“Your Alpha is right,” my dad added gently. “Even in Europe, we struggle with this. Yes, we’ve had a lot of success, but there will always be a few outliers who seek to dismantle and uproot our work.”
“Not everyone is a good person,” Remy finished sadly, his lips pressed together.
No need to tell me that; I was well aware of the depravity of people.
Sighing, I nodded.
“Any word on how the packs are doing where you live?” Remy asked.
“Holding their own, as expected,” Nikolai replied. “These petty squabbles between packs are annoying and time consuming, but no true threat. And I suspect after you finish dismantling what’s left of Norwood, they’ll fall easily enough.”
“If you need to go home,” I started softly, hating the idea of him leaving already, but knowing he had a duty as Alpha.
“Andres is handling things. Your uncle is very capable,” he assured me.
I huffed out a quiet laugh. “It’s kind of nice having an uncle who isn’t completely psychotic.”
My father winced. “Well, I can’t assure you he’s entirely sane, especially when there’s vodka involved, but I’m not concerned.”
I giggled and leaned against Remy.
Nikolai glanced out the window. “It appears your friends are here. I’ll give you all your space and check in later.”
Remy stood up and extended a hand to my father, which he accepted with a smile.
“Thanks again for your help,” Remy told him. “We couldn’t have done it without you.”
Nikolai’s gaze flickered between us. “All due respect, Alpha, but I believe the two of you would fare just fine without me. When will we depart for New York?”
“Soon,” Remy replied. “We’re refueling the plane now. I just need to have one last meeting with my council before we leave. Hopefully Maren can tell us what we’re walking into.”
“You’re welcome to join us,” I added.
“No. Alexei should have his people close to the northern pack boundary by now. I’ll check in with him to see if there’s any movement we need to be concerned with.” My father gave me a warm smile. “I’ll see you soon, little wolf.”
Remy smiled at him, and I stood up as he walked out the room.
My mate turned to me, his eyes narrowing as his arms slipped around my waist to draw me close. “You look exhausted.”
I frowned at him. “Wow. Way to make a girl feel good.”
He rolled his eyes. “You know you’re gorgeous.”
Now it was my turn to roll my eyes, but I couldn’t stop the blush that crept across my cheeks.
“Seriously,” he said, ducking a bit to look me in the eye, “did you sleep okay?”
“I didn’t sleep much,” I admitted. My fingers lightly touched the cast on his left arm. “I mostly just watched you. Yesterday scared the hell out of me.”
His gaze softened. “I’m fine, baby.” He leaned into me, his nose brushing mine a breath before his lips did the same.
“I know,” I insisted weakly. “I just … I don’t know. I just needed to remind myself that you were still here with me. That we had really won.”
“I am and we did,” he said softly.
I rolled to my toes and kissed him, running my fingers through his short hair as his palm flattened against the small of my back and pressed me closer.
“See, Mare? Some things never change,” Katy deadpanned from the doorway.
I twisted away from Remy instantly and ran to Maren, hugging her tightly.
“I’m so glad you’re back,” I whispered.
“Me, too,” she replied with a wan smile as I let her go and Remy stepped in to hug her quickly.
As soon as Remy released her, Katy pulled Maren back to her side. Her face was still pinched with worry, though. The same worry I saw reflected on Dante, Tate, and Ryder’s faces as they filled the hallway behind the reunited couple.
“What?” I asked, bracing myself.
Katy and Maren exchanged looks before Katy looked back at us. “We need to talk.”
“Rhodes and Larkin are already here. It’s a nice day, so we were all going to sit out back,” Remy said, jerking his head. He led the way, all of us following like baby ducks behind him until we walked out onto the back patio.
Larkin, cuddled on Rhodes’s lap, looked up. A smile broke across her face and she scrambled up to hug Maren.
There was ample seating around the unlit fire pit, and everyone settled into a seat. But somehow, I still wound up on Remy’s lap. Then again, looking around the circle of my friends, most of us were using each other as furniture.
Larkin was back on Rhodes’s lap, Dante had Tate’s feet on his legs while she leaned against Ryder, and Maren was so close to Katy that they may as well have been conjoined twins.
Katy sighed first, her fingers curled around Maren’s. “Tell them what you told me, baby.”
Maren cleared her throat and leaned forward slightly. “Katy told me that you guys know about the … place I was being held?”
Remy frowned. “We have an idea. We’re planning to head there tomorrow to make sure everyone is released.”
Maren nodded, her head jerking in quick movements. “Good. That’s good. I don’t know how many people were there altogether, but I think it’s a lot.”
“Can you tell us anything about it?” Rhodes asked, dragging his knuckles up and down Larkin’s arm.
Maren’s brow furrowed. “They didn’t let us outside too much, but when they did, we were in an enclosed courtyard. Like a hole in the middle of the building. The building had four floors and looked really industrial. It was always cold in there.”
“Okay,” Remy said, rubbing his jaw thoughtfully. “Do you have a rough idea of how many people we’re looking at?”
Maren sighed, her shoulders curling in a bit. “A hundred? Maybe more? I shared a room with twenty other girls around my age. We were all kept separate in our rooms and classes, but guards were always patrolling the grounds.”
“Classes?” Larkin asked curiously.
Maren flinched and Katy growled softly beside her, her face twisting into a glower. She rubbed a hand up Maren’s back.
“Not classes like at school,” Maren clarified, ducking her head. Her dark hair covered her face like an inky black curtain. “They wanted to make sure we were prepared to be a good mate.”
Tate made a face. “Prepared how?”
“To make their mate happy,” Katy ground out, eyes flashing. Clearly Maren had already told her this last night when they were together. “You know. Like … sex and shit.”
I gasped sharply, my gaze snapping to Maren as Remy stiffened under me. “Did they—”
“No,” Maren said quickly, her head lifting and her eyes huge. “No, they didn’t. It was more instructional. It was really important that we not be … compromised, is what they called it.”
“Jesus,” Dante muttered, scrubbing a hand over his face in disgust.
“I thought they took people to make them wolves? The way Skye’s dad has done?” Larkin shot me a look.
Maren’s brow knit together. “Not with us. We heard about that, kind of. There was a lot of arguing. It sounded like a lot of women died.” Her dark eyes found mine. “Your dad does the same thing?”