“I’m fine. Lots on my mind. Thanks for checking.”
He nodded. The boy was nervous. I could smell it. He didn’t know quite what to do, had never shifted, wanted it more than he wanted to breathe, and now needed me to instruct him how. In normal circumstances, I’d love this more than anything. Training our people how to be who they were always supposed to be seemed like a worthy life for me. If I could figure out how to cook for people, too, while loving on my mate every possible second, that would be all I needed in life.
But those weren’t options.
No, I had to figure out how to save MacKenzie from a Loup who had it out for her, and I was going to have to lead a bunch of werewolves who thought I was their Alpha because I was with her. My hands itched. I wanted—no, needed—to shift, but it wasn’t going to be happening anytime soon. I had to sit in this car because that stupid human-controlling Loup was making our life hell.
My fangs threatened to descend, and I held them back. This wasn’t what I was made for. Give me a target, and I’d take it down. But this whole larger than life thing with an enemy I couldn’t touch… I didn’t know how to do this.
“Now might be the wrong time to tell you this, kid. But we’re under constant attack, and there’s a Loup who is somehow like the Lex Luthor of Loups and is making everything hell. He’s got my mate, who is the Omega, trapped in madness. And he’s controlling humans and wolves alike to attack us all the time. If you don’t want to step into this, it might be the time to drop me and go.”
He shook his head. “Oh…no I’m in. But…is a… What’s it called?”
I didn’t have the slightest idea what he was talking about. “Sorry, I’m not following.”
“Is he an Alpha who went Loup? Because my mother used to call that the Alpha Loup. She told it to me like it was a fairy tale, right? Or like humans talk about their ancestors. Once upon a time in the old country kind of a thing. I don’t know much about it, just that those were considered to be really, really bad. Because they have all the Alpha qualities. But they’re also Loup, so they’re out of control.”
My mind whirled. I wasn’t sure I’d ever heard this story. We weren’t a really big storytelling family. Even when we’d lived in the swamp, we’d been sort of political. Handling everybody’s problems in the pack. Threats. My mother wasn’t ever the huggy, kissy type who rocked us to sleep with stories. An Alpha going Loup? How did that even work? It was lone wolves who went Loup. An Alpha?
“Can I use your phone again?”
He handed it back to me, and I nodded at him in thanks. But before I picked it up, I owed this kid thanks and the courtesy of at least learning his name. “Remind me your name. I should know it. I’ve never been great with names. It’s a problem, I know. I can promise you that I’ll always know your scent.”
To a non-shifter, that would sound weird. Truth was the way the guy carried the scent of motor oil and mint, coupled with his natural aroma, would stay with me. It had always been that way for me, but now that I was regularly shifting again, it was even more so.
“I don’t know that I ever told you, actually. I’m Donovan.”
I’d remember it now. “Donovan, you may have saved the day. Maybe.”
My mind churned. An Alpha becoming a Loup? I dialed Preston and waited. He didn’t answer. Fuck me. Did I know Jarret’s number? I hoped I did. It was amazing I knew Preston’s, considering how little we’d spoken over the last years. The good news about Preston was he so rarely changed anything. He’d had the same one since he first got the phone. Not that it was doing me any fucking good right now.
I dialed what I hoped was Jarret’s number, and after two rings he picked up. “Hello?”
He sounded like I’d woken him. “Sleeping?”
“Not really. I was… I kind of broke into Kenzie’s head. It’s hard to describe. She drew me in. I saw her. With a man on a dock. Where are you?”
I looked around, not entirely sure how to answer that. “In the car. Probably about an hour out.”
“Good. We need you. I don’t know exactly what we’re doing, but I know we need you.”
His words panged what I would have at one time called my nonexistent heart. We’d never been close. I still wasn’t one hundred percent sure I understood Jarret. There were parts of him I’d never get. But MacKenzie seemed to understand him, and for that, I was grateful. When I was doing hard time, I certainly never thought my brothers would need me or want me around. Our mate had saved us all.
“Do you know anything about Alphas becoming Loups?”
He was quiet for a second. “No. Not at all. Why? This is a thing? Is Ross an Alpha?”
“Dude, I don’t know.” I sighed. “Who would know?”
“Oh.” I could practically hear Jarret sitting up as he spoke. “Miranda’s here. She’s driving Preston crazy. Wants to talk. You know Pres, he doesn’t want to talk.”
No, he really didn’t want to, hardly ever. “She’s perfect. You have the number?”
“Yeah, it came up on my phone. Whose number is it anyway?”
I smiled. Leave it to Jarret to just clue in. “His name is Donovan. Can you give this number to Miranda and ask her to call me?”
“On it.”
I hung up and sat back in the car. I was Alpha-ing in the car. It was like modern Alphahood or some shit. Donovan was clearly a smart kid. He kept his mouth shut and drove. He’d given me information I might or might not be able to use, and I was grateful to him.
There was a lot to uncover here. At some time, I was going to ask Jarret to better describe what he meant by being dragged into MacKenzie’s dreams. What did that even mean? How had she done that? One of the last things she’d told us was that she was losing her powers. Was that not true?
The phone rang, and I picked it up, even though it was Donovan’s. Maybe I had more Alpha in me than I thought. Technically, if I was his Alpha, then all he had belonged to me anyway. Not that I’d ever take people’s stuff just to have it. What a repugnant thought.
“Hello?” I stared out the window, hoping I wasn’t about to have to talk to Donovan’s mother.
“Rainer? You okay?” It was Miranda’s voice.
All right, now we were getting somewhere. “I got through it. I think the men I talked to are somewhat confused, but they’ll do what humans always do and get on with it, not thinking too much about what they don’t understand. Humans are great about forgetting.”
“You’ve got that right. Unfortunately, those who don’t are also great about killing.”
I grunted my consent. “You’re fine?”
Pleasantries weren’t really my thing, but she was an Alpha. I couldn’t talk to her with anything but respect. “Everyone is agog here, researching Loup sightings that correlate with bodies of water. Although it might just be a tiny lake here, so we’re probably chasing our tails, so to speak.”
I rolled my eyes at the imagery. I’d never chased my tail in my life. “I have a question.”
“Go on,” she said fast.
Well, I would have done that if she hadn’t interrupted me to begin with. “Do you know any legends about Alpha Loups?”