DAYNE
"You don't have to come if you don't want," Dayne suggested, a touch hopefully.
Savannah, sitting on a bench at the back of their rental, raised her chin from her knees and turned to Dayne. "I'm coming."
He scrubbed a hand over his head.
So much for hope.
While he'd been relieved Savannah had emerged from her shell enough to want to come with them and rescue Talis, what he was hearing about the Merrick pack made him wish he'd come to Dawley alone.
"I'd rather you didn't, Sav." Dayne sighed.
She glared at him. "Because you think I'm a weak link?"
Dayne glared back. "You know I don't. But this whole situation… this pack is a lot more fucked up than I ever could've imagined. If I thought you'd all leave, I'd send you all back."
It was her turn to sigh. "Yeah, I heard. We all heard. How is that even possible? Surely other alphas must…" Her voice trailed off when he shook his head. "What?"
"No alpha involves himself in another pack's business. And we alphas aren't exactly known for handling criticism well, least of all an accusation we're making a fuck-up of leading our pack."
"So, nothing gets done? And this sort of thing just carries on?"
Dayne paused at the bitterness in her voice.
He considered if she was aware of the parallels between the Merrick pack and their own. "Unless someone stops it, yes," he finally admitted.
"Someone like you?" She raised her eyebrow, and something in her expression told Ethan she had noted the similarities.
Not too long ago, they had their own experience of dealing with an out-of-control alpha and no one had done anything about it.
If Dayne had known things would go the way they had, he'd have done something about Owen long before the shifter had wiped out his family.
"Someone like me," he murmured.
They sat in silence for several minutes as the night set in. It was nearly midnight, and Dayne prepared himself for the looming confrontation.
It would be bloody, and the last thing he wanted to do was take Savannah, who'd seen more than her fair share of blood.
"I'll be okay," Savannah said quietly as if she'd sensed the direction of his thoughts.
"I want to believe that."
Dayne really did. Yet all he could think about was what would have happened if Abel had gotten his hands on her back in Hardin, or somehow stolen her away, and Glynn Merrick had taken a liking to her.
"You have to let me stand on my own two feet sooner rather than later," she told him, sounding firmer than he'd heard her sound before.
"I do. But this is different. This is… This pack is-"
"A disease that needs to be treated," Luka interrupted as he shoved the back door open and stepped out.
"An infection that needs cutting out," Dean added, close behind him.
"No. They need to be incinerated to a crisp," Regan suggested, with such narrow-eyed focus Dayne knew exactly who'd be lighting the fire.
"You are a bloodthirsty lot," Dayne said as the rest of his pack spread out around him.
There was a touch of fear sprinkled here and there, but there was also grim determination. Also a resolve to get Talis back and make the Merrick pack pay for what they'd done.
"I blame Marshall's computer games," Hallee said, wrinkling her nose. "Some of the things I've seen…" She shuddered, and Nathan nudged her arm.
"Quit being so dramatic. As if you weren't lining up for your turn just like the rest of us."
"I do not. You must be thinking of Regan." Hallee tilted her head, all the better to peer down her nose at Nathan, who took one look at her face and snorted.
"Yeah, sorry, Hales, but you're talking out of your ass. What was your score in Gears of War again?" Regan stepped up beside the petite brunette, who would never be tall enough to peer down her nose at anyone, least of all six foot two Nathan, and wrapped her arm around her waist.
Hallee's attempt at looking prim and proper lasted two seconds. "Traitor," she muttered, resting her head against Regan's.
For several minutes, Dayne absorbed the feeling of having his pack around him, as they dissolved into a petty argument about whether Hallee's high score had come about through extensive and sustained cheating.
The consensus seemed to be yes.
They were his, and Dayne would die to protect them, just as he knew they would do the same for him.
Now, he was asking them to do the same for Talis.
"What did you do with the body?" He turned to Luka when he felt him move to stand beside him as the pack continued to squabble.
"It's in the trunk. I figure a couple of us can go by car and leave it on Merrick land. Unless you want to buy the house? In which case, I guess we can always just leave it in the basement?" A sly smile touched his beta's lips, and Dayne reached out and punched him in the arm. Hard.
Luka rocked back hard enough Dayne grabbed his arm to stop him from taking a dive off the porch. "I'm not buying this house just so I'll have somewhere to store a dead body."
Luka rubbed his arm. "You sure? I think I have Brad-or was it, Bob-on speed-dial, if you give me a sec, let me just-"
Dayne was grinning before he could stop himself. Then, reluctantly, he shook his head and turned to the pack. "Guys. Time to go."
And just like that, the pack fell silent as they turned their attention to him, waiting for his orders.
"We're going to pair up, and I want you sticking like glue to your partner." Dayne met each one of their eyes. "I don't want anyone getting lost there or left behind. Luka and Nathan, you go together and find someplace to dump that body. The rest of us will change here and go as wolves."
They nodded, already splitting into pairs.
Dayne nodded and turned to his beta. "And Luka?"
"Yes?"
"Don't park too far from the house. I have a feeling we're going to need the car to get Talis out."
He saw at once Luka, and some of the others understood what he was saying, or what he was hinting at
Glynn could have hurt Talis so badly that going on foot-both two feet or four-might not be an option.
Back in Hardin, Dayne had shared some of Talis' troubles with shifting, and they'd all been there when she'd attempted to attack Savannah.
They knew she might well try to attack them, so Dayne had made it clear in any rescue, he would be the one approaching her.
He never let himself think about the possibility she might already be dead.
He couldn't.
After one last stare into each of his pack member's eyes, he nodded. "This is about bringing Talis home. That is the priority. Revenge comes after. Tomorrow or the day after, if need be. If one of the Merrick pack engages you in a fight, by all means, fight, but don't let it become more than Talis' life. We get her out tonight, we can fight another day. Do you understand?"
They nodded in agreement.
Luka raised his eyebrow as if silently questioning if Dayne was going to be able to follow his own order.
Dayne shrugged. He'd do what he could. But if someone volunteered to get under his teeth and claws, he certainly wouldn't stop them.
"Let's go." He reached for his shirt and yanked it off, then his pants. "Let's bring Talis home."
The run through Dawley National Forest and into Merrick land went without a hitch.
Although Luka had pushed for them to take advantage of some maps of the forest he'd found in the den, Dayne had shaken his head.
He was close enough to Talis that his wolf would know how to get to her better than any map would.
They'd leave the maps for the tourists who didn't have the benefit of shifter nose to guide their way.
It was a silent run, focused, and at a speed designed to reach Talis in the shortest time, but not so fast that they'd be too tired to fight.
Not that Dayne was expecting an extended fight, but still. It didn't hurt to be prepared.
But they'd have the element of surprise, Dayne thought, as he led the pack deeper into Merrick land.
Before Luka and Nathan had left, Dayne had told them to meet west of the Merrick main house.
He'd been explicit that they weren't to do anything until the rest of the pack got there.
Dayne would be the one breaking down the door if that's what it called for. He wanted Glynn Merrick to see his face and know he was facing down his death.
Finally, when they'd united a few miles downwind from the Merrick house, they spread through the forest in pairs on silent feet.
He was glad to see that Savannah had paired with Gavin, who may have been unassuming in his human shape, but as a wolf, he was fierce and nearly unbeatable in a fight.
They'd been making excellent progress through the forest as they approached the house, hearing little, counting themselves lucky the night was a miserable, cold one and the Merrick pack hadn't been out running. And that's when Dayne heard it and froze.
Wolves were howling-and not their natural kind. Shifters.
It was the howl of a wolf wanting to frighten the prey they were hunting, and they were heading away from the Merrick house and toward the Dawley National Forest.
Dayne stopped, and through the trees, met Luka's eyes.
It looked like they were lucky to have come when they did. With the Merrick pack hunting, it would mean there would be few if anyone in the house.
All they'd have to do is grab Talis and get her back to the rental.
As he was leading the pack toward the house, he stopped at a familiar scent in the air, and snarled low.
Around him, he felt the rest of the pack pause and turn toward him. And then he heard their snarls when they caught sight of what he had.
Talis.
Her tracks were heading away from the house, but that wasn't what had stopped him and the others. No, it was the tracks following her fear-tainted scent that did.
Because this was no ordinary Merrick pack run.
It was just as Keith had said.
Dayne and the rest of the pack had arrived to find the Merrick pack hunting prey. And that prey was his pregnant, terrified mate. And she was human.
Without another glance at Luka, Dayne took off through the forest, hot on Talis' heels and of the wolves hunting her.