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Gabby fought to keep her breathing steady, her eyes clenched shut, as she prayed.

_Deliver me from mine enemies, O my God: defend me from them that rise up against me. _

She knew from the moment they walked into the clinic that they were who the Pack warned her about. The cane David brought up stood out the most, because of how much he had focused on it when describing the rival pack’s leader. It was ornate, made of lacquered pine with an ivory handle carved into the shape of a wolf’s head. The butt of it capped with tarnished silver.

Wilhelm had entered the clinic with three others. A younger woman, who looked uncomfortable. As if she didn’t want to be there. And two men. One looked related to Wilhelm. The other was heavily scarred. He them two stand on either side of Gabby.

_Deliver me from the workers of iniquity, and save me from bloody men. _

Wilhelm leaned in close to Gabby, and breathed in deeply. Smelling her.

“The Bite Tell,” he sneered. He turned to the woman who had gone to stand near the emergency exit and flinched when Wilhelm's attention turned to her. “See? I told you that these heretics were abusing their Wolf-Bloods. We’ll liberate them from them. Bring them into the fold. To safety.”

For, lo, they lie in wait for my soul: the mighty are gathered against me; not for my transgression, nor for my sin, O Lord.

Gabby didn’t know where she found the strength. The will to say what she did. Perhaps her prayer was answered, and the Lord Above gave her the strength to stand up against, and defy, the monsters before her.

“All I have to do is scream.”

Wilhelm snapped his attention back to Gabby. His sneer aimed at her specifically, angered that he was talked back to.

She continued, eyes still closed in prayer, “Then everyone in earshot will come running. This is a very rural, and very conservative town. They’d be bringing guns.”

“You honestly think regular, mundane guns would work against us?” sneered Wilhelm.

“No,” admitted Gabby. “But I’ll be willing to bet that you have your own version of that Moon Oath. A part where you have to keep yourselves secret. So you can’t expose yourself to the entire town. They’d slow you down long enough for the others to come, and they’d have silver.”

She opened her eyes and looked Wilhelm directly in the eyes. “Not all of you would die, sure. But at least one, maybe two, will. So you may as well just pick them now and kill them yourself.”

Wilhelm grabbed his cane, as if he was going to strike Gabby.

The sound of the clinic’s front door slamming open stopped him.

It was the Pack, quickly walking into the clinic. They recognised the ones that Wilhelm entered with. Josiah, Wilhelm’s only surviving son. The other two, after Morrison had told them their names, Jenny Talbot, who David recognised as the one he beat to Kaiden when the Pack rescued him from Caliente’s mental health clinic, and Kyle Hill, the one that Morrison had almost killed when they rescued Kaiden.

“Father Albert sent us,” Morrison told Gabby.

Gabby let out a gasp of relief, and looked upwards to the sky and said, “Oh, thank God.”

“You filthy traitors!” hissed Wilhelm, as he started to pace to and fro the clinic’s foyer, “We had been such considerate neighbours and haven’t made any provocations. But alas, it is the way of your corrupt bitch-queen to lead you astray. If you confess your sins, perhaps we can move forward, however.”

“What?” asked David, confused.

“What are you talking about?” asked Kaiden, equally confused, “Who’s this bitch queen?”

“Luna” Morrison told them before telling Wilhelm, “I don’t know what the flaming fuck you’re talking about.”

Wilhelm went red in the face at the pack’s confusion and Morrison’s remark, “Liars! The Wound you blighted my territory with, of course!”

That shocked the pack, who muttered to each in increased confusion.

Wilhelm cut them off by slamming the butt of his cane on the floor, “Don’t play coy and don’t lie, I KNOW you opened it!”

“We didn’t cause your Wound,” said David. He pointed northwards towards Ely, “We had a Wound opened in our territory too.”

“So you admit it!” sneered Wilhelm.

“What?” asked David.

“Your very presence causes Wounds,” snapped Wilhelm.

“We didn’t make them,” said David. “We’re trying to find who did.”

He stormed around the room ignoring what David said, ranting, “Bale Hounds are just agents of Luna.”

He pointed his cane at David, “You’ve been collaborating with that other heretic in Alamo, and a Wound opened in their territory.”

“That wasn’t us OR a Bale Hound,” snapped David. “It was a coyote spirit that did that, and we caught it and trapped it in a clock to be tortured for centuries for that.”

“A spirit?” asked Wilhelm, caught off guard by David’s response.

He quickly composed himself and scoffed, “Of course you’d upset the balance. It’s what you moon slaves do. Destroy everything you touch.”

He grabbed a chair and threw it against a wall. An action that made Jenny flinch back and hug her arms.

Gabby noticed her reaction.

Wilhelm jabbed his cane towards the Pack, “Repair the Wound you created and pay restitution, otherwise we’ll have to extract it from your Wolf-Bloods.”

He pointed his can towards Gabby, “This one can stay. The rest of my pack have already secured the rest of your Wolf-Bloods.”

Tsu’mara, Lucas, and David breathed in harshly from the news. But Tsu’mara took it the hardest, her hands clenched into tight, trembling fists.

“Your wolf-blooded pets will be safe in my care until you restore my territory’s sanctity and pay for your destruction,” said Wilhelm, setting his cane back down and leaning on it. “If you do this and pay amends, then I promise you will have your kin back.”

He motioned for his three pack members to get up as he made his way to the clinic’s emergency exit. Kyle and Josaih got up as commanded, but Jenny seemed reluctant, refusing to look Wilhelm in the eye.

Wilhelm roughly grabbed her and shoved her through the exit door.

It wasn’t until the door slammed shut behind the Talbot’s and the screeching of tires were heard that Gabby let out a sob.

Jesse ran up to her to comfort her.

“They didn’t hurt you, did they?” asked Jesse, hugging her.

Gabby shook her head, unable to speak.

“Come on. Let’s get you home,” said Jesse, helping Gabby up from the chair. “Tsu’mara, come hel-”

“Tsu’mara?”

The pack felt an uncomfortable itch crawl up their spine as they realised something horrible was about to happen.

“They have them,” growled Tsu’mara. Her hands trembled, and her nails shifted to claws. “They have them.”

Jesse slowly brought Gabby behind him and held a hand out to Tsu’mara, “Tsu’mara. Breathe.”

Tsu’mara’s nostrils flared as her breathing became more harsh. With each breath her nose changed as she shifted to Dalu, falling to Wasu-Im, The Soft Rage. The final gasp of control an Uratha has before the beast inside totally consumes them.

Jesse slowly inched Gabby towards the emergency exit, keeping her behind him, as he tried to talk the Rahu down.

“Tsu’mara, it’s okay,” he said, reaching behind to try and open the emergency exit. The rest of the pack stalked behind Tsu’mara, getting ready to jump on, and restrain, their packmate. “We’ll get them back.”

“I’LL GET THEM MYSELF!” roared Tsu’mara in the First Tongue.

Gabby screamed in terror as Tsu’mara fell to Kuruth and shifted to Gauru, traumatic memories of the asylum flooding her mind.

Tsu’mara slammed Lucas aside as he tried to jump on her, and crashed through the clinic’s door.

“After her!” yelled Morrison, chasing after her outside where she was already thundering down Main Street in broad daylight forcing screams of Lunacy out of all who saw her.

The rest of the pack took off after their elder.

When David saw them running for the truck he yelled, “No! Patrol car!”

He jumped into the driver’s seat and barely waited for the rest to get in before he turned on the sirens and floored the accelerator.

“Why the patrol car?” asked Kaiden as he closed the rear passenger door before anyone could fall out. He put his seatbelt on, the only one who did.

David answered, “Mountain lions are shoot on sight in Nevada. We can say that Tsu’mara was one we were chasing out of town. The Lunacy will make them fill in the blanks and believe it.”

“Good thinking,” said Morrison before he called in David’s lie to Dispatch.

Lucas, Jesse, and Kaiden were all suddenly crushed against each other as David took a sudden handbrake turn.

“Where the fuck did you learn to drive?!” Lucas yelled from in between his packmates.

“Defensive driving course with Metro,” answered David as he swerved the SUV around a car going the opposite direction.

As they started to slowly gain on Tsu’mara, who was bounding after a speeding sedan, a streak of haze rippled in the air over them and towards the packmate they were chasing.

“Oh good,” said Kaiden. “Fireball’s coming to help.”

“Shit!” said David and Lucas alongside Kaiden, “Fireball’s coming to help.”

The two Ithaeur knew that, while their pack totem spirit knew well, its idea of helping could very well cause more damage than necessary. The spirit could even end up unintentionally harming whoever was in the car with the Pure.

David’s hands tensed on the wheel as it finally hit him. They have Colin.

He snarled, they have his mate.

The steering wheel creaked in protest as David gripped it. The seams of his clothes groaned as they stretched from his falling into Wasu-im and subsequent shifting to Dalu. The Beast inside him raged. It thrashed at the silver chains that kept it bound, demanding it be let free for having its mate stolen from it.

But he couldn’t let it out, no matter how much it roared for it. He was driving, his packmates were in the car. If he let himself fall into Kuruth the car would lose control and hurt them.

He groaned in pain as he beat the rage down, his heat twisting in his chest as he shifted down to Hishu. The steering wheel cracked under the exertion and his panic over possibly losing Colin.

Lucas was struggling with his own Wasu-im over his mother being kidnapped, gripping the chair in front of him. His claws punctured the chair’s material.

He dealt with his rage better though, having an easier time shifting back down to Hishu.

Far ahead, Tsu'mara caught up to the car she was pursuing. She dug her claws into the front passenger door and tore it from the car to try and slash at the woman inside.

The woman shifted to Dalu and tried to kick Tsu’mara away while the man driving swerved to get away from the raging Rahu.

As it swerved off, Tsu’mara slashed the rear tire making it veer to the side of the road as the tire exploded. The driver wrenching the wheel as he struggled to keep the car on the road.

The air rippled as Fireball, who appeared out of the Twilight, caught up to the car. The flaming meteor blew up the road in front of the car.

The car careened to the side to avoid the sudden giant pothole that erupted from the ground, but the shredded back tire made the driver lose control and slide off the road and into dirt.

The driver kicked the driver's side door as he shifted to Gauru. He charged out of the car and met Tsu’mara in a collision of claw and fang.

The passenger joined her packmate in shifting to Gauru and leapt out of the car onto Tsu’mara.

Tsu’mara was a formidable and powerful Uratha, but Kuruth was known as the Death Rage for a reason. When an Uratha fell to it, something was going to die, likely the Uratha themself. It was considered a horrible state to die in, to die as nothing more than a slavering beast instead of a proud warrior of Mother Luna and Father Wolf.

For Tsu’mara to be in that state, and set upon by two enemy Uratha deadset on killing her, it was likely to be the case for her as it had been for too many Uratha in the past.

If it wasn’t for her pack that arrived just in time.

Lucas leaped out from the suv, making David slam the brakes, and shifted instantly to Gauru. He dashed across the road and tore the female Uratha off his packmate, slamming her into their crashed car.

Morrison jumped out himself and pulled out a small double barrel shotgun from his vest and unloaded the first barrel in the female Uratha Lucas was fighting.

Finally having the playing field leveled, Tsu’mara gave the male Uratha a devastating slash across his snout.

Fireball careened around in the air, constantly moving and not staying in the one place. It launched a flaming ball of essence at the Uratha Tsu’mara was attacking, blowing up the road and sending him flying back.

Jesse jumped out of the car and shifted to Dalu and leapt onto the downed Uratha. He remembered him, it was the sniper that fired at Tsu’mara back when they rescued Kaiden. Ed Hawthorn Morrison said their name was.

David watched it all unfold from the driver’s seat, hyperventilating. They had a deal with Wilhelm, they were forced into it with the threat of their wolf-blood’s safety, but a deal. If they ended up killing the two Pure, the wolf-bloods could end up getting hurt.

Colin could end up getting hurt.

Kaiden was struggling to get his seatbelt off, which had jammed, when he stopped. His head snapped up and he said, “Don’t you dare.”

David ignored his packmate’s warning and floored the accelerator again. The tires spun on the asphalt briefly before gripping it and launching the SUV forward, straight into Tsu’mara.

The front end was completely crumpled around the Rahu, who barely registered the collision.

“Get out of here!” David yelled to Ed.

Ed ignored David and tried to swipe at Jesse, who deftly ducked out of the way.

Outnumbered, by Lucas and Morrison, the female Uratha started to drool a thick, greasy slime. She opened her mouth and a foul miasma of pestilent mist, fat, and buzzing flies billowed out. It struck Morrison and Lucas, who retched at the horrid smell.

Kaiden finally managed to pull the seatbelt off by snapping the buckle of the chair. He climbed out of the car and let out a loud howl that inspired his packmates to tear into their enemy.

Holding his breath, Lucas charged around and tackled the Uratha emitting the foul cloud and slammed them back into the car. He kicked the back of her knee to make her stumble and leave her open for his Elder.

Morrison took the opening and fired the last barrel of the shotgun on the female Uratha.

Fireball followed up with an explosive blast of essence on them, blasting them against the car with a cry of agony

David watched his packmate’s death rage. How she roared in rage. But a sound cut through it all. A banging came from the car, from its rear. Someone was trapped inside its boot. He quickly jumped out of the car. He may have been safe from Tsu’mara’s Kuruth, but that was only because he was Uratha and her packmate. Such protection didn’t extend to Wolf-blood packmates. He didn’t know who it was. Didn’t know if it was Jessica, Colin, or Catherine.

He shifted to gauru and leapt on his packmate, hoping to restrain them. But he was thrown off by her. Confusion broke through her Kuruth as she was shocked that a packmate tried to attack her.

After having the raging Rahu pulled off him, Ed snapped at Jesse. But once again the Irraka deftly dodged his snapping jaw.

The female uratha wrenched out of Lucas’ grip and leapt for Morrison. She tackled him to the ground and bit into his shoulder.

Lucas wrenched her off his pack leader, but the damage was done. Whatever foul essence caused the bite was also keeping it from healing. The bite on the elder’s shoulder was festering, weeping a toxic smelling bloody pus, and black veins spread out across the skin from the bite.

He clutched the bite and snarled. He picked himself up from the ground and shifted to Gauru. It was only then that the toxic pus was purged from the wound and began to heal. He bit her back, tearing into the flesh of her shoulder.

The smell of blood hung heavy in the air. The female’s blood. She wasn’t long for the world and Tsu’mara could smell it. She switched from trying to attack Ed to attacking the female. She left the Uratha bleeding heavily, wounds struggling to heal.

Wounds that were made worse by another blast from Fireball.

Ed, seeing his packmember on death’s door, tried to run to her aid but stumbled and roared in pain as Jesse jumped on him from behind, tearing flesh from his neck in a savage bite. He tried to swing at the Irraka but the blood flowing from the bite on his neck made him woozy, his movements sluggish.

David took advantage of Tsu’mara’s change of target and grabbed her arm and, just as his police training taught him, swept her legs out from underneath her.

“Tsu’mara!” yelled David as he climbed onto her back and struggled to pin the Rahu’s monstrous arms behind her back, “Killing them will only end up hurting Colin!”

Hearing his packmate’s plea, Kaiden finally realised what they were trying to do by driving straight into Tsu’mara. He switched from attacking Ed alongside Jesse to grabbing him from behind. Keeping the Uratha alive for a hostage exchange might be able to help get their kidnapped packmates back unharmed.

With her packmate restrained and unable to help, the female Uratha’s fate was sealed. She was set upon by Lucas and Morrison, tearing into her. But it was Fireball who struck the final blow.

The spirit unleashed another explosive blast on her, which sent her flying into and over the car. She landed in a broken heap on the ground. Dead.

Seeing his packmate killed in front of him, Ed flew into a rage and fell immediately to Kuruth. He thrashed and snapped his jaws in Kaiden’s restraint.

Tsu’mara too thrashed underneath David as he tried to calm her down. Failing in the peaceful approach, he grabbed her head and smashed it against the road, her skull cracking against the asphalt dazing her.

“Listen to me!” snarled David as he ground Tsu’mara’s head into the road. “One of our packmates is in the car. They’re safe now. But your rage will get them hurt if you keep this up.”

Tsu’mara’s eyes widened and she suddenly ceased her thrashing and snarling underneath David. She shrunk underneath David as she shifted down to Dalu, tears streaming from her eyes as she realised the harm she almost brought to a packmate.

Ed on the other hand was still raging. He thrashed all the harder in Kaiden’s grip and it was all he could do to keep him restrained.

Doing what David did, Kaiden slammed Ed to the ground.

Jesse came around and soccer kicked Ed in the head and was followed immediately by Lucas who curbstomped them.

Ed slumped as he lost consciousness after getting his head stomped into the road, shifting down automatically to Hishu.

Lucas raised his leg again to finish the job but was pushed away by Morrison.

“He’s unconscious," said Morrison, shifting down to Hishu. “We’re done.”

The rest of the pack followed their Elder’s example and shifted back to Hishu.

“We’re done?” asked Fireball, floating over to the unconscious pure. “Shouldn’t we kill them?”

Morrison shook his head, “No. We’re taking this one prisoner.”

He made his way over to the back of the crashed car, where the banging had stopped. With Lucas’ help, broke open the boot of the car.

The occupant let out a scream and swung a tire iron at the two Forsaken. They clocked Lucas across the head, sending him stumbling to the ground. They then tried to swing at Morrison who caught them by the wrist and twisted it, forcing them to drop the tire iron.

“Nice try,” he said flatly. “Don’t scream next time. It gives you away.”

David’s head snapped up as he was helping Tsu’mara up off the road. His nostrils flared as he smelled a familiar, overbearingly artificial fruity smell.

He bolted over to the ruined car and grabbed Colin out of the boot. He set them down gently on the road and worried over the wolf-blood, sniffing him over for any injuries. He was bruised, and scraped up. But they were all fresh, likely caused by the crash.

“I’m fine,” said Colin, trying to push his mate away.

“You’re not fine,” said David, ignoring Colin’s attempts to push him away.

He inspected a bruise on his lower back that made Colin flinch away in pain.

“I will be fine,” said Colin, finally pushing David away. “I just need to get to my hide and put it on. I’ll be fine after that.”

Morrison was checking the car over and shook his head, “Jessica and Catherine must’ve been in another car. With Richard Warton would be my guess.”

“The fat one?” asked Colin.

Morrison looked from the wrecked car and said with a nod, “Yes.”

Colin looked down, “I was at Mrs Vovk’s house tutoring Jessica when they barged in. He saw me and said he wanted me in a separate car from the others.”

Morrison said nothing, but his face became very stern and grave.

“The way he looked at me. Like a dog breeder looking at a prized stud. He was an Ivory Claw. Wasn’t he, Elder Morrison?” asked Colin.

A small nod was all the answer Morrison gave.

David brought Colin close in a gentle, but protective hug. The Ivory Claws were one of the three Pure tribes. They valued blood purity over everything. Sudden Wolf-bloods like Gabby, and what David was, would be considered ‘poor stock’ to be killed on sight. A rare, and valuable, bloodline like Colin’s would be seen as a valued prize for their tribe. It wasn’t the first time that they tried to get a hold of him.

David growled, holding Colin tight to him. Had it been the car that Jessica and Catherine were in that Tsu’mara chased down instead of Colin’s, who knew if they would have ever been able to get Colin back.

“Take solace with this though,” said Morrison, softly kicking the female Uratha’s corpse. Which was still in Gauru. “Another one of the Pure is dead. Assuming we leave this one alive.”

He pointed at the unconscious Pure that Jesse was handcuffing with handcuffs he stole from the totaled department SUV.

“Then we’re even in numbers.”

He shrugged, “We could kill him and give us the advantage. Would make recovering the women easier.”

“Kill him!” screamed Colin, making David jump in surprise from the outburst.

David spun Colin around and told him, “We can’t.”

“I don’t see why not,” growled Tsu’mara. “They trespassed into our territory, blamed us for stuff we didn’t do, and kidnapped our packmates.”

“I agree with David,” said Kaiden. “Keeping them as a hostage might be the only thing keeping them from killing their hostages.”

“Decide his fate later,” said Morrison as he started surveying the wrecked cars and road. “We need to cover this shit up.”

David pointed at the Pure’s crashed car, “The engine’s still running. I can blow it up. We can say it crashed and blew up.”

“David,” said Lucas, “It’s not a Pinto. Cars don’t just blow up when they crash.”

“Do you have a better fucking idea?” asked David.

“David!” snapped Colin at David’s cussing.

“Not the fucking time, Colin,” snapped back David. “Chastise me later.”

“Just fucking do it,” growled Morrison. He shook his head as he looked over the crumpled front end of the SUV. “What the fuck were you thinking, Madhouse?”

He tried turning the engine over. It took several attempts before the engine finally sputtered back to life, but it also brought with it a concerning white smoke from underneath the crumpled bonnet.

“The fucking thing barely works,” he said, glaring at David. “Do you have any idea how much paperwork this will have piled on us?”

He grabbed the radio from the SUV and spoke into the receiver, “Dispatch, this is Under Sheriff Morrison. The mountain lion we were chasing out of town caused a crash. We can’t find the driver. I ran the mountain lion over with the SUV but it survived and ran off into the desert. The SUV...”

He sighed before continuing, “The SUV took a lot of damage doing that. It’s fucked.”

He put the radio away when David said, “But I was driving.”

“You’re still just a rookie,” said Morrison. “If they knew that you were the one that totaled a patrol car, you’d get booted from the department.”

“What about the dash cam?” asked David. “The footage will show us fighting werewolves.”

Morrison reached back into the SUV, and after a loud crack, came back out holding a handful of wires. He said, “It was broken in the crash.”

He looked at the body of the dead Uratha lying broken on the road and shook his head. “When I foresaw Alyssa Hawthorne’s death. Seeing from her eyes fire and then spinning in the air, I assumed she stepped on a landmine. It’s why I had those silver laced landmines made to set into the den’s lawn.”

He then pointed at Tsu’mara and Jesse, “You two. Drag the body off into the desert and bury it.”

“Sure,” said Jesse excitedly, and started pulling the dead Uratha’s leg in an attempt to drag the large gauru off the road. “Corpse disposal is fun. Eight miles out.”

“Six feet deep,” finished Tsu’mara as she took the other leg.

“Fireball,” said Morrison, the spirit floating over when called. “Go help them. And disappear, can’t have anyone seeing you.”

The three did as they were told and, mostly with Tsu’mara’s help, the body was quickly dragged off into the desert.

Morrison then turned and gave David a murderous glare.

Colin slinked out of David’s hug and scampered away to avoid the elder’s rage.

“Madhouse,” snarled Morrison. He pointed harshly in front of him. “Get over here.”

David made his way over to his elder, dragging his feet the entire way.

Morrison grabbed David roughly by the scruff of the neck, forcing a pained canine yelp from the younger werewolf.

“You were riding with me,” growled Morrison, “I need you to back up my report of me running that mountain lion over.”

“Okay, Old Ma-” David started to say before Morrison gripped tighter, forcing another yelp out of him.

“Yes, Elder,” winced David.

Morrison finally let David go and shoved them towards the crashed SUV.

“The rest of you,” ordered Morrison, “Get the prisoner secure and into the hole in the garage. And black bag him. Can’t have him knowing where he is by sight or smell.”

“When will you get back?” asked Kaiden as he and Lucas hoisted up the unconscious Ed.

Morrison answered, “We’ll come back later after we’re finished with the truckload of paperwork Madhouse got us saddled with.”

***

It wasn’t until late at night when David and Morrison returned after finishing the paperwork. The rest of the pack were seated at the dining table and were arguing how to deal with their new prisoner. It seemed that they’d been arguing the entire time David and Morrison were gone.

“We have to kill him,” said Tsumara.

“I agree,” said Colin in the First Tongue. He was sitting on one of the dining chairs in Urhan.

Why he was still in Urhan, David didn’t know. The wolf-blood putting on their hide would have given him an Uratha’s healing, so they would’ve been healed a few moments after they had gotten home.

“I agree too,” said Jesse, leaning back on one of the chairs.

“For crying out loud. No,” said Kaiden, head in his hands. “We need him to get Catherine and Jessica back.”

“Yeah, “ agreed Lucas. “I’d rather not risk my mother getting killed.”

Lucas thought for a moment before saying, “How about this? We do a fake hostage exchange? After we get Jessica and Mom back, we ambush them and kill them.”

“That’s perfidy,” said Tsu’mara, aghast. “A war crime.”

“Last time I checked, Uratha never signed the Geneva Conventions,” said Jesse.

“Enough!” snapped Morrison. “I understand that we want to get them women back, but we need to rest. We’ll work on getting them back first thing tomorrow. No arguing.”

The pack did as their elder ordered and started making their way to the bedroom, complaining under their breath.

David watched Colin leave. Noticing how his mate did, with his ears folded back and tail between his legs. It was then when David realised why Colin was still in Urhan. Urhan was where Colin felt the most comforted. Where the wolf-blood felt closest to being Uratha. After he was kidnapped by the Talbot’s, the same pack that killed Colin’s father and sister who were the last remaining members of Colin’s previous pack. To have been kidnapped by them, and to have drawn the attention of an Ivory Claw no less, must have been unimaginably terrifying for the wolf-blood. He needed all the comfort he could find.

If David lost him again, he didn’t know what he’d do.

David grabbed Lucas’ arm as they passed him, “Wait. I need something.”

“No. It can fucking wait,” snapped Lucas, snatching his arm back.

“Lucas,” said David. He desperately needed his packmate’s help.

“I said no,” snapped Lucas and started to walk away.

“Please,” begged David.

That one single word made Lucas freeze in his tracks and look back at David with his mouth agape in shock.

He was silent for a long while as he processed what David had said before eventually saying with a nod, “Of course.”