Chapter 40 — Bree

“What are you doing here?”

Rainn is looking straight at me, or glaring, as if we’re alone in the large kitchen. His eyes are narrowed, his face hard.

“Oh! Looks like someone is going to turn into a big, bad wolf again,” Emily-Rose says.

Rainn flicks his gaze toward her, his eyes leaving my face for the first time since he entered the kitchen. Emily-Rose does her best to act as if none of the events of the past few hours have fazed her. She meets Rainn’s icy stare head-on, and Derek tries to hide a chuckle.

“I’m not the bad wolf here,” Rain growls. His gaze sweeps past Derek, and he focuses on me again. “What are you doing here?”

“Son…” Professor Denton starts.

“I wanted to thank you for saving my life,” I say quickly. It’s not the entire truth, but it is true.

Rainn snorts dismissively. “It was instinct, Bree.”

I swallow. “Thanks all the same.”

“That doesn’t answer my question, though. What are you doing here? Who is he?” He points at Derek. “Who was the other wolf in the clearing? What’s your connection with Gage?”

“Rainn…”

This time it’s the professor who interrupts. “Son, until a few hours ago, Bree and her packmate Derek here thought their pack was the last surviving wolf-shifter pack in America. That’s what their alpha, the wolf you had the pleasure of fighting earlier, led them to believe.”

Rainn snorts. “That’s the most far-fetched pile of bull I’ve ever heard.”

“Rainn.” For the first time, Professor Denton sounds stern. Rainn draws himself up. “I don’t trust her. Whatever she has told you, it’s probably a lie.” He glares at me again. “What’s your pack doing hiding deep in the unclaimed lands, Bree? What are you hiding? How many wolves have entered your lands and never come back?”

I don’t understand what he’s getting at. I start to form a reply, but Caleb, who’s been standing quietly behind Rainn, speaks up for the first time.

“You haven’t said how you’re connected to Gage.”

I take a breath. “I didn’t know who he was until Professor Denton told me. He came to the bookstore and threatened me…told me I could never go back home to Falling River. He knew who I was.”

“And you couldn’t tell he was a wolf?” Rainn’s face is incredulous.

“The same way I couldn’t tell that you were one,” I retort, tired of his churlishness. “I hadn’t shifted in years. My senses were fading. And even when I suspected, I reminded myself of what I thought was true, that my pack was the last of the wolf-shifters.”

“I’ve heard Hugo talking about someone called Gage,” Derek says suddenly.

Rainn gives him a murderous glance, then throws up his hands, as if he’d rather discount anything we say.

“Go on,” Professor Denton says.

“After Bree left, Hugo treated me as an outcast…for keeping her plans from him.” Derek flinches almost imperceptibly, and I realize Hugo's treatment probably involved a few beatings. “After about a month, he’d broken me enough that I really wanted to get back in his good graces. He made me do odd jobs for him, run errands and stuff. Being around him that much, I’ve overheard him griping about someone called Gage. It sounds like Gage makes demands, and Hugo has to comply.”

“Demands like what?” Caleb asks.

“I don’t know.”

“So, useless information,” Rainn says.

Derek half rises from his stool. “Look, I don’t know what your problem is—”

Rainn growls, his full attention, suddenly on Derek, feels like the full menace of a beast about to spring. There’s no question in that moment that he’s an alpha. Derek swallows hard and lowers himself back onto his stool.

“For God’s sake, Rainn,” Emily Rose says.

He seems to realize that he might have scared her, and he relaxes his body. “Sorry,” he mutters.

“Don’t apologize to just me. You’re being a dick to everybody.”

With a grunt, Rainn steps back and leans on a counter, crossing his arms over his chest. I want to sort out all the misunderstandings between us, but he seems determined to hold on to his grievances.

I truly didn’t know, Rainn. The words are only a thought in my mind, but as if he can hear them, he looks at me, his eyes softening for a fraction of a second before he turns away again.

With a sigh, I face Professor Denton. “I can’t think what business Hugo would have with the alpha of another pack. He keeps us isolated because he wants to control us. I don’t see how another pack factors into it.”

“Well,” Professor Denton says gravely, “If Gage is trying to expand Sierra territory and already has an unknown alpha working with him, then we should be worried.”

“We’re already plenty worried,” Caleb says with a laugh.

“The Sierras are a powerful pack and maybe Gage just wants to be bigger,” Professor Denton says. “But there’s something about Gage many other packs have forgotten or chosen to forget.”

We all look at him, expectant.

“What?” Rainn asks.

“He hates humans. If he’s building a powerful army of shifters, then it’s not just the shifters we should be worried about, Rainn, but every human.”