TYSON I'd never felt like such shit in my life. My dad took the wheel and the hour ride to the pack was fucking painful. We ended up dumping Trav's mate into the trunk. I stayed facing front, but it didn't stop me from feeling the agonizing daggers Trav was shooting into my back. I had to be the worst fucking brother in the world. I could only imagine if our places were switched and he had gone with our dad to knock Gigi out and dumped her in the back of our trunk, transporting her to—well, Trav knew exactly what her destiny was. When we made it back to the packhouse, my dad finally broke the silence that had suffocated us the entire car ride. "Trav, I'm sorry." "She didn't do it. I know she didn't." My dad shook his head. "You're being influenced by the mate bond, son. Look, I understand. But no one gets away with murdering someone in my family." "That asshole deserved to die. You know it, Tyce knows it, and I know it. Whoever did kill him did this family a favor." "Get out," m
GINGER I sat with Tyce's mom all afternoon while she made funeral arrangements and kept up communications with the beta and gamma of the pack as they searched for the body of Tyce's grandfather. I saw Tyce's brother Trav momentarily when he came in and stomped upstairs, locking himself in his room. I got the gist of what happened between everyone's conversations. It had to be one of the most messed up situations I'd ever heard of. Tyce's brother's mate had supposedly killed Tyce's grandfather. "Anything you need, I'm here to help." Beta Liam's mate Nina joined us. She was a beautiful woman with long black hair she kept in a ponytail, smooth white skin, cheeks that were constantly blushing with emotion, and kind, dark brown eyes. She was also tiny like all the other women that lived in the packhouse, even after pushing out two huge boys that already looked every bit to be beta heirs at only five and seven years old. I'd never felt so huge in my life as I did in Tyce's packhouse. "M
TYSON My father and I got back to the packhouse that evening to find my mom, Beta Liam's mate Nina, and Gigi situated in the office. "Hey," I nodded toward everyone and then went over to Gigi to plant a kiss on her cheek. Just the touch of my lips to the skin of her cheek instantly calmed all the tension that had built up inside me from the day. "I'm sure you heard that your grandfather's body was found?" my mom asked. "Yeah," I replied. "Dad and I are planning to go view it in a bit after we get a chance to eat." She nodded. "And Trav's mate is dead now?" "What?" I asked. "Well, I'm assuming you took care of the murderer." "She's not the murderer," I replied, not in the mood to elaborate. "Come on, Gigi, come with me." I turned to my mate, no desire to go through an interrogation with my mom. I helped Gigi up and pulled her hand to take her out of the office. When we were at the stairs, Gigi said, "Trav hasn't come out of his room all day. He won't talk to anyone." She looked
JASMINE I was about to call it a day with pack work when my cell phone lit up on my desk. I glanced over to see it was my dad. Odd. My dad didn't normally call. He'd text. That was the first thing that tipped me off that something was wrong. "Hello?" I answered. "Hey, Jaz," my dad replied somberly. "How are you? How are the pups?" "Everything is good. Progressing as normal." "Great, great." The way he said it didn't sound great at all. "Are you sitting?" "Yeah, why?" "Okay, good. Your mom got some bad news today." My stomach sank. I hated bad news. What could it be? Did my mom somehow get an illness? Was she at the age yet where that was possible? I tried to steady my heart as I waited for him to tell me what it was. "We got a call from your mom's old pack, and it seems her father was murdered." "Murdered?" I gasped. "By who?" "They're not sure yet. But they're making funeral arrangements. We're looking up flights now. Your mom thinks it'd be best if you and Blake go too. Aft
TYSON The past couple days passed by like a bullet train. After my grandfather's body was found, my father and I went to the pack clinic to take a look at it. And although I had grown used to seeing dead, mangled corpses, it still shocked the fuck out of me to see my grandfather like that—I had grown up with him being the enforcer, ex-alpha, most terrifying and strongest person I knew. He had to be one of the most notorious alphas in recent history. He had always been ruthless and brutal, and fought in battles like nobody's business. I hated, loved, admired, feared, and respected him. But seeing him reduced to a bloodied corpse with his heart ripped out of his chest—well, that was sobering. It reminded me of meditating on impermanence in school and at temple. Nothing, not even the man who seemed undefeatable, was impervious to death. My grandfather had been tortured and killed the same way he had done to likely hundreds before him. "Closed casket," my father said, and I nodded. We
TYSON Alpha Vic's beta escorted us to the packhouse. My father and grandfather weren't wrong. His pack was a shithole. The roads were all in terrible need of repair, and many weren't even paved. You could easily tell who had money and who didn't by one glance at the houses. Clearly the pack didn't subsidize or help with home repairs like ours did. The packhouse, however, was in pristine condition, and even appeared as if it may have had some additions made to it since the last time I'd visited this pack, which had to have been a least a year earlier. "Alpha Tyce!" Vic greeted us from his doorstep. "And who is this beautiful young lady?" "Alpha Vic, this is my mate and soon-to-be luna, Ginger. But she goes by Gigi," I replied once we got closer. "Gigi, my pleasure." He took her hand and kissed the back of it. This dude was something else. Who the fuck did that except in movies? "Pleased to meet you as well," Gigi responded. "Come in, come in." He opened the door for us. "Let me t
TYSON On Saturday, I spent the morning training and running patrol stations. It was nice getting out and doing something active to get my mind off things. After an early lunch, I trained Gigi for another two hours. "I'd like to start training you in your wolf form," I said. "But in order to do that, you're going to have to join my pack so I can communicate with you." "Okay," she replied, but I could sense hesitation and maybe even sadness. "Do you not want to join my pack?" I asked, coming closer, taking her hands in mine. Her skin was like ice. Even though we'd kept warm by staying active, her hands were still cold, and I didn't want to let them go, trying to warm them for her. "I do…" her voice trailed. "But?" She sighed. "Please tell me, Gigi. I won't be upset. I just want to know what's wrong." "It'll just be so final. I'll lose the last bit of attachment I have to my pack and family." She put her head on my chest and I pulled her closer to me. "I want you to feel at home
TYSON Before the end of the day, the packhouse had filled up with Blake, Jasmine, and her parents. Terri made the trek back from school. And then we got word that my uncle, whom we hadn't seen in years, had arrived for the funeral with his family. I supposed death was the one thing that really brought everyone out. I barely had the chance to introduce Terri to Gigi or even process everyone that was making an appearance when it was time to leave for the service. Gigi and I rode over with my mom, dad, and grandma. I got shafted to the middle seat with Gigi and my grandma on either side of me. My dad was uncharacteristically quiet during the drive. I got the idea that he was taking this a lot harder than he let on. My grandma, on the other hand, didn't hide her feelings at all as she sobbed quietly the entire ride. Blake pulled up in my car next to us as we parked. I'd given it to him to borrow for the duration of their trip. As my dad held my grandma's arm and pulled her along toward