Chapter Six

Evan was alone in his SUV on the drive to New Jersey, but he didn’t have his phone. He was unable to call his parents or brother, or even Joss, to alert them to what was coming. Behind him, two vehicles contained males who were on Alphonse’s side. Apparently, it wasn’t just the two who had been in the house with him during Bernard’s death. He had a contingent of males willing to stand by him as he took over the pack and made plans to take over Evan’s.

Alphonse had held a pack meeting, telling them that Bernard had stepped down and left town, and he was taking over. When a male, one of Bernard’s top-ranked, spoke up in protest and demanded to see Bernard, Alphonse had simply killed him. Stalked to him and snapped his neck like he was of no consequence. The pack had been rightly terrified of the male who’d taken over.

And now here was Evan, leading a group of dangerous males to his home pack.

Thank fucking goodness for the walls around the park.

He was pretty sure that Alphonse didn’t know there were other shifter groups in the park, and that he believed it was only Joss and the wolf pack. He was also certain that Alphonse thought the pack lived above ground but didn’t seem to know exactly where. Evan hadn’t offered any information one way or the other. He wasn’t about to divulge all the secrets.

What he was going to do, though, was get the hell to Joss immediately and tell him everything. Joss could handle it. He was alpha for a reason.

A parkway sign alerted him to the exit for the park. He put his blinker on and eased over, wishing desperately that he could lose the tail and get to the park to alert Joss. He couldn’t though; he’d been warned that any deviation from Alphonse’s plan would result in Tris’s harm. Alphonse was clear—he would kill Tris, but it would take a very long, extremely painful time to come to pass. Every time he thought about her being hurt or heard her anguished cries, his stomach turned and he wanted to throw up.

How the hell had his life gone so sideways?

He sure as hell wished he’d never gone to the other pack. Or that he’d left before Alphonse killed Bernard.

All this terror coming behind him was because he was trying to rush fate and choose a mate without waiting for his soulmate.

“Fuck,” he snarled, rubbing the space over his heart with his fingers. He rolled to a stop at the light and waited for a break in traffic.

The park looming in the distance, he pulled onto a side street and parked a few hundred feet down. It was a prearranged meetup. The two vehicles stopped moments later. Evan got out and stretched, unable to relieve the knot of stress in his neck.

“Here’s your phone,” Stavrik said as he joined Evan. “There’s a tracker and a monitoring device which you won’t be able to locate or remove, so don’t try. If you tamper with the phone, we’ll know, and Tris will be harmed. What are you supposed to do?”

Evan squeezed the phone until his knuckles turned white, then released his grip so he didn’t break it. “At dark, when the patrol has made the rounds, I’m to disable the security system and unlock the back gate.”

“Then?” Stavrik prompted.

“Call Joss for help.”

So he could be ambushed and killed.

Evan’s wolf howled in his mind, a mournful sound.

“We’ll take it from there,” Stavrik said. He turned to leave.

“Wait!”

The male stopped and turned slowly.

“When will Tris be let go?”

“At Alphonse’s discretion. Don’t worry about her, worry about doing what you’re supposed to do.” Stavrik moved so fast that Evan couldn’t track him.

Evan hit the ground flat on his back, the wind rushing from his lungs with a loud grunt. Stavrik put his boot in the center of Evan’s chest and leaned in, putting pressure on his sternum until he thought it would crack from the weight.

“Don’t fucking ask any more questions,” the male said with a sneer. “You want your family safe? Do what you’re told like a good little pup. You’ll get Tris when Alphonse says so and not a second before. Now get the fuck out of my sight.”

Evan breathed in a gasping breath as Stavrik stalked away. Rolling to his side, Evan coughed and nearly inhaled a handful of dirt. With some effort, he got to his feet and waited until he could breathe without feeling like his lungs were collapsing. Then he got in his SUV and headed to the park.

 

* * *

 

The phone was heavy in Evan’s pocket as he walked from the employee lot through the gate and into the park. Evan had been allowed to call Joss that morning before he left, and the alpha had told him to come straight to his office to check in.

“Hey, kid, how’s it going?” Javan, one of the lions, said.

Evan bumped fists with the male. “Good.”

“Heard you found your mate. That’s awesome.”

“Thanks.”

“Where is she?”

“Still with her pack. I came to...” Evan cleared his throat, almost choking on his lies, “make some money before we get mated.”

Alphonse had bugged Evan’s phone so anything he said went right to him, and anything that was off from what Evan was supposed to say would result in Tris being hurt again.

Javan gave him a curious look. “You okay?”

Letting out what he hoped was a normal-sounding chuckle, Evan said, “Yeah, just tired from the drive. Joss is waiting for me to check in with him.”

“Sure thing. See you later.”

Evan and Javan parted ways at the employee cafeteria, where Evan took the stairs inside down to the main hallway, past the various groups’ private living spaces and into the market.

“Ev!” His mom hurried to him, her eyes shining with tears. The tackle-hug felt so damn good that Evan didn’t want it to end.

“Hey, Mom.”

“I think you grew a foot while you were gone, but I thought you were all done growing!” She patted his cheek. “You look great. I can’t wait to meet Aletris; can we video chat with her?”

Evan blinked slowly and then smiled at her. “You look really great too, Mom. I’m not sure when she’ll be able to come here to visit, but I’ll see what I can work out with a video chat.”

“You okay?”

Shit. Evan really had to try harder to look like he was fine even though he was anything but.

His mind flitted to Tris. He had no idea how he was going to tell Joss what was really up with his phone bugged.

“I’m tired.” Which wasn’t a lie. It had been a long, hellish night and an exhausting day. “I need to check in with Joss.”

“Sure, hon. I’m making your favorite for dinner.”

He could practically taste her homemade cheese ravioli and garlic bread, but his stomach revolted at the thought of eating anything right now.

“Thanks.” He bent and kissed her cheek, then left the market, heading toward the offices where Joss was waiting.

“Evan,” Joss said, appearing in the doorway of the large conference room.

Beyond the large male wearing an Amazing Adventures Safari Park golf shirt and khakis were the other alphas. Atticus the gorilla, Caesar the lion, Marcus the bear, and Alistair the elephant. There were also several security team members, including his brother Auden and Jupiter, head of security.

Evan’s father, Eugene, appeared in the doorway as Joss stepped aside. Eugene gave Evan a hug and then stepped back, taking a piece of paper from his pocket.

“Can you talk freely?” the paper said in block letters.

How the hell did they know? Evan shook his head and pulled his phone from his pocket, pointing at it and then at his ear, hoping the message was clear that the phone was bugged.

Joss made a motion, and Auden stepped forward. He smiled at Evan and held out his hand. Curious, Evan gave the phone to him, then was surprised when Auden walked away and headed in the opposite direction, toward the stairs that led up to the park.

When Auden was out of sight, Evan looked at his dad, who tapped the paper again.

Evan breathed a sigh of relief, some of the tension leaving him. “Yeah. Alphonse bugged my phone. He’ll know if it’s tampered with or if I turn it off or put it away so he can’t listen. He’ll hurt Tris if I don’t cooperate.”

“Auden sounds really similar to you,” Eugene said. “He’s going to carry it on him and go to work on the tour as if he’s you as a tour guide with Alfie as the driver. Everyone knows to call him by your name right now.”

“You need to tell us everything, Evan,” Joss said. “Don’t leave a fucking thing out.”

Relief filled Evan, but it was short-lived.

“I’m in trouble. And so is Tris. The whole damn park is in danger.”