Tesli laughed. “I don’t mean joining the pack, I mean that I like the idea of being in one place and taking care of each other. Being on the road all the time is a hard way to live, and no way to raise a family.”
“I’d like to stay in touch,” Dani said.
“Good. I know we can’t replace the family you lost, but I think you can never have too many friends, especially if they know where to get reindeer moss wholesale.” Tesli’s brows wiggled and Dani laughed.
“Do I even want to know what that is?” Malachi asked.
“A reindeer delicacy,” Tesli answered with a wink.
* * *
Adam’s head pounded from the scent of accelerant. It was everywhere—puddled on the wooden floor of the barn and dripping from the rafters. Underneath that smell was the metallic tang of blood and the sickly sweet scent of death. He hadn’t wanted to leave Dani’s side, but he trusted Jeremiah to keep her safe, and he absolutely didn’t want her to suffer any further by being back in the barn where she’d been a prisoner.
Males wearing park uniforms were pulling bodies off each other and making a line in the center of the barn. It looked like a psychotic game of dominoes.
“This is my brother and the king of our herd, Dragos,” Liam said as he stopped twenty feet from the first body. A large male turned from where he was watching the males work with the dead and faced them.
He extended a hand to Adam. “I’m sorry your mate was taken, but I’m thankful we were able to free her when we found Tesli. Our sister was abducted a week ago. I’ve had many sleepless nights trying to find her, but I can’t imagine the hell you suffered with your mate being taken in front of you.”
Adam shook his hand. “Thank you for freeing Dani.”
Dragos snapped his fingers and the workers stepped back. “Take your time.”
Adam wasn’t sure what to expect, but staring into the lifeless eyes of a dozen males wasn’t among them. It hadn’t surprised him to see that the men who had captured Tesli were dead. Judging by the well-armed, muscular males who were pushing around bodies like they weighed nothing, Adam thought that the fact they were prey in their shifted form was clearly irrelevant. They were most likely deadly in their shifts, too. Which made him want to find out how to teach Dani to protect herself. Not that he planned to let her ever be harmed again.
Shaking himself from his thoughts, he concentrated on the dead. He didn’t recognize any of them, until he reached a very familiar face. Richard’s arms were folded over his torso, and his eyes were closed as if he was sleeping, but there was no doubt that he was dead. A crimson stain had spread out from a hole in his chest. Wolves healed quickly, but there were some injuries that were too severe, too deadly.
Relief and sorrow churned together inside him. He was thankful that Dani was safe. The people who had taken her were dead, his father among them. Adam had been planning to put his father down himself, to meet him in a death match and come through on the other side victorious. That had been taken from him, and in a way it closed the door on his past, while also leaving a gaping wound because he would never get to reconcile his feelings with his father.
“I hate what you did to me,” Adam said in a low voice. “I hate that gambling was more important to you than me, your only son. I was just a kid, for fuck’s sake, and you got in so deep someone tried to kill you with a firebomb that ruined my leg. Then you tried to take the most precious thing in the world from me. You died too fast. You deserved to suffer for a hundred years. It’s not much comfort to me that you’re not breathing anymore, but I’m walking away from you today, and I’m not going to let the shadow of your ugly behavior rule my life anymore.”
He lifted his head and howled. Triumph. Regret. Hope.
The sound echoed in the barn. Adam stared for a moment longer at his father and then he turned and walked away. He didn’t say anything to the males as he passed by them, their heads lowered in a gesture of respect. When he was out of the barn, he looked up at the morning sky and took a deep breath of the crisp winter air.
He moved to Dani, and she jumped into his arms, wrapping her legs and arms around him, dropping her head to his shoulder and weeping. He held her close and stood for several minutes in silence, thankful to have her back.
Acksel, who had been speaking to Dragos in the barn, joined them with Dragos and Liam. “We should get on the road. The herd has business to take care of,” he said.
“I need to find my grandparents’ car so I can get it back to them,” Adam told him.
“It needs to be cleaned to make sure there isn’t anything that will lead someone back to us,” Liam said. He opened his cell and said, “If you give me your grandparents’ address, we’ll deliver it to them in a few days.”
“I need to tell them about…him.”
“Of course. We’ll just leave it outside of their home with the keys in it.”
Adam had to use his phone to look up their address, which he rattled off to Liam. Then he said, “Thank you for freeing my mate and keeping her safe.”
“Tesli wants to keep in touch. Perhaps if we ever come by Wilde Creek we’ll be able to visit,” Liam said.
Dani lifted her head. “I’d like that.”
