Chapter 39: Rainn

“So let me get this straight.” Cherise is one of the few wolves in my pack who is older than I am. She has a direct, no-nonsense attitude, and when we’re not running or training, she likes to keep to herself. “The Sierra Pack wants us to become part of their pack, making Leonidas Gage our alpha.”

“Yes.”

“They’ve been spying on you. They may or may not have had control of a mooncursed wolf ten years ago. Your new girlfriend turned out to be a suppressed wolf, who may or may not be spying on you for Gage. And something or someone in the unclaimed lands killed our parents.”

“That’s about it,” I say woodenly. I’m still in shock, still seeing Bree in my mind’s eyes as she shifts into a silver wolf, a beautiful, silver wolf.

I should have stayed to find out more. I should have asked her who the other wolves were. But I just felt too…betrayed.

I feel like a fool now, thinking about all the times I told her we were connected. I thought we were connected, that there was something between us, deeper than words or touch or temporary feelings. Even when I suspected she was spying for Gage, I still felt that there was something important between us.

How could that be, when I couldn’t even sense something as important as the fact that she is a wolf?

“There’s something else,” I say over the murmurs flowing from among the pack. I open my mind to them, showing them the memory of Bree telling me she came to Clear Ridge from a small town called Falling River.

Then I show them the map of the hundreds of miles of forests that make up the unclaimed lands, and right in the middle, far away from any other small towns and cities…there it is. Falling River.

Silence stretches. They’re waiting for me to say something, to tell them that Bree or her pack had something to do with what happened to our families. I take a deep breath. “My mother was curious about isolated packs, and I suspect she discovered something about the mooncursed that took her to the unclaimed forest.” I pause. “I believe she suspected enough danger that she took every shifted wolf in the pack along with her, but not enough danger to ask other packs for support. I believe they encountered the wolves in Falling River, and that’s where they were killed.”

“You think Bree’s pack…” Caleb shakes his head. “I still feel like Gage is the one we need to be looking at.”

“Or we could take…Bree somewhere quiet and get her to tell us what she knows,” Cherise offers. “If she’s working for Gage, she’s bound to know something.”

I bristle at the suggestion. The thought of what Cherise has in mind…intimidation, a mini abduction…the thought of that happening to Bree makes me want to roar with rage. I won’t let anyone hurt her.

Even now.

“If anyone is going to talk to Bree,” I say in a hard voice, “It’ll be me.”

“We could just go to the unclaimed lands,” Eli suggests. “Find this isolated pack and demand answers.”

There are murmurs of agreement with this plan.

“Somebody’s got a death wish,” Rebecca mutters. Eli glares at her.

I look around, lingering on each face. “We could do that. It would likely mean fighting a pack we know nothing about.” I pause. “I know finding out what happened to our parents, our uncles and aunts, brothers and sisters is important, but I had a conversation with someone earlier.” I look at Caleb. “It’s okay to want other things, to plan for a future beyond avenging what happened. If you feel you’re not really into this whole quest for vengeance thing…if you’d rather not fight, then you don’t have to.”

“I want justice,” Flynn says. He’s just turned fifteen. “I’ll fight for it if I have to, and I’m not afraid to die for it.”

There’s a loud cheer for him. I wait for it to subside before speaking again.

“Is this how you all feel?”

There is a chorus of agreements.

“As your alpha, I want you all to keep in mind that there will be a life after. Expand your interests in other things beyond this fight.”

“We all do.” Rebecca quips. “You’re the single-minded one.”

Someone laughs. “That’s why we follow you, though.”

“So, what next?” Caleb says after the amusement dies down.

“We’re not ready to go to Falling River yet. I need to talk to my dad and tell him he was right about Bree.” I pause on her name. “And I need to talk to Bree. She’s the only person who can tell us anything about the unclaimed lands.”

“Will she though?”

I think of Bree shifting right in front of me. My shock, followed by the overwhelming urge to protect her from the other wolf. And the way she looked at me after, as if she hadn’t just turned my world upside down.

“I won’t give her a choice.”

***

After the meeting, Caleb follows me back home. At the edge of the forest, we shift back.

“Are you sure you want to talk to Bree?” Caleb asks me. He sounds concerned.

“You mean am I in the right frame of mind to confront her without losing it?”

He shrugs but doesn’t reply. There are clothes in a locker outside the pool house, and we help ourselves to plain t-shirts and track pants. “You’re mad at her,” he says, after we’re dressed. “I don’t want you to do or say something you’ll regret.”

“I am mad at myself,” I reply. “I feel like I was so blind about her. I ignored all the gaps in her background and made up a story in my head about why she didn’t talk about her past.”

Caleb shrugs. “That’s normal when you really like someone.”

Love. I love her.

It doesn’t matter how I feel. For my pack, I should have been more careful.

I keep the words to myself as we turn toward the house. The breeze picks up and blows across where we’re standing in a sharp gust.

Caleb and I freeze at the same time.

There are wolves in the house.

“Is your dad home?”

“Yes.” I’m already racing for the house. I don’t tell Caleb that I know the scents. Bree and one of the wolves from the clearing, the sullen young male.

Heart racing, I rush into the house.

Bree won’t hurt my dad, I tell myself. And there’s a part of me that believes it.

You don’t know anything about her.

I tear through the back door and enter the kitchen. It’s brightly lit. My dad is standing by the kitchen island, while Bree, Emily-Rose, and the sullen boy perch on stools around the island, listening to him talk.

They all turn around to face me.

Four pairs of eyes, and I see only one.

Bree.

She meets my gaze, then smiles hesitantly. “Hey, Rainn.”