AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“What the fuck are you doing?” I demand as I slam the door behind me.
Hank whips around, blood dripping from the knuckles of his still-clenched fist. His eyes widen as he takes in the angry scowl on my face, his jaw going slack. “D said I could rough him up a bit,” he answers tentatively, his Adam’s apple bobbing with a hard swallow.
“You don’t take your orders from D, you take them fromme,” I growl, crossing the room and shouldering past Hank to peer down at the bloodied scout on the floor. He’s curled up in the fetal position, covering his face, but he lowers his hands to look up at me and my heart sinks when I recognize who the guy is.Luke.
“What’s the big deal?” Hank asks meekly, shrinking back a step.
I spin around to face him, narrowing my eyes. “Let’s make something very clear.Iam your alpha. From now on, you only carry out orders that come from me directly, got it?”
Hank nods quickly, wiping his bloody knuckles off on his t-shirt. “Yes, Alpha.”
“Good.” I turn back to poor Luke cowering on the motel room floor, gritting my teeth as I assess the damage. “Pull all of the enforcers into the meeting room for a debrief,” I murmur. “I’ll be there as soon as I’m done here.”
“Right away, Alpha,” Hank barks, hustling for the door. He may be incompetent as this pack’s beta, but he’s a decent soldier.
As soon he leaves, I step over to Luke, crouching down in front of him. He lifts his head to look up at me again and I cringe. His face is a mess. One of his eyes is swollen shut and blood is pouring from his nose, dribbling over his lips and down his chin.
“Is this the part where you kill me?” he asks defeatedly.
“No,” I sigh, reaching out to untie the rope binding his wrists. “I’m sorry about Hank. He’s a little… overzealous.”
I free Luke’s wrists and he immediately rubs at them, scooching on the floor to sit up with a frown. “Thought you weren’t a bad guy,” he mutters wryly, eyeing me with disdain.
“I’m not.”
“No?” he scoffs, shifting around to rest his back against the wall for support. “Good guys just lock people up for no reason, huh?”
“Luke, I need you to listen to me, okay?” I snap, cutting him off. “This is important.”
I’d love to take the time to explain everything and mend fences, but this isn’t the time nor the place. I’ll take him out for a beer when this is all over if I manage to pull it off, but a big part of that hinges onhimright now.
Luke flinches as I rise to stand, reaching into my back pocket and pulling out an envelope. “I need you to get this to Maddox,” I say, thrusting it toward him.
He eyes it warily, then lifts his chin to look up at me. “What is it?”
“The only thing that’ll stop all hell from breaking loose.”
With the envelope still in one hand, I extend the other toward him to help him to his feet, grunting as I haul him up to stand.
Luke leans against the wall behind him for support, and though he looks worse for the wear, it appears that his face took the brunt of Hank’s beating. He should still be able to run.
“Here,” I say, letting him go and reaching into my pocket for one of Chey’s biscuits. “Eat this. It’ll counteract the wolfsbane and help you heal.”
He takes it from me hesitantly, making a face as he shoves it in his mouth. It may not taste great, but it works, which is all that really matters.
I slap the envelope against his chest, leaning in to capture his gaze. “There’s a window in the bathroom,” I state, reaching back into my pocket. “Go out through it, and head east about a half mile. My friend left her car parked on the side of the highway,here are the keys.” I pull them out, pressing them firmly into his palm. “Get the letter to Maddox as soon as possible.”
“How do I know this isn’t some sort of trick?” Luke questions, squinting his good eye.
“You don’t,” I admit with a sigh. “But you saw who I was with behind the bar in Goldenleaf the other night, didn’t you?”
He nods weakly.
“Lo’s my girl. The one I was trying to impress with the damn pizza I had you get for me. I love her, man, and I’ll do whatever I have to in order to protect her and her pack.”
Luke’s eyes round in understanding- well,oneeye does. The other’s still fucked. I try not to wince at the sight of it as I go on.
“I’m trying to do right by her here, by all of you. So please, Luke, just get that letter to Madd. It’s life or death. Please, can you do that for me?”
