Chapter 4
The majority of the pack volunteered to go with Gray on the search mission.
They all wanted a piece of whatever had taken the cubs.
Gray chose a group of ten of his strongest and fastest wolves to take to the country house.
They parked their vehicles by the road, and half of them shifted into wolf form.
The rest armed themselves with weapons and headed into the woods.
Gray remained in human form, a loaded handgun in his right hand.
The left he shifted so his nails turned into sharp, thick claws.
Liam and Cade flanked him in wolf form. Even though Gray didn’t like it and wanted them to all stay focused on the hunt, his beta and best friend were duty-bound to protect him as well.
Everyone slowed as they drew closer to the house through the woods. They could hear a voice. Gray held up his hand, signaling for everyone to stop moving. “Seven thousand, three hundred sixty-four. Seven thousand, three hundred sixty-five.”
What the fuck is that? Cade’s voice asked Gray through mind-speak.
Gray shrugged and motioned for them to start moving again.
“Seven thousand, three hundred sixty-six.”
Two wolves approached the human on either side. They growled low and deep, fangs bared and hackles raised. He didn’t acknowledge them.
“Seven thousand, three hundred sixty-seven.”
Gray approached, his weapon primed and ready. “Don’t move,” he said, his gun leveled at the man’s head.
“Seven thousand, three hundred sixty-eight.”
That’s fucking annoying, Liam grumbled.
Gray agreed. Take him down.
The other two pack members attacked, one wolf hitting the human in the chest, the other using his body to swipe the man’s legs out from under him. Within seconds, he was pinned with a wolf muzzle around his neck and another ready to strike his abdomen.
“Seven thousand, three hundred sixty-nine.”
“Shut him the hell up.”
“Gladly.”
A pack member still in human form pulled a roll of duct tape from his bag and ripped off a strip. He covered the human’s mouth with it and pressed down harder than he needed to, but it did muffle his voice. Another wide strip of tape secured the human to the tree.
“The mage said two humans and a demon. Be on your guard.” Gray started forward again. The wolves preceded him, and all their senses were on high alert. They surrounded the house and circled around until they met up again at the back.
Another human in the kitchen, Cade said. Any sign of the demon?
A round of negative answers came through the link. Gray’s shoulders tensed in aggravation as he sent the word out to the team. No one saw the demon.
Move in? Liam asked.
Gray nodded. He stayed back with Liam and Cade while two of their pack members kicked open the door. Three wolves rushed into the kitchen and tackled the human standing at the stove. He tried to crawl away, but their combined weight on top of him kept him from getting very far.
“No, no, no!” he screamed. “I cooked for you so you don’t have to eat me!”
Food covered the counters, and each burner on the stove held a pot with something bubbling away inside it.
Jeff sniffed at one of the pots on the stove, wrinkled his nose, and took a step back. “The mage must have done it,” he said. “I heard they could do parlor tricks like this.”
“Focus,” Gray commanded. “Forget the fucking food and secure him. Find the demon.”
The human continued to beg as they taped him up until his mouth was finally covered.
They began searching the house, and Gray’s frustration grew as each room turned up empty.
It took precious time, but they secured the house before they went down to where the cubs and Simon said they’d left the demon.
As soon as they opened the basement door, Gray began to lose control, his wolf demanding to be set free.
The room reeked of the cubs’ fear. He wanted vengeance. His wolf wanted to rip something to shreds. He stormed back up the stairs and grabbed the human in the kitchen by the throat.
Gray slammed him against the wall. His fangs extended, and his voice dropped to a low, deep growl. “The Other, the one from the basement. Where is it?” The human tried to answer through the tape. Gray ripped it off with one vicious pull. “Answer me.”
“He left. He didn’t want to eat. I don’t know where. But you can have it. It’s all for you. I’m almost done now. Almost done! Please!”
Gray tossed him aside and his body landed against the cabinets with a thud. “This is pointless. What the fuck is wrong with them?”
The pack members had all gathered in the kitchen. One of them spoke up. “It was the mage. He did it, I bet. Some creepy shit if you ask me.”
Several of them nodded their agreement. “Do you think he could do this to us? Control us like this?”
Gray didn’t know, which angered him further.
“Why didn’t he just kill them?”
“I don’t know,” Gray growled. “We need to focus on finding the demon. Back outside, everyone, and stick together. It can’t have gotten far. We’ll worry about the mage and his magic later.”
The demon, however, was nowhere to be found. They searched the house and the surrounding area but found nothing except its lingering scent. They recognized the smell as one they’d picked up after the kidnapping but couldn’t follow it for long. It grew fainter before simply vanishing.
Members of the Pack High Council arrived to take custody of the humans, who would be questioned and dealt with according to pack law.
As much as Gray wanted to deal with them personally, a situation of this magnitude, one that broke all known tradition of keeping to themselves, had to be handled by someone who knew more than he did about the Others.
More questions needed to be answered, and the Council left questioning Simon to him, for the time being. They decided not to force Simon to remove his compulsions. They wanted to take the opportunity to study the spells he used to see what they could learn about his abilities.
The members of the Council weren’t the only ones who wanted to know more about Simon. The mysterious mage had lingered in Gray’s thoughts since the moment he’d driven away in his tiny green car.
Gray hadn’t taken the time to process the attraction he’d felt for Simon, that simmering heat that came out of nowhere the first time he’d laid eyes on the mage. Oddly, the cubs were all enamored with him as well and praised his bravery during their rescue.
Even Garon, who typically disliked strangers, made sure Gray knew Simon was “awesome.” His son had also let him know Simon had been hurt in the process, more than he’d let on.
Garon’s description of the demon rushing Simon, Simon getting hit with a spell or something so strong that it had knocked him off his feet, and then doing whatever he’d done to get the demon to drop where it stood, had been told with such wonder that Gray began to feel a bit of awe for the mage himself.
And now he had Garon’s amazing mage as a friend of the pack, and a pack that was a bit freaked out over what said mage had done to the humans. When you added in the lust Gray felt for Simon, the intensity like nothing he’d ever felt before, the hits just kept on coming.
Nevertheless, his son and the other cubs were safely home, and Gray was determined to keep it that way.
The combination of fear and fury that had kept him going for the past few days eased into a simmering rage.
Unanswered questions never sat well with him, especially when it came to his pack’s safety.
After a few hours spent dealing with the repercussions, Gray stood in the doorway of his son’s bedroom and watched Garon sleeping peacefully in his own bed.
Garon twisted around beneath his blanket, and his hair fell into his face again.
Gray walked quietly over to the bed and brushed it back.
Garon let out a soft breath and snuggled into his pillow.
Gray dropped to his knees beside the bed, exhausted from the past few days.
He needed to rest but couldn’t bear to leave Garon alone just yet.
He leaned his head onto the mattress and reached up to slide his hand under Garon’s.
His son’s fingers closed over his, and Gray began to calm, the stress and fear fading as he drifted to sleep.
After a few hours’ rest, he woke up feeling calmer and more in control.
He quietly closed the door to Garon’s room and followed his nose to the kitchen to let Aunt Maggie know he’d be leaving.
As suspected, he found her standing at the stove, making their breakfast. Gray swiped a piece of bacon and avoided the spatula she swung at his hand.
He completed their morning ritual by placing a quick kiss on her head.
“Morning, Alpha,” she said.
Gray’s father’s oldest sister had the same gray hair and blue eyes that all the members of their father’s line possessed.
Her hair was twisted up into a knot on the back of her head.
Combined with the apron she wore over her clothes, she looked a bit like a grandmother from a Norman Rockwell painting.
Of course, if Gray ever mentioned that to her, she’d swing more than a spatula at him.
“Morning, Aunt. I need to head out on some pack business. You’ll be okay with Garon for a while?”
She turned from the stove and gave him the look only mothers can give. Her children might all be older than Gray and out on their own now, but she still had the look down perfectly. “Do I need to tell you to be careful, nephew?”
“No, ma’am.”
“Good. ’Cause I can see the rage in you, boy, and don’t think I can’t. There’s a reason why we don’t mix with the mages, and happenings like this are one of them.”
“I understand. I have to get some answers, though. This pack depends on me for their safety, and I won’t let them down.”