Chapter Thirty-One
Jamie
My phone is ringing. I turn over, eyes still closed, slapping at it, but it keeps ringing, will keep doing that, I guess, until I pick it up and answer it.
Rude.
When I do answer it, at first, I don’t recognise the voice on the other end. “Wha—Who is it?”
“Kieran,” Kieran says. His voice is grave. “I need you to get up and get dressed. Something has happened. I’m coming to get you.”
I jerk upright, heart thundering. “Something… Is everyone okay? No one’s—” I can’t say the last word.
Kieran sighs. “Everyone is alive and well. Alpha Axel is talking to Em and Patch.”
“I don’t—” I shake my head. “I don’t understand.”
“I’ll explain when I get there. Ten minutes. Get dressed.”
He hangs up, and I look through my notifications, but I have nothing from Em or Patch, and nothing from Vince, either. What’s the big deal? So they’re mates. Doesn’t everyone know already?
I climb out of bed and start to dress. Maybe Patch told Em what he was and things went south? I don’t see why they’d need me for that. And even if they do, it’s one in the morning.
Nick comes out of his room when I stumble into the hall. He looks like he’s been asleep for a while, too, hair sticking out at odd angles. “Everything okay?”
“Something’s happened with Patch and Em.”
“Em?” Nick leans over and shoves Em’s door. It swings open easily, the room beyond dark and silent. “Fuck, is he okay? Do you think something happened?”
“Kieran said no one was hurt or dead. Alpha Axel is talking to them.”
“Who’s that?”
“Patch’s alpha.”
“You know him?”
I shake my head.
“So why are you going?”
“I don’t know.” I’m worried, though. Something feels wrong. My head is pounding, skin too tight. I’d think I’d been crying, but when I touch my eyes, they’re not swollen or hot. “I don’t know, but I don’t think it’s good.”
Nick nods. “Want me to come with you?”
It’s a far cry from where he was months ago. Far cry from where he was days ago, even. I’m glad he’s coming around, but I shake my head all the same. “Kieran’s coming. He won’t let anything happen to me.”
Nick sets his jaw but nods. He thinks Kieran is dangerous. He’s said so, and it’s why I don’t know if he’ll ever truly get along with all of them. But he knows, too, that Kieran will keep me safe. If there’s one thing he’s good at, it’s keeping people around him healthy and whole.
“Okay. Text me when you have eyes on him? And let me know what’s going on. I mean, what you can.”
“I’ll let you know all of it,” I say, because Nick already knows about wolves and the rest, so where’s the harm? “I’m gonna have to ring into work anyway, I think—” My phone lights up in my hand and Kieran’s name flashes up on screen. “Fuck. Gotta go.”
Nick nods. I hurry down the stairs and out into the night.
It’s a twenty-minute drive to Alpha Axel’s packhouse, and Kieran fills me in on what he knows along the way. I don’t think he wants to, but Lucien is sitting up front, Sam’s driving, and he turns around and looks at Kieran until he sighs and gives in.
All these mates seem to have a silent way of communicating with each other. Sometimes I find it funny. Right now, it’s kind of infuriating.
“You’re fucking kidding,” I say once Kieran has finished explaining.
“It’s everywhere,” Kieran says. He looks stricken. “Deacon’s waiting with Axel. I don’t—Em didn’t know about us, so that’s one thing, but he just got video of a wolf shifting.”
“Has he taken it down?”
“Yeah. Right after. Patch called Axel, and he told them to come in. Called me.” Kieran sighs. “But it doesn’t matter. I vouched for him.”
“You did? Why did you have to?”
Kieran shrugs. “He’s Patch’s mate. I thought he had everything in hand. But he lives with you and Nick, too, so we had to make a judgement call. If something accidentally slipped out, it’s not you or Nick or Em on the line. It’s me.”
“Us,” Lucien says from the front seat. Sam’s hands tighten on the wheel.
“Fuck,” I mutter. “So I—”
“He asked for you,” Kieran says, “or I wouldn’t have called you so late. They both did. Not that—no one thinks you’re to blame for this, of course. It’s pretty cut-and-dried.”
“Is it?”
“Apparently.”
We pull up outside Axel’s packhouse, and I follow the others to the door. I don’t know the wolf who answers, but she seems angry and gives me a particularly dismissive look. Sam steps back to walk me inside, hand hovering just above my lower back.
“Don’t let them see if you’re scared,” he murmurs as she leads us down a hallway.
His packhouse looks like it’s a few flats knocked together in a larger building.
I don’t know if she can hear us. “Nothing bad is going to happen, and if things do go wrong, I’ll get you and Em out of there. That’s my first priority.”
I glance over at him. “What about Patch?”
“He’s not part of our pack. He’s Axel’s responsibility.”
I frown. I don’t want him to be, but that’s his choice, I suppose, so I can’t fight it. I nod instead, and Sam drops into place behind me as we walk into a large office.
Em and Patch are sitting on separate chairs in the centre of the room.
I don’t recognise anyone else, though I have to assume the muscular man sitting behind the desk is Alpha Axel.
Another man, one who looks to be in his late forties, leans against the wall behind him and Kieran looks at him first, tilting his head to one side.
“Alpha Deacon,” he says, and the older-looking man nods in acknowledgement. “Alpha Axel.”
“Alpha Kieran,” Axel says. “I’d offer you a seat, but they’re all occupied.”
Kieran says nothing. Patch darts a look at him, then flinches, shoulders hunching up around his ears. Em stares down at his knees.
Neither of them looks at me. I want to scream. Why am I here?
“What exactly happened?” Kieran asks.
“Explain,” Axel bites out. He’s not looking at Kieran. He’s staring at Patch, who keeps his eyes down and shoulders tight.
I curl my hands into fists. I don’t like this. I know they’ve fucked up—both of them—and I’m about to find out how much, but this feels a lot like bullying.
Sam reaches over and takes hold of my wrist. He’s slow and gentle, but I get the warning. Alpha Deacon is watching me, not either of them. I let out a breath and, with it, relax my hands.
“I—I’ve been appearing as a wolf before Em for a week or so,” Patch says. His voice is faint, uncertain. “Tonight, I convinced him to follow me. I shifted. I wanted him to see… Wanted him to know.”
“Why?” Axel asks.
Patch does look up at him then, gaze stubbornly defiant. “Because he’s my mate.”
Sam’s grip on my wrist tightens. Probably for the best because I haven’t heard Patch say that yet, and it kind of hurts, and definitely makes me want to run right out of here. I’m here. Why am I here?
“A wolf revealing themselves to their mate is not a problem,” Kieran says. Axel looks at Patch again.
“I didn’t realise he was recording. Livestreaming. Not until after.”
Kieran knows that, of course, so his only response is a nod.
“Then I called Alpha Axel,” Patch continues. “We came straight here.”
Em faintly trembles and Patch’s gaze darts straight to him. He strains like he wants to reach out but is preventing himself from moving.
Is he angry too? I don’t see how he can be. I told him to tell him, not lure him into the shadows and transform. He’s lucky Em didn’t have a fucking heart attack.
“It is worse than just that,” Alpha Deacon says. If Axel’s voice is soaked in anger, then Deacon’s is dripping with disappointment. “When we asked you about Emerson, we expected you had done your due diligence.”
It’s Kieran’s turn to flinch, and when Sam’s hand tightens around my wrist, this time, I don’t think he means to do it. The tips of Kieran’s ears redden. “I did,” he says.
“You did not uncover any of his social media accounts.”
“We couldn’t find anything under his name. Or under an alias. We did all we could.”
Deacon sighs. “Show him.”
Em’s head falls even further forward as Axel turns his computer screen so we can all see. It’s a social media account—Em’s social media account, I guess—and it’s filled with video after video of him trying to find so-called mythical creatures.
My heart breaks a little bit. He’s trying to find magic. That’s what he came here for, and now he’s found it, and they—
“What’s going to happen?” I ask, and everyone but Em whirls around to face me. Patch looks pained, like he doesn’t want me here. Did he really ask for me? I can’t believe it.
“Excuse me?” Axel asks. A growl echoes through his voice.
“Axel,” Deacon says, a warning. His gaze doesn’t soften any when he turns it back on me. “Patch will be dealt with by his alpha. Emerson must leave the city once we have done our best to clean up some of the mess he caused.”
“Leave?” I scowl. “You can’t just—”
“We can,” Deacon says firmly. A decree. Looking at Kieran’s face, I know he’ll follow it. “It is the least we can do.”
“He didn’t know about werewolves.”
“Oh, no?” Axel asks. He glares at Em. “We found the email. Tell him.”
Em shakes all over. I want to reach for him, but that doesn’t seem like the wisest idea. Instead, I wait. He doesn’t look up; he clutches at his own legs and when he finally speaks, his voice is hesitant and thick.
“I… I came to London looking for a werewolf.”
“He’s being paid for it,” Axel all but spits. He opens another window on his screen. “Fifty grand. Fifty thousand to betray us all.”
That’s why he came to London? That’s the job? I swallow hard. I still don’t understand why I’m here, but if they’re going to force Em to leave—which I’m fairly sure, despite everything, they can’t do—then I know what I want to do next.
I look at Deacon. Not Kieran. Not Axel. “I want to speak to them both alone.”
Axel erupts. He leaps to his feet and Sam tugs me back, but I do my best to stand firm. I don’t really need their permission. I just want them to leave.
“Enough, Axel,” Deacon says, and there’s some resonant quality to his voice that wasn’t there a moment ago. Axel immediately drops back into his seat. Patch tips his head to one side, baring his throat in a way I’ve seen other wolves do before.
Kieran’s jaw tenses, but he otherwise doesn’t move. I don’t really understand what his deal is, but either he’s stronger than the other two, or he knows Deacon better.
It doesn’t stop him from moving when Deacon pushes off from the wall and walks towards me. Kieran positions himself between the two of us and, next to me, Sam lets out a quiet gasp.
“I’m not going to hurt him,” Deacon says. His voice is softer now, and when he looks at me, he doesn’t look angry. Not that he should. I didn’t cause any of this mess. “Just let me take a look, hm?”
Kieran looks back at me. I nod. If this is what gets me time to speak to Em and Patch, I’ll take it. He frowns but steps aside, and Lucien reaches for his hand as though on instinct.
Sam lets go of me too, and for a moment, I feel like I’m adrift, thrown out to float away. The feeling passes quickly. Deacon peers into my face.
“You’ve overcome a lot in the past few months,” he says, and when I frown, he shrugs one shoulder. “One of my betas came to assist Kieran. He was not pleased by what he heard.”
One of his betas? Another wolf. That day is kind of hazy, and I try not to think about it too much.
I’m gripped with a sudden urge to know. “Did you kill Tim? Or did you run him out of the city like you’re doing with Em?”
“Jamie,” Kieran mutters, and Patch’s gaze burns the side of my face.
Deacon sighs. “Do you want to know the truth? Truly.” I open my mouth, but he shakes his head. “You are not a coward for not wanting to know. You might be letting him burden you all over again.”
“No,” I say finally. “I don’t. But I do want to speak to them. If you didn’t bring me here to let me do that, you’ve brought me here just to hurt all of us. That doesn’t sound like what I’ve heard of you.”
Deacon studies me again, and I can’t tell what he’s thinking, but I stare back at him anyway.
It’s difficult not to look away, but I’m not budging on this.
Axel is angry, and parts of his anger are ugly, but I think I understand that.
Patch and Em have threatened all the wolves, and that’s a hard thing to deal with.
But Deacon is supposed to be above the rest of them. Better than the rest of them.
“Everyone out,” he says after a moment. “You have five minutes. We will know if anyone leaves the room.”
I nod. I’m not planning on helping them… escape, or whatever. Sam brushes against me as he leaves, the last of all of them, and I hope he can make it so no one can listen in on our conversation.
Five minutes. I don’t even know all that I want to ask in five minutes.
I don’t hesitate, though, once the door is shut. I rush around and crouch between them. Patch stares at me like he’s never seen me before, but Em… Em still won’t look at me. I reach for his hands and try not to flinch when he pulls them back towards his body.
“I don’t understand,” I say. “Tell me what happened.”