Chapter 29
Chapter Twenty-nine
Phoenix
We got as close as we dared, but apart from passing two bears who were either drunk, asleep, or both, not a single shifter challenged us.
We even made it to the alpha ring, as the bears called it.
One house was in the middle. I called it a house, but really, there were better grain stores in my pack, and it wasn’t that I could accuse Micah Olsen of elitism, as all the dwellings were just as decrepit.
“Stay here,” I mouthed. There wasn’t much movement, but there was a little, and I couldn’t take the chance any bear would smell Kaylan.
Isla grabbed my arm and raised her eyebrows, but I shook my head.
Her scent might help to muddy Kaylan’s. I knew why she wanted to go, of course I did, but they couldn’t scent me.
I gazed over at each house. My night vision as a wolf was as good as the animals themselves, but I’d noticed since becoming alpha, or mated, or a combination of both, my night vision was equally as excellent in my human form.
Each of the seven ramshackle houses was falling apart. The alpha ring was set at the base of a tall mountain range, and I imagined the caves I could see were also being used, as there was no way seven houses could hold the whole pack.
Then, I caught the distinct smell of body odor and watched as the equivalent of a gamma came out of one of the caves. I blinked in shock, then narrowed my eyes to make sure I was seeing what he was holding.
A gun. A hunting rifle, by the looks of it, and big enough to take down a bear.
Fuck. What the hell was a bear shifter doing with a gun?
Apart from the obvious problems with a shift, why would he need something that could shoot a big enough caliber bullet to kill a bear?
And the gun didn’t look old. Not that I was an expert, but why buy something that could cost hundreds if not thousands of dollars when they didn’t have enough to eat?
I didn’t like the answer. I liked it less when a second gamma joined the first, also carrying one. I crept closer, confident that when the second gamma started talking, they wouldn’t hear me.
“This is shit. Why us?”
The first one snorted. “Because he found out what Daddy was doing, dumbass.”
“No, I get that,” the second one said. “But he’s been at this three weeks, and he’s not mated anyone.”
What the actual—?
“And there’s getting less of us,” he added.
“Well, the shipment will get collected tomorrow,” the first one said.
“Yeah, but then what will they do with him?” They both glanced back to the cave, and I crept away. I led Kaylan and Isla back past the two bears that were still asleep to a safe distance and told them both what I’d heard.
Isla’s eyes widened. “Guns?”
“I take it they didn’t have any before?”
She frowned. “Not that I saw anyone carrying, but as a female, I wouldn’t be involved in any shipment if that’s what he’s doing. He introduced a night curfew about six months ago, and we could scent strangers around the camp regularly in the morning. Not that anyone would dare ask about it.”
“Who lives in the caves?” Kaylan asked while I was thinking about a curfew. What didn’t Micah Olsen want the rest of his pack to see?
“Anyone that isn’t in my dad’s inner circle.
Anyone too old to protect the pack,” she whispered.
“We had an elder die about a month before I left. He wasn’t fit because he’d stopped being able to shift, and Dad threw him out of his cabin, saying it was a perk for those who protected the pack.
He wasn’t allowed in the female caves. Officially, three days later, he died of old age, but there was talk he froze to death because he couldn’t shift. ”
“Fuck,” Kaylan said and looked at me. “Why didn’t Bayer say anything?”
“Because there was nothing you could do,” Isla said slowly. “He was trying to wait it out to become alpha.”
“This changes everything, though,” I said. “And I couldn’t scent him in any of the cabins.”
Kaylan met my gaze. “You think that’s who they’re guarding?”
Isla paled. “My brother? We have to get him.” She whirled around, and I had to grab her a second time.
“They have guns.” But Isla looked like she didn’t care. “Let me. I can get in without them seeing.”
She frowned. “How?”
“I need a diversion. Kaylan? Go make some noise, and I’ll meet you back here.” He grinned.
“Go get our boy.”
I crept back to where I could see the cave and would’ve laughed when I heard the normally stealthy cat make so much noise he sounded like a herd of buffalo, if I weren’t worried about my friend.
As predicted, the two idiots at the cave jumped like they’d shot themselves and ran off to investigate when Micah came out and started yelling at everyone.
I slipped into the cave still on two feet because, in my human form, I was actually smaller.
As soon as I was inside, any doubt Bayer was in there immediately faded as I picked up his scent.
I crept along a winding passageway that smelled of decay. Mildew and a hundred different animal scents hit me, then I rounded a corner and stopped in shock as utter fury ran through me so fast I nearly lost control of my shift.
If I hadn’t been able to hear his heartbeat, I would have doubted Bayer was alive.
As it was, he was caged. I knew no chains would hold him.
He would’ve simply pulled them from the wall, and they’d obviously decided this was the next best alternative.
I looked at the massive chain and padlocks that anyone inside the cage couldn’t reach, then hunched down.
Bayer was in his human form, shivering, eyes closed.
A dozen burn marks littered his skin, and I had to force back my anger as I saw the cattle prod leaned up in the corner.
“Bayer,” I whispered. I didn’t have long, and I wasn’t expecting him to be in this condition.
Could he even walk? They’d obviously starved him, as well, judging from the size of him.
“Bayer,” I repeated and took hold of the first padlock, breaking it instantly.
The second took more work, and I knew if it hadn’t been for my alpha strength, I wouldn’t have been able to do it.
It roused Bayer, though. He blinked his eyes open and stared at me, unmoving. “Is that really you?” he croaked out.
“Yes, and we have minutes to get our asses out of here.” I reached in, and he grabbed my hand, stifling a groan as he tried to get his cramped legs to move.
I nearly swore at the swollen ankle, but eventually, he was out.
“Can you shift, then shift back?” We were running out of time, but if Bayer’s animal didn’t heal his ankle, he couldn’t walk, and I for sure couldn’t carry him.
Bayer groaned, but I stepped away and watched as he shifted briefly, then back.
I had to help him stand, but at least he could.
I picked up the cattle prod. It wouldn’t stop a bullet, but anything was better than nothing, and biting back my questions, we got back to the entrance.
I motioned for Bayer to wait as we got close and crept to the entrance, seeing one gamma.
I could hear shouts and gunfire toward the edge of the woods, and I knew Kaylan was still stirring up trouble.
One gamma had returned, but I didn’t need the cattle prod to render him unconscious.
I was lucky it was dark, and the bears were incompetent. When Bayer and I reached the edge of the woods near where we’d come into the camp, I let out my version of an owl’s hoot the three of us had used as kids.
Isla arrived a second behind Kaylan, and Bayer offered them both a relieved grin.
Isla hugged him lightly, but she didn’t look like she wanted to let go until I made her.
Kaylan put his shoulder under Bayer’s other arm, and despite knowing Kaylan and Isla both wanted to ask questions, we had to hustle.
After an hour, it was clear we weren’t going to make it back at this pace and with his condition.
Bayer was struggling, so I found a reasonably safe spot to rest. I knew the pack wasn’t following us, but we couldn’t stay long.
We had to get back, and at this speed, it would take another four hours or so.
As soon as we stopped, Isla threw her arms around him. “I’m so glad to see you, little brother,” she whispered into his neck.
But Bayer needed some water and some food, and Kaylan immediately left us to see what he could find. Isla passed him a container of water, which he finished in two large gulps.
“What the fuck’s been going on?” I asked, which made Bayer shrug.
“I wouldn’t mate Shona.”
Isla gasped. “Aunt Shona?”
Bayer nodded.
“That’s disgusting,” she growled out.
“Wait, they wanted you to mate your mom’s older sister? That Shona?” That even shocked me. “Your mom, Annaline?” I added to make sure we were talking about Bayer’s mom, not his stepmom.
He nodded again. “The alpha said he thought the older females had a better chance of heats than the ones that have never had any, and Shona apparently has had mini-heats up to a year ago, but no luck breeding.”
“That’s insane,” Isla said.
“What about the guns?” I asked as Kaylan came back with two rabbits that Bayer turned his nose up at.
“Shift, you idiot,” Kaylan snapped. “We can’t light a fire.”
We all knew in his animal form, Bayer could easily stomach them raw. I filled Kaylan in on what Bayer had said about his dad while Bayer finished them both.
“I didn’t smell any big game out there,” Kaylan confirmed. “I was lucky to get rabbits.” He handed Bayer a water pouch he’d filled when he shifted back, and Bayer drained it.
“He’s smuggling guns for a cut of the profits, but he’s not buying food for the ones that need it, only his gammas.”
“We have to get back,” I said uneasily. Much as I’d like to give Micah Olsen a lesson in humility, we didn’t have time. I didn’t like leaving the pack. I liked leaving Em even less.
Bayer nodded. “I feel better. I can shift. If we run, we’re only about three hours or so.”
“So long as you stop if you need to.”
We loped away, taking it in turns to stay close to Bayer to make sure he wasn’t struggling and to roam wide so we could make sure we weren’t being tracked.
Not that Micah wouldn’t suspect how Bayer had gotten free, but he was safe within my pack, and there was no way I was letting Micah get anywhere near him, never again.
Just as we were heading into the last hour, I suddenly slowed and put my paw up. I could hear something. I could smell… Matthew. I shifted back just as the others scented him, and a few minutes later, he ran and shifted in front of us himself.
“Phoenix,” Matthew gasped, and every hair on the back of my neck rose. “The silver-skins invaded the camp.” He paused, and I held my breath, knowing by the sick feeling in the pit of my stomach what he was going to say.
“We can’t find Emery. We’re worried they took him, and—”
My wolf snarled his rage, and I was racing away on four legs, leaving the others behind before Matthew had even finished his sentence.
I would kill them. Every single one of them. Fuck the treaty.
This was war.