Chapter 40
T he new computer was a dream. I had some images and footage already uploaded to the cloud, plus everything I’d worked on there before, so the only things truly lost were the photos and video from my most recent trip with Brandon. Seeing his face on my screen now made my stomach turn as I scrolled through the folder.
I searched for the hatred in his eyes, looking for what might’ve led him to do what he did. I wasn’t certain I would ever understand what drove someone to those lengths, at least not when their own life wasn’t at stake.
Brandon was a mystery I would probably never solve and I had to be okay with that.
I spent an hour or so putting together the start of a new post to update people on my well-being since I knew I’d get nothing but questions if I posted anything else before that, and then I clicked into the email connected to my blog and channel. I scrolled through tons of messages from people saying they hoped I would be found safe, and newer ones relieved I had been, but one in particular caught my eye.
From: Steven North
He was part of our mutual friend group, a standoffish alpha who probably only tolerated my presence because of Brandon.
Shit, Morg. I never really liked you, but I never wanted you dead. I’m not going to hand him over to the cops so I’ll leave that to you.
Below that was a link to a private video. I hesitantly clicked on it, already stress sweating over what it could possibly contain.
Ryder looked up from his desk. “Why do you smell like burnt sugar? What’s going on over there?”
A moment later Bear appeared in the doorway, probably summoned by the twisting nerves I was blasting at him through the bond.
“Someone from my friend group emailed me through my website. There’s a video link attached.”
“Do you want company or would you rather watch it yourself?” Ryder asked.
I chewed my lip, considering. “I wouldn’t mind some emotional support. I don’t know what’s on it, but it sounds like it’s about Brandon.”
Both of them immediately moved to my side, Bear pulling his desk chair over to sit next to me and Ryder putting a comforting hand on my shoulder.
I hit play and ice flowed into my veins. The video quality was terrible, and the angle was like the phone was on the ground, but I recognized Brandon in the bonfire light and a couple more members of the friend group hovering nearby. I assumed Steven was the one recording since he wasn’t visible.
“Calm down, dude,” Steven said off-screen.
“Fuck off. How am I supposed to calm down? How the fuck is she still alive? I should’ve done a better job of it.”
Only silence came in response to that besides the crackling of the fire.
“A better job?” Steven asked. “What do you mean? I thought she got lost in the storm.”
Brandon took a long drink out of a bottle of whiskey. “She did.”
“’Fess up, man,” said John, another member of the friend group. “Did you finally do something? Snap out there in the woods? I wouldn’t blame you if you did.”
Brandon hurled the whiskey into the fire, the flames whooshing into the air as the liquor combusted. “Selfish little cunt turned me down again . What the fuck is her problem? Fuck, Paul, I should’ve done what you suggested.”
“What did Paul suggest?” Steven asked.
“More than she deserved,” Paul said with a laugh that nauseated me. “Brandon wanted that pussy so bad I told him to lock her up somewhere until she went into heat. She’d beg him to do anything, he could sneak in a bond, and she’d be stuck with him. Pussy on tap for life. That’s what I did with Maisie. Stupid bitch thought she could run away for college and now she has three kids, so she’s not going anywhere.”
I hit pause and turned to empty my stomach into the little trash can next to my desk.
Ryder held back my hair and Bear stroked a soothing hand down my back, though the pulsing rage I felt from him in the bond didn’t help the situation.
Fury and anguish burned hot in my gut. What kind of person talked about these things, let alone actually did them? They probably talked like this all the time, and not a single one of them called it out. Did they all hate us that much?
At least I knew my uneasiness around them all these years was for a good reason.
I sucked in a shaky breath. It was beyond fucked up that I was grateful Brandon had only abandoned me in the woods to die rather than doing to me what Paul had done to Maisie. She was living my nightmare. It was almost exactly what I’d always feared would happen to me but hadn’t quite convinced myself it was a real risk.
I knew better now.
Ryder grabbed some tissues from his desk and I wiped my tears away, hitting play again.
“That’s kind of fucked up, dude,” said Steven.
Paul scoffed. “Like you’re any better with Natalie. You’ve put a kid in her every fucking year since you bonded her, got a damn army of kids building up. These bitches think they’re too good for us and have to pay the price for it. How else are they going to learn their place?”
“I should’ve fucked her first.” Brandon marched over and stole a drink out of Steven’s hand, tossing it back before throwing the plastic cup into the fire.
Tears streamed down my cheeks, and for what it was worth, I could feel Bear trying to control his emotions so he didn’t dump them all over me, but I certainly wasn’t able to return that favor.
“I got too pissed to think with my cock,” Brandon lamented, as if anyone would feel sorry for him. “It would’ve been damn good too. She looked so fucking scared. If she would’ve just died out there, I wouldn’t have this problem, but now she’s alive and talking to the goddamn cops and they think I’m the one who tried to kill her.”
“…But you are the one who tried to kill her,” said Steven.
“They’re not supposed to fucking know that!” Brandon snapped.
I hit pause again, swallowing hard, trying to control my breathing to keep the nausea at bay.
Ryder’s grip on me tightened. “I’d like to commit a crime on every single one of these assholes. Holy fucking shit. I’m so sorry, Morgan. These people were your friends?”
“Friends is a generous way to put it. I tolerated them sometimes, and they tolerated me because Brandon wanted me around. I didn’t visit often, and if I’d ever heard them talk like this, I never would’ve gone back.”
I tucked my wobbling bottom lip between my teeth and hit play again.
“So what did you do?” Steven asked. “Leave her out in the snow?”
“Pretty much, after I took all her shit. How the hell did she get out of there? I had her phone so I know she didn’t call for help. I took her snowshoes so it would’ve taken her days to crawl out of there. I didn’t even call in the search until I was sure she was already dead.”
Bear’s fury pulsed bright and hot down the bond. I was probably reflecting the same back.
The rest of the video was mostly Brandon ranting about how fucked he was, but just before it ended, Steven excused himself to head home. The image warped and focused onto the blazing headlights of a truck, his voice coming loud through the speaker though he was whispering. “He’s hiding out at the compound. There’s a building on the north side about two hundred feet back from the fences. Paul and his family are keeping him fed.”
Then it all cut off.
I hated every single one of them. I could’ve speculated what was going on in their heads, but hearing them say it so blatantly was sickening.
“We have to get this to the police,” said Ryder. “Download it in case it gets deleted.”
When I didn’t move, he did it for me.
Bear pulled me out of my chair and onto his lap, cocooning me in his arms, his purr already rumbling. Ryder took up my spot, prepping an email to send to the sheriff’s department with the attached video and the information I knew about each person we’d seen recorded.
“Do you know the address of the compound that guy was talking about?” Ryder asked me.
“I could probably find it, but I don’t know the numbers. I’ve only ever been out there riding with someone else, which in hindsight was not a smart move.”
“Now you know and can avoid it forever.”
“Yep. Pull up the map, please.” I searched my hometown and scrolled north until I found the road we always turned off to get there. “It’s around here. At least sixty people live on the property, not including the kids.”
“Jesus, why? They got a cult going out there?”
I cringed. “You’re probably not far off. I tried to stay out of it as much as I could. I’ve only been a couple times. Now I feel like I should’ve been going more to give Maisie some company. God, that poor woman.”
“No sense putting yourself in danger. If that asshole was floating the idea to Brandon, you wouldn’t have been safe.”
“I know.” I swiped my hands over my cheeks and sank back into Bear’s embrace. “I just feel so bad.”
“Think of it like on an airplane,” said Ryder. “You have to put on your own mask before helping anyone else. Maybe there’ll be something you can do once you’re settled. Or maybe the cops will be useful. This guy admitted to some pretty hefty illegal shit. I don’t know if it’s enough proof to get her out of there, but hopefully the start of a case at least.”
I could comfort myself with that.
Pumpkin came bounding in, Kit and Maverick following a moment later and stopping short in the doorway.
“What’s going on?” Kit asked. “What happened?”
Ryder gave them an explanation, and their faces paled. I closed my eyes, trying to keep my breathing under control. Maverick quietly tidied away the trash can and returned with a glass of water for me. I sipped it slowly, my stomach still trying to rebel.
“Okay,” said Ryder, “email sent. Now we have to hope they do their jobs.”
“How can we help you, little fox?” Kit kneeled at my side.
“I don’t know. I wasn’t expecting my whole day to get derailed with fresh horrors.”
Bear’s arms tightened around me, warm affection smoothing down the fury and helping to settle my stomach.
“Could we maybe have a cuddle in the nest for a while?”
Kit kissed my hair, hand moving slowly down my back. “We absolutely can. As long as you need.”
Bear stood with me in his arms and carried me upstairs, the others and Pumpkin following closely. The world might be deeply fucked, but at least I had this…at least I had my pack. I needed to hold on to that. No matter how bad everything else might look, they were mine, and I really fucking needed that knowledge right now.