Chapter Fourteen

Evan’s palms were sweaty and his heart was pounding in his ears as he stood by the gate behind the apartment complex. The security lights were off to make it appear that he’d tampered with the park’s security system to allow Alphonse’s people to get into the park without being caught. Even though he wasn’t really alone—Joss, the other alphas, and many of the shifters were in the shadows both inside and outside of the park—he felt vulnerable. He didn’t trust Stavrik or the others with him, and he doubly didn’t trust Alphonse.

Worry for Tris came to the front of his mind again. Would their people be able to get her free while Alphonse was distracted?

And he couldn’t stop thinking about Lark.

He wanted to get this behind him so he could concentrate on his soulmate.

The rumble of a vehicle pricked his ears, and he tensed. A few moments later, a truck and a car, both with their lights off, rolled up to the gate. Stavrik and the others got out.

“Answer your phone,” Stavrik ordered.

“What?” Evan asked. Then his phone rang, and he took it from his pocket and saw that Alphonse was calling. “Yes?”

“You’ve got five minutes to get my people into the apartment complex and front and center with your alpha. You miss by a minute, and Tris is going to suffer like you won’t believe.”

“I said I’d help you,” Evan said. “You don’t have to keep hurting her.”

“Don’t I? I want you to know how serious I am.”

“I know you are. I’ll get them to Joss.”

“Don’t hang up, I want you to stay on the phone with me until your alpha is captured.”

Evan put the phone by his side and patted the gate. “Not so fast,” he said to them.

The security lights came on, blindingly bright in the darkness. The park shifters had been moving into place while Evan had talked to Alphonse. They were fully surrounded now, not only by the shifters in their human forms, but many in their animal forms. Joss, Atticus, and Caesar strode to the gate as the attackers were forced to their knees.

“Give me your phone,” Joss said.

Evan handed it to Joss.

“Your people are outnumbered, Alphonse,” Joss said as he put the phone on speaker. “You thought you could use your female against my male and pull a coup on my people? You’re out of your fucking mind. Our numbers are greater than yours. It will be a cold day in hell before a pissant wannabe like you takes over my pack.”

There was a pause, and then Alphonse snarled. “Your male misunderstood. I simply wanted to speak to you about joining our packs.”

“I didn’t misunderstand anything,” Evan protested.

“Even if I didn’t trust Evan, I wouldn’t believe you,” Joss said. “You came at me with your pathetic males, and we’ve caught them. Now I’m going to be generous and let them leave instead of killing them outright, which would be my right as alpha for them coming into my territory without cause. Know this: if I see you or any of your people again, you’re dead. Are we clear?”

When Alphonse didn’t answer, one of the lions who was standing by Stavrik grabbed his arm and twisted it behind his back. Stavrik didn’t make a sound until his arm bent at a terrible angle, and it was clear that at least one bone was going to snap under the strain.

“Fuck, Alphonse!” Stavrik shouted.

Alphonse growled. “Fine. I understand. It’s too bad that Tris is going to die, Evan. I’ll be sure to send you her ashes so you can mourn your mate properly.”

“You don’t have leverage anymore,” Joss said. “The bug is removed from Evan’s phone so you can’t listen to him, and the female has been set free.”

“No. That’s not possible.”

“It’s very possible. Stay away from our territory or suffer.”

Joss ended the call and dropped the phone, stomping it with his boot to destroy it. The lion let go of his brutal hold on the male’s arm and Stavrik slumped forward, catching himself on his uninjured arm.

“You have ten seconds to get out of here, or we’ll take it as an act of aggression against our people and respond with deadly force,” Joss said.

Caesar let out a roar from his lion that shook the trees nearby.

Stavrik was hauled to his feet by one of his people, and they hurried into their vehicles and backed down the road.

“Follow them,” Caesar said. “Make sure they leave town.”

“On it,” Jupiter said. He called several males with him, and they disappeared down the road to waiting SUVs that had been set up ahead of time to follow the males.

Evan dropped his head to his chest with a groan. He’d never been so stressed in his life.

His dad clapped him on the shoulder. “You did good.”

“Thanks for being here with me.”

“You bet.”

“Is Tris really safe?” Evan asked Joss.

“She is. They got her free while Alphonse was on the phone with you. It was just the right distraction.”

“They’re bringing her here, right?”

“Yes. She’s got sanctuary with our people. You can talk to her when she gets here in a few hours.”

“She doesn’t know that I decided not to go through with it,” Evan said. “She still thinks we’re going to get mated.”

“I’m sure she’ll understand,” his dad said. “Right now, she can focus on starting a new life here in the park with our pack. Maybe she’ll even find her soulmate.”

Evan had never broken someone’s heart before, but he felt like telling Tris that he wasn’t going to mate her would hurt her deeply. The bright side was that she was safe now and not under Alphonse’s thumb. He was going to focus on that.

“We’ve got patrols set up,” Caesar said. “We also tagged their vehicles so we’ll know if they come back into town.”

“Good,” Joss said. He raised his hand, and everyone went quiet. “Thank you all for your help. A show of force was enough to make the males back down, but Alphonse is clearly unhinged and power-mad, and we should expect retaliation at some point. If and when that happens, we’ll be ready for it. Patrols will increase, as will our security measures, and we’ll continue to keep to our mandate of no one going anywhere alone. If you see something out of place or a suspicious person, advise the security team or any of the alphas immediately. Questions?”

When no one said anything, Joss dismissed everyone.

“I’m going to rest for a bit,” Evan said. He’d been running on endorphins from stress, but now he was just flat-out exhausted.

“I’ll message when Tris is here,” Joss said.

“Thanks.”

“See you later,” Evan’s dad said, giving him a shoulder squeeze. “Rest well.”

“I will.”

Evan stared out into the darkness, listening to the park shifters as they went their ways—some going to patrol, some going home, some going to work—and how easily things could’ve gone wrong tonight. If Alphonse had sent more males, or if he’d infiltrated the park another way, or if his males had come with guns intending to kill...his people could’ve died tonight. And it was really all because he hadn’t been willing to wait for his soulmate.

He didn’t feel like he deserved Lark. He’d been so quick to toss the notion of soulmates because he’d wanted to rush fate. He could be thankful that he’d found Lark and that Tris was safe. He didn’t think Alphonse was going to give up, but at least no one from the park had gotten hurt. If he came at them again, they’d be prepared. Now he just had to face Tris and explain that while he would be her friend if she wanted, mating was off the table.

His heart belonged to Lark.