River had never seen his third-in-command so rattled. Leo paced the living room of the plantation house while Sam huddled in the chair by the window. River had been in the kitchen eating when Leo and Sam had come home, the slam of the front door bringing the pack alpha into the hallway to see what was going on.
Standing with David and Brooks in the archway between the hall and living room, River watched Leo growl and pace with his fists bunched at his sides.
“What happened? Why aren’t you at work?” the pack alpha asked.
Sam let out a sob, burying his face in his hands. River called up the stairs for Josiah to come down, and a moment later, the first omega descended the steps, clear blue eyes darting about the room, quickly assessing the situation.
Ignoring the irate alpha pacing the room, the first omega hurried to join his friend in the big chair. Taking the other omega into his arms, he asked, “Sam? What’s happened?”
Leo rounded on Josiah, pointing a finger. “Do you happen to know how my mate wound up at a dance club?”
Hackles rising at the tone Leo was using with his mate, River stepped into the room and growled.
Josiah blinked up at Leo before looking at Sam. “Sid took you to a club?”
“Sid?” Leo shouted, face reddening. “I’ll kill him!”
“There’s no harm in going to a dance club,” Josiah said to Leo, and River hoped to hell his mate would never be so bold as to speak to an irate alpha in that way if River weren’t there with him.
“Even when my mate was almost raped?” Leo demanded, hands on hips and feet planted apart. The alpha glowered down at the omegas in the chair, and Josiah tightened his hold around Sam but tilted his head in submission.
A growl rolled up from River’s chest. “Calm down,” the pack alpha ordered, and Leo took a reluctant step away from the chair.
“What do you know about this?” River asked his mate.
“Earlier today, I dropped Sam off at Sid’s apartment to visit. He texted me later on saying he would have a ride home with Leo.”
“And where did you find Sam?” River asked Leo.
Leo spoke through clenched teeth. “He called me from some club near the restaurant, freaking out. Scared the fucking hell out of me. When I arrived, Sam was in heat and some alpha was all over him.”
“In heat?” River sniffed the air. He didn’t detect any omega pheromones.
Leo took a deep breath and let it out, and when he spoke again, his voice was slightly calmer. “It ended as fast as it came on. Not only that, it’s much too early.”
“Sam?” Josiah prompted gently.
Sam looked up from his lap, large brown eyes swimming with tears. “I didn’t expect it and never even felt it coming on. Sid wanted to dance, and I-I didn’t see any harm in going. I was drinking a water with Amber, Sid’s friend. One minute I was fine, and the next I felt weird. The alpha…he came o-out of nowhere.” He looked at Leo. “I called you as soon as I realized.” The omega’s bottom lip trembled, and a fresh wash of tears cascaded down his face. “I-I was so scared.” He rubbed at the place on his neck where the strange alpha had touched him, even though Leo had thoroughly licked the scent away by now.
Some of the anger melted from Leo’s face, and River was relieved to see the third-in-command’s instinct to comfort his omega finally overriding his fear. River couldn’t imagine what it would be like to learn Josiah was vulnerable out among humans rather than safe at home as presumed. And then to find him in heat with a strange alpha nosing around him? River knew he’d go ballistic.
“What happened when you got to the club?” River asked Leo.
“I threw the son-of-a-bitch across the room and took Sam out of there.”
“Was there a fight?”
Leo showed his upper teeth in a snarl. “Sam stopped me from fighting the other alpha.”
“Thank the gods for that,” River said. A shifter fight in the city was the last thing the werewolves needed.
Josiah ran his hand through Sam’s hair, murmuring comfortingly before glaring at Leo. “It wasn’t his fault.”
“Oh, I know that,” Leo picked up steam again. “It was Sid’s fault. He’s out of control, trying to be a human and dragging Sam into his bullshit.”
“The humans were nice to me,” Sam protested. “It was that alpha I was afraid of.”
Leo seemed to grow with his anger, chest expanding and muscles rippling. “And rightly so! A few more minutes, and he would have mounted you right there at the bar.”
River didn’t want to think about the consequences if that would have happened. Such animalistic behavior from shifters would have been the perfect opportunity for a certain human faction to spread hatred. Leo most certainly would have killed the other alpha, and if another pack was involved, it might have led to a pack war.
David spoke for the first time. “Sounds like the crises was averted. We were fortunate.”
River nodded and crossed his arms over his chest. “I agree with Leo about Sid. He never should have taken Sam to that club.”
“But nothing would have happened if I hadn’t gone into heat!” Sam protested, disentangling himself from Josiah’s arms and sitting up. “I was having a good time.”
Leo growled, but Sam held firm. “Right now, I’m more concerned with why I went into an early heat, and why it lasted only hours before going away without a trace.”
Josiah rubbed his hand over the other omega’s back. “Do you think it has something to do with the way you’ve felt lately?”
“That’s what I was thinking.”
“We’ll let Angela know,” River said. “And whether or not Sid was in the wrong, I’ll pay him a visit tomorrow. He needs to hear what happened.”
Sam pulled the cell phone out of his pocket. “I must have turned this off by accident.” He switched the phone back on. “Seven missed calls from Sid.”
“Let me have that.” Leo took the phone, but River snatched it from him.
“I’ll let Sid know Sam’s home safe. You go take a run and calm down. Let me take care of this.”
The words were an obvious order, and Leo growled but obeyed, stepping out onto the front porch and closing the door behind him. Seconds later, River saw the reddish-gold wolf streak past the window, heading for the open fields.
“Are you all right?” Josiah asked Sam.
“Yeah. That strange alpha just scared me. He said any alpha who left his omega alone deserved to be taken, but Leo didn’t know I was there.”
River was glad Leo was out of earshot for that bit of news.
Sam sniffled and reached for a tissue from the side table.
Brooks brought in a plate with a sandwich on it and a glass of water. “Here, eat. You’ll feel better.”
Sam smiled at the beta and took the plate with hands that shook.
River walked onto the back porch and dialed Sid on the cell phone.
“Sam?” The beta sounded frantic.
“This is River.”
“Is Sam okay? Amber said something happened, and Leo came to get him.”
“He’s fine, just shaken up. The something that happened was Sam went into heat, and an alpha tried to attack him.”
“Oh, shit!”
“Why would you ever think it was a good idea to take him to a club?”
“We were having fun. Sam didn’t say anything about being close to his heat.”
“The heat came out of nowhere, but even if it hadn’t, a human club is no place for an omega without his alpha. Particularly if other werewolves could be there.”
“Sam shouldn’t have been in any danger.”
“Yet he clearly was. Lately you aren’t thinking like a werewolf.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“It means you’re having so much fun trying to be a human, you’re forgetting how much danger the human world holds for us.”
“It isn’t as bad as you think, River.”
River growled, and Sid fell silent.
“I think it’s time you came back to the pack.”
“I don’t want to do that. I love school and my friends—”
“You can stay enrolled in school, but you need to live here where you belong.”
The beta went quiet. River might have thought Sid had hung up, but the alpha could still hear breathing on the line.
Finally, Sid spoke, and River’s spine straightened at the words.
“I appreciate everything you’ve done for me, River, but I belong where I am. If you say I have to live at the plantation, then I-I’m leaving the pack.”
“That’s very unwise,” River said. He didn’t want Sid to leave the protection of the pack, but the pack alpha couldn’t protect Sid where he was now, either. He should have gone after the beta when Sid first left the plantation, but he’d thought Sid would quickly see his error and return to them. Hell, he should have mated Sid after Patrick died, no matter how Josiah felt. That was what a pack alpha was supposed to do.
“It’s what I want. Without Patrick, I’ve been miserable. School and my new friends have made me happy again. Thanks for everything, but goodbye, River.” The line went dead.
When River returned to the living room, Sam had finished eating and was talking to David and Brooks.
“What did he say?” Josiah asked.
“He said he’s leaving the pack.”
Sam sat up. “What? No!”
“You kicked him out?” Josiah asked, horrified.
“You know me better than that.” River snapped, only marginally mollified when Josiah bared his neck in submission. The pack alpha rarely spoke to his omega that way, but it irked River that Josiah would think he’d force Sid to leave the pack, especially after he’d kept his promise not to take another mate.
“I told Sid to come back here to live. I told him he didn’t have to give up school. He refused and said he was leaving the pack.”
“But…but what will happen to him?” Sam asked, wringing his hands.
Josiah patted his friend’s leg. “He’ll be fine. He’s been doing well for months.”
“But he doesn’t have a pack anymore.” Fresh tears coursed down Sam’s cheeks, and the omega’s features crumpled. Of all the omegas, Sam was the most sensitive. Hell, River was pretty sure Sam still felt hurt the pack alpha didn’t immediately take him into the pack when he was a rogue.
The front door opened, and Leo walked in. The alpha had pulled his jeans back on but hadn’t bothered with his shirt. He looked wind-blown and much more at ease, until he heard his omega sobbing. Leo crossed the room in three strides and plucked Sam from the chair as though the omega weighed nothing. The smaller werewolf wrapped his legs around his alpha’s waist, clinging to him.
“What’s happened now?” Leo demanded, looking accusingly at everyone in the room while he ran a hand over Sam’s head. Remembering back to a time when Leo had kept to himself, River couldn’t help but be touched every time he saw the bond between the big alpha and the little omega who’d stolen Leo’s heart. Glancing at Brooks, Leo’s best and at one point only friend, River could tell by the beta’s soft look he was thinking the same thing.
“Sid’s left the pack,” River said quietly.
Leo stilled with shock. River knew as angry as the alpha had been at Sid for taking Sam to a club, Leo wouldn’t have wanted the beta to leave the pack. In the wilderness, a packless wolf was as good as dead. He wasn’t sure what it meant for Sid in the city, but River sensed that the beta felt more confident than he should.
“Take Sam to bed,” River told Leo. He turned to his second in command. “Have you finished in the barn?”
David nodded.
“Go for a run with me, then.” River stepped out onto the porch and stripped, not waiting for David to follow before shifting and leaping off the porch. A few moments later, the white wolf caught up with him, and they ran side by side into the darkness. As his muscles worked to propel him over the land, the tension flowed from River’s body. The warm night air brushed over his fur, and sounds of the forest calmed him. Everything smelled keener in wolf form—the crispness of pine, the freshness of grass, and the sharp tang of horse manure. River wished he could run all night, but responsibilities called him home.
The two wolves crested a hill and came to a halt to look toward the mountains in the distance. The waning crescent moon sat high in the sky, and River raised his head and howled. David howled after him, and the echoes volleyed through the mountains. Distantly, another pack took up the call—most likely the Hashi Valley wolves.
River tossed his head, indicating to David they would turn back. Learning from Angela something nefarious involving tampering with the werewolves’ physiology was likely going on right under his nose both terrified and enraged the pack alpha, who had had enough in the past few years of feeling uncertain where the safety of his pack was concerned. River knew it was more important than ever for them to stop the faction intent on hurting their species.
Recently, David had reported that Jax had discovered a place where humans were keeping stolen omegas for their sexual pleasure. The idea made River’s blood boil, particularly since Jax had been unable to discover where the building was located, leaving the Congress powerless until he did. Unbelievable how their lives now rested upon the human who, after being invited to the compound by Josiah, had wound up falling in love with David and later Brooks. It seemed likely Trevor, the missing omega from the safe house, had been taken to this place Jax had discovered, and that none of the omegas were safe. News that morning of a missing omega to the east had jangled already taut nerves.
River would die protecting the omegas in his pack, and he knew the others would, too.
The danger made River want to lock Josiah in a closet for safe-keeping, but his mate insisted on spending more and more time at the Congress. While River knew his stubborn and independent omega would never agree to give up his job, having Josiah out of his sight so much of the time made the pack alpha restless and on edge.
Not yet ready to go back inside and face the others, River shifted and sat down on the porch steps. David stood naked, pale body seeming to glow in the darkness, waiting for what his pack alpha had to say.
“You know we’re powerless,” River murmured.
David nodded once.
“Do you think Jax will make headway?” River hated revealing his uncertainty to anyone, but David was his best friend and second-in-command. He knew the other alpha shared his frustration and agitation.
“He will or die trying,” David said, and River’s heart went out to his friend. David missed Jax almost as strongly as if Jax were the second alpha’s bonded mate. River was sure the past year had to have been hell, especially knowing Jax spent his nights in the arms of another man.
“I have to see him again,” David said. “Not only for my mental health, but to assure myself things are moving forward. I could tell when I spoke to Jax the last time that this is killing him—not only being away from us, but also having to see what’s going on in that place and not being able to help the omegas. I’m going to talk to Mark about letting me be the one to meet Jax for the next exchange of information.”
“I hope he agrees,” River said.
David’s brown eyes looked haunted. “If he doesn’t, I’ll find another way to see Jax.”