Chapter 9

BLAKE

Blake stared thoughtfully at the man sitting on the other side of his desk. Blake himself looked utterly relaxed, slouched back in the chair with his elbow on the arm of the chair and his chin resting in his palm.

The other man, Louis Davis, had been a part of Gray Wing for more than twenty years. He knew exactly what Blake was capable of, and currently, Blake’s dark eyes were fixated on Louis.

He could see sweat trail down Louis’s forehead as Blake spoke, his tone almost pleasant as he asked, “And why did you think taking her was a good idea?”

Blake saw Louis’s eyes dart toward his own. The red glint in the alpha’s eyes made Louis swallow hard, his fingers tugging nervously at the collar of his shirt.

“Look here, Blake, she’s ~our~ daughter, and we have every right to take her back if we want to!”

Louis’s tone was loud in the quiet office, and Blake casually straightened up.

Louis was full of false bravado. Blake noted the beet-red face and the sweat starting to roll down from his balding head to the side of his face.

Blake didn’t move except to drum his fingers lightly on the other arm of his chair. His eyes never left Louis’s face as he waited.

It didn’t take long for the pathetic excuse for a shifter to crack.

“We didn’t want her to transfer, Blake. She was ours! And Angela…when Angela saw her sitting on that bench…”

All of a sudden, Louis cut himself off and straightened in his seat.

“I am ~not~ some child to be reprimanded! She’s our daughter, and we can do whatever we like with her!”

He finished with a shout that seemed to echo throughout the large office.

There was a long, tense moment of stillness before Blake slowly raised himself from his chair and placed his palms down on the desk, leaning toward the other man over the wood.

“Did you think I was just ~suggesting~ that you not interact with Anna?”

His voice was quiet, but Louis seemed to shrivel in on himself, a horrified expression overtaking his face as he slowly realized that he had just screamed at his alpha.

His arrogance completely abandoned him when he looked at the alpha’s eyes, which had slowly turned red during Louis’s speech and had yet to change back to brown.

“Did you think that you were above everyone else in this pack, above me, and that the rules did not apply to you?”

Blake waited a beat, curious to see if Louis would respond, but when the other man only gaped like a fish, the alpha went on the offensive.

“I am the fucking alpha of this pack!” he roared, his wolf enjoying the sight of Louis cowering back into his chair as if he was hoping he could disappear into the fabric.

“You and your mate”—he sneered the word—“have risked our entire operation. Silver River will now know that we were up to something when we sent her to them in the first goddamn place, not to ignore that she is now a full-fledged member of their pack.”

Blake lowered his head, staring down at the wood as he inhaled deeply, trying to control the instinct that was telling him to jump across the desk and rip out the other man’s jugular.

“Do you know what this all means?” he casually asked after a moment, straightening up and clasping his arms behind his back.

He strolled around the desk while Louis watched him fearfully, knowing that he was the prey before a predator.

When Louis remained silent, Blake asked again more slowly, his voice dripping in venom. “Do you know what it means to have kidnapped a Silver River Pack member, Louis?”

“N-no, Alpha,” Louis stammered. He lowered his head, refusing to make eye contact as Blake approached his chair.

The alpha stood right in front of Louis, hitching his hip against the edge of the desk and casually folding his arms across his chest.

The whole pose seemed non-threatening, but when Louis finally braved a glance up, he saw the vicious snarl that was curling the alpha’s lip.

“It means”—Blake’s voice seemed to get lower and lower, his head tilting downward as he glared menacingly at Louis from under his eyebrows—“that they can, and they ~will~, declare war on our pack.”

He could see Louis swallow hard, his breath hitching as if he was finding it hard to breathe.

Blake knew that his eyes were flickering red, and he could feel that his teeth had elongated and sharpened, his fangs biting into his lips.

A low rumble started in his chest and spread ominously through the room.

At the noise, Louis’s eyes jerked to Blake’s, his whole body freezing as his face paled. Blake uncrossed his arms and leaned forward, curling both hands around the arms of the chair and caging Louis in.

A cracking sound made Louis look down. He saw that Blake’s claws were fully extended through the skin of his hands, pushing and digging deep into the wood of the chair.

Louis’s breath hitched and he looked up, his eyes caught in the violent red gaze of the alpha shifter.

He gulped, and Blake’s eyes followed the motion before seeming to focus on the rapid pulse beating in Louis’s neck.

Blake could practically taste the man’s blood. His wolf instincts were pushing him to punish Louis for his disobedience and stupidity.

Blake was losing the battle for control over his bloodthirsty wolf, and he didn’t care anymore.

He tensed, smirking as he prepared to lunge forward, when the office door was violently slammed open.

Blake’s head snapped toward it, a loud growl leaving his body as he wondered who would dare to interrupt him at this very moment.

Mathias stood in the open doorway, his eyes darting between the two men in the office.

Blake glared at him, the glowing red of his eyes enough to make even his second take a step back and raise his hands in self-defense.

“What the hell do you want?”

Mathias shook a hand in response, showing that he was gripping a cell phone in his fist. “It’s the Circle. They insisted on speaking with you.” Mathias walked toward the two men, his scornful stare on Louis. “They know about Anna.”

Blake straightened up, cursing. He stared distastefully down at Louis. “You better hope that your luck didn’t just run out.”

Louis blinked blankly up at his alpha until Blake roared, “Get the fuck out of my office!”

Louis didn’t need to be told twice. Once he had fled the office, Blake leaned against his desk with his eyes closed.

His breathing was heavy as he tried to rein in his temper. Why was his pack full of morons?

After a moment, he opened his eyes—his irises brown once again—and held out his hand to Mathias, who was holding the cell phone like it was a bomb that would detonate at any moment.

“Give me the damn phone.”

Mathias held it out and Blake snatched it from him before snapping, “Now get the hell out.”

Mathias left without another word, but Blake waited until the door had been firmly shut behind his second before he put the phone to his ear.

“Yes?” he asked in as polite a voice as he could muster right now.

“What the hell have you done?” The voice was quiet, but there was a ferocity behind the words that made the hackles on the back of Blake’s neck rise.

“We’ve moved the plan forward a little bit,” Blake responded calmly, hating the pit that seemed to open in his stomach whenever he spoke to the Circle.

“You were to follow orders and approach her quietly. You have put everything at risk with your actions.”

There was a growling, hissing noise accompanying the voice.

Blake could feel his heart rate increasing until it felt like it was slamming against his chest.

He frowned, wondering if they were using powers to affect him or whether that was even possible over the phone. This reaction was…abnormal.

“We will not be associated with Gray Wing when Silver River declares war,” the voice continued.

“Just what exactly are you saying?” Blake challenged and shivered when the response was a sinister laugh.

“You’re on your own. We withdraw all support, and we will not be contacting you again.” There was a brief, tense pause.

“However, if Silver River doesn’t annihilate your pack, be very assured…~we~ will,” the voice hissed, and then the dial tone echoed in Blake’s ear.

He screamed in rage, the phone shattering in his fist seconds before his body shifted in a shower of sparks and cracking bones.

The door to the office opened again. Mathias poked his head through to see what the noise was.

He almost immediately withdrew again when he made eye contact with furious red eyes, and the large black wolf roared with anger, shaking the walls in his fury.

The wolf sniffed the air and snarled before walking toward the half-open door.

Blake shouldered it open, his eyes catching sight of Mathias disappearing around a corner in his haste to escape his alpha’s wrath.

Blake padded into the hallway, lifting his nose as he scented the air again before his head ducked low and his ears lay back against his head.

He moved forward slowly as if he had all the time in the world, his wolf hunting the scent of fear that lingered starkly in the office and trailed down the hall.

***

ANNA

It was pitch black.

Anna sighed in disappointment, unable to see even her nose.

She had just managed to wriggle the blindfold off her face after sitting there for God knows how long…

Her arms were burning furiously from the position they were in, and Anna imagined that her wrists had been rubbed raw from straining against the rope that held them tightly behind her back.

Her mother had at least left her feet loose, and after moving them around for a while when Anna had first been shoved in there, she realized that she was probably in a small closet.

She sat back, her shoulders resting awkwardly against the wall.

It was uncomfortable, but the position of her arms stopped her from moving back any farther.

Anna tried to relax, forcing deep breaths in through her nose and exhaling roughly. It didn’t help.

Anger was burning through her body, a rage that bordered on violence.

It shocked her.

She was normally placid to the point that she frustrated herself. She was constantly asking herself why the hell she couldn’t stand up to her family.

This feeling of rage was new, and Anna, after a moment, welcomed it.

This family, this pack, had done enough damage to her to last a lifetime and then some…

In fact, they had almost killed her, and she still didn’t know if her wolf would come back.

They had tortured her, made her damaged goods, and just when she thought she was free, her mother ~kidnapped~ her and stuck her in a closet.

Anna felt like her blood was almost bubbling under her skin, a tidal wave of fury coursing through her body.

She refused to be their punching bag anymore. She refused to let them destroy the new life that she was building for herself.

She now had a home, friends, and a pack that welcomed her.

Anna’s thoughts gave her a renewed sense of energy, and she tugged furiously at her bonds even as she felt the burn intensify in her wrists.

After a couple of minutes, the bonds hadn’t loosened at all, and Anna paused, contemplating her situation.

She knew that she needed to conserve her energy just in case an opportunity to escape presented itself.

As Anna sat in the oppressive silence, a thought suddenly popped into her head.

She was an official member of Silver River…which meant she could mind-link!

She cursed herself for not remembering before when her mother had approached her on the street.

She still wasn’t used to it and had rarely used it to communicate within the pack.

She wondered how near someone had to be to hear her… There was no way the den was close enough, but the pack house might be.

She closed her eyes, picturing bright red hair and gray eyes. ~“Hello?!”~

She yelled in her mind, hoping that the volume would carry her voice across the distance and Piper would hear her.

She waited a few seconds, but there was only dead silence ringing in her head.

She tried again, imagining that she was yelling at Steph this time, but the spark of hope she had initially felt deflated inside her like a popped balloon when there was no response.

Anna bit her lip, squeezing her eyes closed as she decided to give it one last go.

She imagined Zach as she had last seen him, looking at her over his shoulder just before he had left her room.

His white-gray hair had been tousled, like usual, and his bright blue eyes had pierced through her.

The image caused goosebumps to break out on her skin even though she was miles away from him. Anna chuckled wryly at herself.

Tied up in a closet, she was still drooling over her alpha.

Focusing her thoughts, Anna called out his name.

She didn’t hold out much hope since Piper and Steph couldn’t hear her, and Zach was so much farther away.

When there wasn’t an immediate response, she called out again, pushing everything she had into the mind-link.

“Anna?” Relief flowed through her as the deep baritone filled her mind, worry lacing his tone. “Anna, where are you?”

“My parents took me. I think I’m at the Gray Wing Pack House.”

Anna swallowed hard, concentrating on keeping her voice calm, but hearing Zach’s voice was making all the fear she had buried come to the surface.

“It’s all right, Anna.” As his reassurance echoed in her head, Anna imagined that she could almost smell him. That she could feel the warmth of his body next to her as if he were standing just inches away.

“I will find you and I will get you back.” His voice turned determined and cold. Anna shivered, beginning to fear that her family would not survive the force that was coming.

She was once again left with her own thoughts as Zach went quiet, but this time, she was calm and chose not to focus on where she was.

She thought of Zach, wondering curiously how she was able to mind-link with him from such a great distance. It must be because he was an alpha.

But the other day, when he had cornered Anna in her quarters, for one brief moment, Anna had believed that he was going to announce that they were mates.

But then, he left. Her hope had been doused with a heavy dose of reality and died an extremely quick death.

A small, ridiculous part of her had hoped otherwise, but that hope had been stifled when she hadn’t seen Zach for the next two days.

Anna reminded herself, once again, that she was not alpha mate material.

Zach would need someone strong who could help lead the pack with him, and Anna could barely even look him in the eye.

She had no wolf, and she was damaged from her idyllic upbringing with the people who had just kidnapped her.

Bringing her back to the point that she was weak.

She hadn’t even considered fighting her mother, running, or even mind-linking.

Anna growled at herself, shaking her head to dislodge the self-pitying thoughts. She had already come a long way since transferring to Silver River.

She was stronger than she had ever felt in her life, and she could feel her confidence growing to match it.

It had only been a few weeks, but she felt like a completely different person.

A sudden noise from outside the closet drew Anna’s attention away from her thoughts.

Her eyes stared intently at the wall she thought the noise had come from, her body stilling as she listened, waiting.

“What the hell did you do, Angela?!” Louis shouted, his voice loud enough to carry through the walls. “I think Blake is gonna kill us…”

As he trailed off, Anna could hear his voice trembling with fear.

“She was never his to send away!” Angela screeched back, sounding extremely close to the closet.

Anna pushed herself back against the wall as if she could hide in the small space.

“That ~bitch~ ruined my family! My sister is dead because of her. She doesn’t just get to leave and live happily ever after.”

Anna froze, not hearing her father’s response through the ringing in her ears as she considered her mother’s words.

She hadn’t even known that Angela had a sister. And who was it that had ruined her family? ~Is she talking about…~

Her thoughts were cut off as Angela shrieked and a loud crash sounded. Louis cursed just as a loud growl seemed to fill the building.

There was a loud thud, like a door slamming against a wall. Anna waited, tensed.

Just when a minute had ticked by and it seemed like nothing else would happen, another growl came.

This time, it was louder. Closer. The door of the closet rattled, and Anna felt terror spike through her body. That wasn’t Angela or Louis…

Anna edged up onto her knees and shuffled her way around the closet with her back against the wall.

Eventually, she felt a breeze on her hands and her probing fingers found a gap between the wall and the floor. The door.

She maneuvered herself until she was standing and facing the door, prepared to run if it opened.

A snarl sounded from the other room, and Anna felt the hackles rise on the back of her neck.

There were some muffled sounds, and then, Angela screamed, the sound so piercing and full of terror that Anna didn’t think she would ever be able to get it out of her head.

Louis was shouting, telling someone to stop, but the sound that responded to him was the snapping of teeth.

Anna inhaled sharply, trying to make as little sound as possible.

They were going to die. Angela, definitely. Louis and her? Maybe.

Someone on the other side of that door was caught in their bloodlust, and Anna could guess who. Nothing was going to satiate it but the absolute destruction of everyone in that room.

Anna looked around the dark closet, hoping that a weapon or something would jump out at her.

Her efforts were in vain; she already knew from stumbling around when she had first been shoved in there that the closet was completely bare without even a jacket hung up.

Angela was cruel, heartless, and without any maternal instincts in her body, but Anna didn’t want to see her die.

A whimper sounded, and Anna refocused on the sounds of a fight that was erupting through the other room.

There was a thunderous crash as something smashed into the wall bordering the closet before the horrifying sound of a crack and then a howl.

Anna guessed that at least one of her parents, if not both, had shifted and was fighting back, but if they were fighting the alpha, they didn’t stand a chance.

Neither of them was soldiers.

Another howl sounded, one of mourning, accompanied by the sound of teeth shredding through sinewy muscle.

Underneath it all, there was a quiet whimpering before…silence.

Anna could smell it now, the blood and the…death. Her breath shuddered out of her, and she hoped against hope that the door wouldn’t open.

That she wouldn’t have to face what waited on the other side of that door.

There was a huff and then padding as paws came closer and closer to where Anna was huddled against the wall.

She crouched defensively as she heard snuffling from under the door before the scratching of claws against the wood.

She heard her father’s voice, trembling as he pleaded, “Alpha…Blake…please…”

He sounded almost broken, a man who had only shown anger and intolerance for his only child.

He had always seemed so big to Anna, but his voice just then made him seem so small.

He continued talking, his voice so quiet that Anna had to strain to hear it.

“I’ll contact her pack. I’ll return her. You have your justice in my mate’s blood.”

A pause followed his words. Anna heard the sound of someone shifting, and then, a guttural voice responded.

It was the voice of someone still at the mercy of their wolf.

“You have doomed our entire pack with your actions. Justice is ~not~ served.”

Heavy footsteps moved away from the door and Anna sighed in relief, but it was very short-lived.

The next sound was flesh against flesh, and something about it was so much worse than the sounds of wolves clashing.

Anna bit into her lip until she tasted blood, forcing the whimpers to die silently in her throat.

It seemed like an eternity before the noise stopped, and the only sound that could be heard was Louis moaning in agony.

Anna waited, unmoving, before she slowly edged toward the closet door.

There was no sound coming from the other room, and she wasn’t going to let a chance to escape slip past her.

Blake was clearly psychotic, Anna thought hysterically, and he now had a taste for her family’s blood.

Just as she had turned her back to the door so that she could blindly search for the handle, the door was pulled open with force.

Anna spun around as the door bounced off the wall, a bloody hand stopping it from rebounding back.

Anna’s eyes stared at the hand, its knuckles raw from repetitive impacts and blood slowly dripping down from it.

She stepped slowly back, swallowing hard as she trailed her gaze over an arm, then a bare chest, all dripping with blood. She then raised her eyes to meet glowing red ones and a malicious smile that bared sharpened teeth—the only evidence that Anna needed to know that she was dealing with a wolf in human skin.

Blake slowly dropped his arm, stepping back from the door.

His naked body was grotesquely covered in blood and gore, and Anna swallowed hard, trying to resist the urge to be sick.

Her eyes left the alpha and looked around the room behind him. Just past his shoulder, she could see Louis curled into a ball on the floor.

His face was unrecognizable, already swelling and covered in blood. Her eyes quickly moved on, finding a puddle of blood on the floor.

There, she paused as her brain tried to recognize what she was seeing.

It took a moment to register that it was fur lying in the blood, just inches away from a paw that was only barely attached to the rest of the leg, with stark white bone among the brown fur and blood.

Unable to see the rest of the wolf, Anna jerked her gaze back to Blake.

He had followed her gaze around the room and was now meeting her stare, a sadistic smirk on his lips.

He held a bloody hand out to her, his fingers curling, motioning her to step forward.

Anna focused on the hand, seeing skin and fur caught under his nails and blood slowly dripping from his hand to the ground.

She stared at it in horror before hurling the contents of her stomach all over the floor and Alpha Blake’s bare feet.