You’re going to kill him for threatening to enter the school. His eyes holding mine, Ian nodded.
As pack zeta, one of my roles is to act as the defender of Lupine Hollow. His dark eyes were serious, but they didn’t waver or flinch. At times, that means I’m expected to perform executions when the alpha is not available.
Alarick’s mental growl worked through the pack bond. As acting alpha of the pack, I am authorized to perform executions also.
You are acting alpha, not alpha. I am zeta. You are also still a pup of this pack. Ian’s voice softened. One day, you will be asked to take a life, Alarick, in hot blood or in cold. I would like to think that time will be long in coming. Something passed between the pair of them that I didn’t understand before Alarick inclined his head, apparently conceding the kill to Ian.
How will this work? I asked hollowly. I had expected my wolf to fight this, to demand to take him. Yet, for some reason, at Ian’s statement, she had eased. She didn’t like it, but she wasn’t fighting him either.
She recognizes pack order, Shannon explained, kissing my forehead. Lyle made a noise, his eyes narrowed on me, and I lifted my lip. Seriously, he admitted to helping arrange a murder and a kidnapping, and he was grossed out by a girl kissing my head? Talk about a hypocrite.
Raff said the paperwork was basically complete, Ian told me, considering Alarick who nodded. The biggest issue we were going to have was making sure Lyle didn’t contest it.
We basically just need to make sure he’s back in the area or able to arrive back at the very least, soon after Lyle would be found. Lyle was trying to kick now as Zev shrugged a shoulder.
Don’t kill him here, Shannon suggested. Anyone who looks at the phone records knows he met Pixie here.
I’ll use command on him, Alarick decided after a moment. Ian and I will follow him in wolf form. My command will last long enough to get us out of the area and him through several visible traffic lights. The rest of you, shift and follow Penny home. Take the camera and recorder with you. Penny, make sure you take a visible route home. Stop for something to eat if you can handle it. I nodded.
Alarick and I will take care of the rest of this. We’ll make it look like he ran with the money he got from her, then something happened, wild animals got the body… He hesitated, looking at me for a moment. We’re going to block the line as soon as he leaves, he told me gently. You’re going to send a text message saying you have no more money for him, but thanking him for signing the documents you needed to change custody over. He’ll respond that you better give him more if he says so—that will be us, not him. Understand, kitten? I nodded again, exhaustion beginning to soak into my bones, the tremors turning from anger to fatigue.
Hang on just a little longer, Poppy, Zev encouraged me. You’re doing so well.
Can I release your hold? Alarick inquired, his mind searching mine.
She’s solid, Chann said firmly, before I could get a word in. Her wolf trusts the pack. I was glad Shannon was next to me when his command released, because I sagged into her waiting arms, not even caring that she had to balance my full weight as my body simply gave out under the strain of what we had learned.
Sweetheart, is there anything else you want to say to him? Alarick asked me, his blue eyes gentle though I could tell his hold was tight enough to have already left bruises as Lyle thrashed.
“I just want to go home,” I whispered, turning into Shannon’s hold. I pressed my face into her neck as I fought back the tears that wanted to fill my eyes.
“We’ll go now, love,” she assured me, tucking my hair behind my ear. “We’ll be right behind you the whole way.” I moved woodenly to my car, slipping inside as Chann darted toward the tree line, I assumed to grab the camera.
We’ll be home soon, kitten. Ian’s voice was soft in my mind as Alarick’s eyes began to glow. Take care of our girl.
In a daze, I started my car, heading out onto the road. As I drove, I focused on the plan they had in place as I felt their lines close off from me, hiding me from whatever they were going to do. I could feel the others still, sending me thoughts of encouragement, of strength, as I sent the text they asked for and headed for home. I couldn’t face stopping for food, no matter the alibi it would give me, I just wasn’t that strong.
I needed time to process this, I realized. Maybe even time to grieve again. Shock still held me in its grasp, but between my friends and my wolf, I stayed on course as the minutes on the dashboard ticked by.
Meet us at home, love, Shannon murmured. Let us take care of you.
We’ve got you this time, Tinkerbell, Chann soothed. You’re not alone.
You never have to be alone again, Zev swore, his mental voice joining his brother’s.
I repeated the words like a prayer, the moonlight streaming through the windshield feeling like a blanket on my skin as I made my way home through the empty streets.
Chapter Fourteen
Pixie
I groaned when a hand stroked over my hair, pulling me from my slumber. Sunshine beamed in through my window in strong enough rays to indicate it was probably later in the day than I guessed, but my body begged me to ignore the person waiting for me, roll back over, and seek the oblivion that sleep could offer me. I closed my eyes again on a sigh. “Five more minutes,” I mumbled into my pillow, not even bothering to turn over to see who had used their key.
“Technically, I already gave you five more minutes,” Shannon told me, sliding my comforter down. “I actually gave you another hour since I don’t think the language you answered me in the first time was even English.” Probably not, considering I didn’t even remember her waking me up an hour ago, I realized. I rolled over, cracking an eye open to look at her. Of course she was already fully dressed, her dark hair perfectly braided as she turned to dig through my closet.
I groaned, reaching blindly for my blankets. “Oh no you don’t,” she scolded. “You’re getting up this time.”
“I wanna sleep,” I whined, sticking out my bottom lip in a pout.
“The pout doesn’t work on me, remember? Why do you think they sent me in here instead of Chann or Zev?” Damn it.
“Come on.” I widened my eyes. “I need a rest day.” I wasn’t kidding about that. I really did need a rest day. I still felt like a zombie after last night, and my emotions were scattered everywhere. I couldn’t even differentiate what I was feeling from what my wolf was, which was making it all that much harder to process everything.
“And you’ll have one, but that doesn’t mean a day to just stay in bed.” She settled clothing onto my desk, her face softening as she looked at me. “It’s okay to be confused right now, love. It’s okay to be confused for a long time.” I winced. That was what happened when one of your lovers was an empath. “You’re safe now, it’s fine to be happy about that. The person who hurt your mom has been punished, another reason to feel happy—especially for your wolf. Finding out there was absolutely no way to blame yourself for any of it? Relieving and confusing. Guilt for feeling those things, human of you, but normal for your situation.” She was rattling things off as she dug through my drawers in search of bobby pins.