All

Wyatt 

My call with Lucas ends rather abruptly from his end, and I turn my attention back to Tess, not hiding my amusement by what I heard.  

“Sorry about that. I guess I caught my guy at a very bad moment.” I say, trying to contain my smile. 

“Is he alright?” She asks, concerned. 

“Oh yeah, he’s fine. Sorry, I don’t mean that way. It seems I interrupted an…intimate moment.” I say, trying to be discreet. Again, not knowing how they feel about this subject.

Tess makes an ‘O’ sound. “Yeah, that will do it. Nobody likes that.” She says, pursing her lips, trying to stifle her laughter.

“And how would you know that?” Anne pipes up and turns around to face Tess with a raised brow. She doesn’t miss anything, does she?

Tess shrugs. “What? I have a life, too. Did you really think your father was the last to touch me?” She tuts. She pretends to look at her nails as a slow, mischievous smile forms on her lips. “Come on, I have been on my own for a very long time. Sometimes it gets a little lonely…” 

“Okay, okay.” Anne butts in, gagging. “Ew, I need to scrub my brain with bleach to get that image out of my head.” She mutters and shivers, still gagging, as she turns back around.

Tess can’t help but laugh at Anne’s discomfort like a typical mother would. 

I let out a small chuckle, watching their interaction. 

“Anyway, knowing him, he will probably find someone else soon enough. As long he stays focused on what he’s supposed to do, I don’t care what he does in his downtime.” 

“Ah, one of those, is he?” She says, amused. 

I shrug. As much as I love Lucas like a brother and find the situation hilarious, I sometimes worry that his focus is not where it should be when women are involved. The man is such a manwhore. 

“I plan to meet him later; hopefully, he will have some insight for us,” I say, getting us back on topic. 

She nods. “What exactly does this guy do for you?” She asks. 

I tilt my head, assessing her. 

Should I tell her the truth? 

She catches my questioning gaze and arches a brow, crossing her arms. “Really?” 

I chuckle and nod. “Good point. Fine. The gist is that after what happened with Lily and our missing she-wolves, I discreetly put some of my men out to try and get information on other packs with Lucas, my Gamma, as my lead in the field.” 

“Your Gamma?” Tess questions, cutting me off. 

“Yeah?” 

“Sorry, it’s just you mentioned you have a Delta who is an Alpha, right? How come he’s not in the field? Surely, that would be the better option. No offense to your Gamma.” 

I nod and chuckle, understanding her confusion. 

Before I answer, I close my eyes and feel for Evan’s link to see where he is. Even though I can mindlink and feel my pack members’ thread for a long distance, for example, I can feel Oscar is on his way here as I thought he would be, but I try not to actively use it unless I have to, as it does give me a headache if the distance is too far. 

“Sorry, I just realized my Delta is coming and should be here soon. Maybe let someone know so it doesn’t cause a commotion out there.” 

Tess nods and tells Anne to go. 

I light myself another smoke and take a deep inhale. Fuck, I needed that. I exhale while Tess asks if I want another drink, and I nod. 

I take another drag and a quick sip. “Man, that feels good.” I say, smoke coming out of my nose. 

Tess chuckles. “I’m surprised you haven’t smoked through your entire pack after all that.” 

I sigh. “Me too. So, going back to your earlier question, Evan is not out in the field for two reasons —one, he has a mate, and the other is the risk of someone recognizing him.” I explain. 

“Because he’s an Alpha?” She asks. 

I nod. “He’s the younger brother to another shitty Alpha who is like the others you mentioned. From what Evan has told me, he’s good buds with your brother.” 

“Ah.” She says, nodding, understanding what I’m implying. 

“Which Alpha? And how come he ended up in your pack? If that’s okay to ask.” She quickly added.     

I sigh, taking another drag. 

As I debate how much I should reveal about Evan’s background, knowing how touchy he is about some things, the door opens, and Anne walks in. 

“He’s here, and Robbie is not happy because the others are very…scared." She says, pursing her lips. 

“Well, if he’s agreeable, rather than me answering for him, you can ask him yourself what you want to know.” I suggest. 

Tess nods. “Yeah, I have no problem with that.” 

I asked him via mindlink if he wanted to talk to her, and a few minutes later, Evan and Robbie walked in. 

“Hey! Who the fuck went through my secret stash?” Robbie scowls, pointing at the bottle. 

I raise my hands in surrender, shaking my head while Anne and Tess giggle behind their hands. 

Robbie runs his hand through his hair. “Fuck’s sake, I’m going to find a new hiding spot again.” He grumbles under his breath as Tess comes around the desk, perching herself on the edge.  

“Is he legit?” He asks Tess, pointing his thumb to Evan. 

“Yes.” I answer. 

He glares at me. “I wasn’t fucking asking you, wolf.” 

“Robbie, no need for that, and yes, he is. I met him briefly before I came in. He’s family to Freya. The good kind.” She quickly added the last part. I assume to appease him.

Robbie gives him a quick side glance before returning his raised eyes to Tess, not moving, waiting for something. 

Tess rolls her eyes. “Okay, Evan here, is Alpha Wyatt’s Delta. His mate is Freya’s brother and, like his Alpha, is here to provide us with information. Happy now?” She explains, giving him attitude. 

“No, and I’m staying.” He states, crossing his arms. 

Tess raises her palms. “That’s up to Evan.” She says, shrugging. 

“How about I give you some privacy, and when you’re done, Evan can let me know. Maybe then the cook can also chill.” I taunt. 

He lowly growls. “Fucking unlikely.” 

“Robbie, knock it off right now.” Tess snaps, thumping him on the back of his head, and he softly growls at her.  

“How about a compromise?” Evan pipes up, and we all turn to him. “I was planning to stay out of the way and keep watch out front until you guys were done, but if Wyatt and everyone are comfortable with that, we do that and then switch.” He says, shrugging.   

“Fine with me. I could use a break from this room.” I say, putting out my cigarette, and stand up. 

“Do you want him to stay or…?” I ask Evan, pointing to Robbie. 

Evan shrugs. “I don’t care.” 

I give him a nod and walk out of the room. First, I walk up to the door I came through and sniff. Not long after, I see Robbie coming down the hallway from the corner of my eye, but he bypasses me, going into the kitchen, and I follow him. 

I like his attitude, even though I’m getting the prickly end of it. 

I lean in the doorway with my arms crossed, watching him as he looks at an order and starts grilling. I know he knows I’m behind him, but he doesn’t acknowledge me and continues grilling. 

“I know you are protective and responsible towards these women, so I wanted to let you know I don’t bullshit around. Like I said to your little mate, whom I am not interested in, nor is my friend.” I add to appease him. “I may be very late to the shitshow she’s told me about, but I refuse to let it carry on. You want in?” I say in a low voice so the non-shifters can’t hear us, even though it’s loud. 

To his credit, he doesn’t stop what he’s doing, giving me no indication of his reaction to my words. When he’s done with whatever he’s cooking, he yells, ‘Order up’. 

“That depends, Alpha Wyatt…” He suddenly says and approaches me, looking me in the eye as he wipes his hands with his apron.  

“Is it just wolf shifters you want to help, or do you plan to help all shifters?” He says in a low voice. 

“All.” I say firmly but casually, as it requires no thought. 

He narrows his eyes and looks back and forth before nodding in satisfaction. “Good, because your fucked up council is on the verge of making all of us extinct.” He lowly growls as he moves back, heading over to where all the vegetables are, and starts chopping. 

“What do you mean?” I ask, confused, leaning on the other side of his table. 

“Some of us live very differently from you, wolves, and now, due to what they're doing, are forcing many of us to change our natural way of life.” He says vaguely as he cuts through different vegetables with ease. 

I think I know what he’s implying. 

“How come you’re alone? Don’t bears have…?” I stop because I don’t know what they call themselves or know much about them. 

The corner of his lip forms a mocking smirk. 

“Most bears are loners except when we have cubs, since we don’t have mate bonds. That’s more of a wolf thing. But for the few that tend to live together, we call it a tribe. They're not as common anymore, or at least not around here, so I can excuse your limited knowledge.” He explains and mocks at the same time. Bastard. 

“Mine was the last to exist until your council attacked us. The few surviving members decided to spread out and live alone after that, and the same goes for me. I couldn’t live through that again. The guilt alone keeps me awake at night.” 

That sounds like something I say to myself in the dead of night over my missing or dead she-wolves. I look at him again, and the realization hits me like a ton of bricks. No wonder the guy is huge - he was their Alpha! Or leader? Whatever, but he was the one in charge. 

Well, fuck… 

“I would say I’m sorry, or that’s fucked up, but speaking Alpha to Alpha, I know those sentiments don’t mean shit.” 

Robbie nods. “True, but I appreciate what you mean, and that’s why I’m in. I want fucking revenge for what they did. I want to rip into fuckers that thought it was fucking hilarious to kill, rape, and torture my family and friends. Not to mention that they are the reason I can’t be with my mate.” He says, with a low growl.  

I tap his shoulder. “I can’t promise, but all I can say is that you are not the only one, and I hope that happens for you.” 

I ask him if it’s okay if I check out back, and he nods. I leave him to carry on with this work, and when I step out through the back door, the first person I see is Angie jumping up in fright with tears in her eyes. 

“Sorry about that.” 

She wipes her face and tries to smile. “No, no, it’s fine. I'd best head in anyway.” 

I stopped her. “Since Tess is busy at the moment and the others have it covered, can I ask you what happened to you? Not to sound judgmental, I want to understand: what did they mean when they told me it was between you and your son? Somehow, Tess and I got sidetracked.” I jokingly add, trying to lighten the mood, even though I know this is a heavy conversation. 

Angela runs her hands over her arms and takes a long, deep breath. 

I offer her my hand, palm up, and she gives me a curious look. “I learned from someone that it could be a way of keeping yourself grounded when things like this and people struggle with talking about hard, painful stuff. You can hold, squeeze, punch, or even tap whenever you go over particular details.” I explain and shrug. 

She takes my hand and holds it while she takes another deep breath. “Thank you.” 

I nod. 

“Without going into too much background detail, Alpha David wanted me as a mate from the moment I turned 16-17, which was slightly gross as he was old.” She grimaced. “Nevertheless, that’s what happened on my 18th birthday, but unlike what I heard from other females, David waited until I gave the okay to mate. However, I still felt occasional pain over the bond when he was with someone else. According to Tess, he did that on purpose to get me to give in and mate with him. Honestly, I don’t know if that’s true or not. Frankly? I don’t care. I will admit that the moment I did, I never felt that again, which was nice, as that pain was dreadful. Like I said, compared to some, my relationship with him was as good as it could get.” She shrugged.

“Did he…hurt you?” I ask, giving her a look despite being awkward about it.

Angie blushes, knowing what I was implying. “No. It was never forced.” She whispers, her ears going red from embarrassment. 

I frown. I know she said that compared to some, this was good, but it’s not to my ears. I agree with Tess; I also think he did that on purpose.    

She cleared her throat. “Anyway, he was elated when I got pregnant the first time with a boy. But I can’t say the same for some.” She says, squeezing my hand. 

“Your brother?” I guess, and she nods. I began to smell her fear.

“One night, when my pup was only two months old, I felt the tether snap. I instantly knew what that meant and what would happen, so I ran out my window.” She paused and started shaking. 

I place my other hand on top of hers, silently encouraging her to continue by squeezing her hand, and she squeezes back. The scent of her fear increased.

“Please understand that if Jesse had been in my room, of course, I would have taken him with me, but we had separate rooms as David always insisted on having him close by, so I had no choice, and I knew if I stayed and tried to fight it wouldn’t have made a difference and I knew my brother would have enjoyed tormenting me before passing me around...” The more she spoke, the more her fear spiked, and tears flowed down her cheeks. 

I grab her by the shoulders and shake her slightly to calm her down. “It’s okay, it’s okay. Breath. Take a deep breath,” I say, taking deep breaths with her until she calms down, squeezing my hand. 

When she’s finally calm, she lets go and dries her cheeks. 

“Beta Angela.” 

She looks up at me, and I can see a glimmer of her wolf responding to me. 

Good, that’s what I was hoping for.  

“I understand you, and I don’t judge you. There was no other way. I’m relieved and glad you and all the other survivors are here, still fighting despite all the pain and horror you have experienced. I am in awe of you all, and I am going to make you a promise here and now: we will get revenge for what happened.” I say with a firm tone, trying not to growl in anger and disgust over not just Angie’s story but everything I’ve heard today.  

“If that’s what you wish.” 

She nods. “I’m not normally like this, Alpha Wyatt, but…” 

She pauses, and a slow, menacing smile full of dark promise starts forming on her lips, showing her fangs.  

“I want revenge.” She lowly snarls.