*Isla*
I sit on my bed, staring across the room at the wall, watching the sun chase the shadows across the painting that hangs there of a woman reading a book. I don’t know who she is, and it doesn’t matter anyway because I’m not paying any attention to her.
I’m basically as oblivious to her as she is to me.
My mind goes back over what Ben found in the floor. He hadn’t been able to look at any of the papers because he’d heard our other brothers coming in the front door and quickly shoved everything back into the hiding place and repositioned the board over top.
But it’s fine because I don’t really need to know what the papers say in order to put the pieces of the puzzle together.
Those “earrings” weren’t earrings at all. They were cufflinks. I could tell by the way that Ben was describing them to me. He said they had weird fasteners. Every detail he mentioned about them told me they look exactly like the pair that I had given to Maddox.
So… that means they both came from Maatua. I have no other explanation.
I do have to wonder, though, if maybe one of the reasons why my parents have had bad luck for so much of their lives is because they are in possession of those cufflinks.
And it isn’t as if everything that has happened in the castle since I brought those wolves with the bedazzling eyes through the doors has gone particularly well either.
Of course, things were already going poorly since Zabrina decided she wanted to murder me and take my place, but things seemed to be steadily getting worse now that the cursed objects were here.
Thoughts of going over to Maddox’s room and trying to find them come to mind, but I decide against it. He won’t want me snooping around in there. I can just wait until he comes back and talk to him about it. I know he doesn’t want me to mention Maatua, but that doesn’t mean I can’t tell him it’s okay if he gets rid of the cufflinks.
I run a hand through my hair and let out a loud sigh.
That won’t solve all of the problems, though. I need to go back to where I came from. I need to see what has happened there.
How could the place go from a thriving pack territory where gems and jewels were allegedly as plentiful as rocks to a war-torn area that no one dare enter?
Or am I reading too much into the little that Mystica has told me?
I consider calling the healer to my room to ask her more, but I don’t think Maddox would like that. He seems so against me asking questions about Maatua, and I don’t know why.
Thinking about Maddox makes me wonder where he’s at and what went on in Duster pack. Poppy says she heard that he didn’t catch Zabrina, and that’s making me question everything. What was that dream that I had if it wasn’t Zabrina coming ashore near the Wolf Stone Bridge in Duster pack? And if the dream was accurate, why isn’t she there?
I can’t make sense of it, and trying makes my head hurt. I should probably go outside and get some sunshine or exercise. It would be nice to let my wolf run, but after the last time I shifted, I probably won’t be doing that for a while.
My mind hungers to reach out for Maddox, but I stop myself. Whatever he’s doing, it has to be important business. It has to be tricky business, and I don’t want to be a distraction.
But I do hope that he’s okay.
I have a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach that settles into my soul.
What if he’s not?
* * *
*Maddox*
Vinny’s body trembles beneath me as I growl at him. He knows he’s in deep shit. Even with the rest of the warriors from his pack sprinting in to try and fight us off, he’s in a position where there’s not a damn thing he can do to save himself.
“Are you insane?” I ask him through the mind-link. “What the actual fuck do you think you’re doing calling in troops to fight the king’s guard while I’m standing on top of you with my claws sinking into your shoulders?”
He shakes his head the best he can with my massive paws next to his neck. “I… I didn’t, Your Majesty. I promise! It wasn’t me!”
I don’t want to believe him because he’s in charge here, but even Vinny doesn’t seem to be that stupid. My eyes lift to the two assholes holding Zabrina between them on the porch. One of them has a smirk on his face, and I figure it had to be him. He must have dreams of becoming the next Alpha. I suppose he hasn’t thought about the fact that he is also right here within my clutches, and his backup isn’t here yet.
Unless, of course, this asshole is enough of a cheater to bring a gun to a wolf fight.
I look carefully at him and think he might be packing heat. His jacket is bowed out a bit, and it makes me wonder how this pack got so fucked up.
None of my packs use weapons, ever. I don’t care how pissed they are at the rival packs. It’s just underhanded and dirty, and I don’t want that reputation for any of my packs, even the packs full of assholes like this one.
“Cody, keep an eye on this bastard,” I say, walking over the top of Vinny as I slowly approach the porch. Both of the lackeys get nervous. Only one is gripping and ungripping his hand in a fist over and over again.
He’s got an itchy trigger finger.
I’m not worried about a bullet or two, but I’d rather not have any silver enter my body. That’s painful as hell and not easy to mend. I do have a healer or two with me, but not Mystica, and she’s the only one I’d trust to dig out a silver bullet.
“I think you’d better undo what you just did,” I say to the asshole through the mind-link.
“I, uh, I didn’t do nothin’,” he argues.
I narrow my gaze. The howls are getting closer. I know if I turn my head, I’ll actually see the wolves entering the block where the Alpha’s mansion occupies most of the land. “Then undo nothin’.”
He opens his mouth to speak, but no words come out. I take a few steps closer as my warriors spread out, all but Cody who is holding Vinny down. The temporary Alpha still can’t shift, and he’ll be the first to die.
Well, if this bastard doesn’t answer me with an affirmative, Vinny might be the second.
The other guy who is holding onto Zabrina asks, “Did you call for them?” and gestures at the other wolves flying toward us.
“Nah, nah, it was Vinny,” he says, but even his friend doesn’t believe him.
“Shit! This is the king, you dumbass!” he says. “What the fuck are you thinking’?”
“It wasn’t–”
I take advantage of the distraction, and before the fucker in question can even finish his sentence, I launch off of my back feet and pounce on him.
Zabrina screams as he’s ripped away from her, knocked backward, his head hitting the side of the house with a sickening crack as my teeth snap down on his throat.
He didn’t get a chance to use those silver bullets I’m certain he’s got lodged in his gun.
“Oh, fuck!” lackey number two shouts as blood squirts everywhere. Zabrina is still screaming.
“Stop! Stop!” Vinny is shouting, Maybe the other wolves don’t hear him because he’s not using the mind-link. He’s too nervous, I guess. But they keep coming, and my most bloodthirsty warriors meet them before they even get to the edge of the Alpha’s yard.
They’re coming from all directions, though, and we are grossly outnumbered.
“This is the king!” I tell all of the wolves within a hundred-mile radius. “I command the wolves of Hill Country pack to stop their attack this instance! Anyone who continues to fight against the king’s guard will die a painful death!”
Most of the wolves immediately back away and lie down in a subservient position. I’m guessing they were told it was someone else they were attacking. A few bodies are sprawled on the ground, their crimson blood covering the grass.
A couple of my warriors are injured, but none of their injuries look too serious.
I shift my eyes to the suit still holding on to Zabrina. “I want everyone who was involved in the raid on Duster pack out here now, in their human form, ready to be arrested. You get them here, and I'll go easier on you.” My mind-link directive is clear. No one is compelled to obey me simply because I am the king, but if they know what’s good for them, they will.
He nods. “Yes, Sir, Alpha King Maddox.”
I order a couple of my warriors to shift and take Zabrina, not caring at all about their nudity. She is crying as she is loaded into a paddy wagon I’ve ordered brought here from the castle.
I’m taking everyone who was involved in Alpha Hayes’s slaughter back to the castle, and they’re going to wish they’d just died out here on this lawn.
It takes about thirty minutes to get everyone loaded up. In the meantime, I shift and get dressed in a change of clothes I’ve brought with me. I hear Vinny’s voice filtering through the paddy wagon as he begs to be released. He’s the guiltiest of all of them. He will pay the highest price.
Four of the attacking wolves were killed. Two of my warriors are patched up by healers. Zabrina has hyperventilated from crying so much. Maybe I’ll get lucky and she’ll somehow suffocate on the way back to the castle so I don’t have to deal with her anymore.
But then… I definitely want the opportunity to punish her the way that she tortured Isla and killed Private Parker.
Once we have all of the prisoners loaded up, I realize Hill Country pack doesn’t have an Alpha now, and I have no one in this pack I can trust. So I will have to put it under martial law. I decide to leave Cody and Gail there with a detail and will send more to help them put things in order. I think we’ve taken out the leaders of the group of troublemakers, so I hope they will all be fine.
Sitting in the passenger seat in the front of one of the SUVs, I give the order, and we head back home, mission accomplished, though it’s nothing like I had thought it would be when I left home earlier in the day.
Once we are closer to the castle, I take a deep breath, lean my head back and close my eyes. I have a call to make.