Chapter 37
Chapter Thirty-seven
Phoenix.
I stared at the waste of space for a bear shifter dispassionately.
I’d sent Isla for the baby for two reasons.
One, because I trusted her, but more so, I wanted her out of the way while I interrogated her father.
Despite the way she’d been treated, he was still her sire.
Not that I doubted her loyalty or capabilities.
I just didn’t want to force her into that position.
I’d sent Matthew with her for just about the same reason.
Karl and Helio stood at the entrance to the holding area, and I had more shifted wolves on the perimeter in case the bears or the humans they were doing the gunrunning with decided to come back for him.
Not that there were any humans left after the last failed attack, but I didn’t know if there were more back at Micah’s camp.
And humans with guns weren’t a threat to be taken lightly.
I eyed Micah in silence, noted the purple bruising on his face, the swelling, and the cut lip where I’d punched him, and wondered why he hadn’t shifted.
He wasn’t caged or prevented from shifting in any manner similar to how he’d imprisoned Bayer.
It should’ve been the first thing he did, and I was surprised his bear hadn’t insisted on it.
My wolf would never have let me stay injured, and we were both alphas.
And judging from the size of his gut, he was hardly starving himself, which made me wonder if something else was going on. I let my wolf come forward a tiny bit. My hands didn’t grow claws, but every sense I had became sharper. I could sense his bear, but something didn’t seem right.
Micah grumbled low in his belly, and I nearly laughed. I was certain it was supposed to sound threatening, but it sounded more like indigestion. His eyes narrowed. “I demand you release me immediately. You’ve committed a grave mistake imprisoning an alpha.”
“Worse than sharing our secret with humans? What you just did amounts to a declaration of war.”
He blustered. “You don’t have the wolves to take me down.”
“And yet you’re the one locked up here, not me,” I countered reasonably and leaned back against the wall next to the open door as if I had all the time in the world, almost daring him to come at me.
“I’m going to call a Gathering. When the elders find out—”
“Find out what?” I snapped. “That you used armed humans to attack my pack?”
He shrugged. “That was nothing to do with me. Anyone who says it is, is lying.” Then his expression turned crafty. “But you can interrogate them and ask.”
I didn’t bother with a reply. He thought he was being clever because he knew we wouldn’t have let any of them live, and I had no intention of mentioning Ben.
“What I don’t understand is why you came here to get Bayer when you’ve treated him like crap for years, and you locked him in a cage to starve him into submission. ”
“None of your fucking business,” he screamed, spittle flying from his mouth as he lunged at me, but I was faster, so much so it was barely any effort to push him back, and he stumbled and sprawled on the floor.
“Was it because you feel so threatened? Because Bayer is the alpha you could never hope to be?”
He snarled, but he didn’t make any attempt to get up. I was trying to goad him into shifting, but it wasn’t working, which was even more confusing. In this enclosed space, his bear had an advantage, a great advantage. But I knew without a shadow of a doubt I could take him.
I studied him a moment longer, then abruptly turned and left the room. Karl locked the door, but I didn’t think he would be a threat and went to find Bayer.
I asked Dad to relieve Bayer for me because I wasn’t ready to talk to Ben, and while my dad sent me a speculative look, he didn’t ask. A moment later, Bayer joined me, and I walked a reasonable distance away so we couldn’t be heard.
“Alpha,” Bayer said respectfully, and I rolled my eyes.
“It’s just us, Bayer. You’re still one of my best friends, and I get making a show in front of the others, but not with me.”
He huffed a laugh. “What if I forget?”
“Then they’ll all have to get over it.”
He eyed me in amusement, then huffed a second time. “Spit it out then.”
I described what I’d just seen of his dad and paused for his reaction. “But that doesn’t make sense,” Bayer agreed. “If anything, he’d want to show his dominance. Be the big man. And in that room? I know you’re fast, but there’d be only so far you could go.”
I totally agreed. “Bayer, when was the last time you saw your father shift?”
Bayer’s eyes widened. “You think he can’t?
” I could see him thinking furiously. “It has to be months…” He shook his head.
“You know, I’m not sure. He hasn’t hunted for years.
I remember him shifting and punishing a guard, but that…
” Bayer met my gaze. “That was the winter before last. I haven’t seen him shift since. ”
I was becoming more convinced of what was behind this whole thing. “What if he can’t? It happens. Not usually that young, but what would happen if he was unable?”
Bayer drew a sharp breath in. “By our law, he would have to cede the alpha position.”
I nodded, letting that sink in. A lot of people took Bayer’s good nature for laziness and stupidity, but they were very wrong.
“You think that’s what all this is about?” Bayer asked. “He doesn’t want to see me take over, so he pretends. Brings in humans. Makes the pack so afraid of him no one dares challenge him?”
I arched what Em called my signature eyebrow.
“Shit,” Bayer said with feeling, took a few steps away, turned, then came back. “So now what?”
“That’s your decision. He isn’t going anywhere for now, but we can’t keep him here indefinitely.”
“You think I should challenge him?” Bayer asked in barely a whisper.
“I can’t make that decision for you. You know that. You have a home with us for as long as you need one.” I paused. “What about the rest of your pack? What are they like?”
Bayer sighed. “Terrified, if I’m honest, or the good ones anyway. He’s had bears shot when families have tried to leave.”
It was my turn to be shocked, but I suppose I shouldn’t have been. “What about this gun thing? How long has that been going on?”
Bayer gazed at me. “Since about the last time I saw him shift.”
“So not a coincidence,” I agreed. “How about we see what Isla thinks? He’s safe for tonight. I’ll invite the betas to breakfast tomorrow, and we’ll hash it out, see if it helps.” I nudged him affectionately. “You don’t have to do anything if you don’t want to.”
“And what about the rest of the pack? The decent ones?”
I didn’t have an answer to that, and together, we walked back to Esther’s.
Isla
I gazed at the silver camper, although camper was probably too good a word.
Camper inferred somewhere to sleep, and judging from the rusted panels, the cracked windows, and the tarp tied over the roof in an effort to make it waterproof, I would rather curl up on a rock than attempt to sleep in there.
Although as a bear, I could, but humans weren’t as fortunate.
And I didn’t judge people who were just trying to survive. It was likely all they had.
Then I inhaled again, and as I crept nearer, I could detect the different smells coming from this camper to the others and revised my previous thought. The stench of old alcohol definitely, and I caught a whiff of something I knew to be a human drug they often smoked.
No one had seen me move through the trees at the edge of the campground. I’d heard other kids playing nearer the entrance, and I caught a glance of an old man smoking a pipe, but none of them had seen me. None of them would unless I wanted them to.
Matty was hidden further in the trees, shifted in case he was needed, and even as I was assessing the best thing to do, I grinned at how I’d referred to him.
I only called him Matty when no one else except us could hear.
I’d fought long and hard to be Phoenix’s beta commander, and suddenly, using a pet name where it could be heard wouldn’t do much for my stern image.
And while my father still posed a threat, I couldn’t afford to let my guard down.
Ben had said a woman would be minding his sister, but that she drank.
I hadn’t had time to come up with any plan except simply taking the baby by force, but it wouldn’t hurt to see if I could get away without the woman knowing at all.
If she drank so much, she might even be asleep.
It sounded quiet. I reached out my hand to see if the door was unlocked, but just as my fingers closed around the handle, I heard the obvious cry from a baby and a sharp answering voice. “You little fucker. What—”
I didn’t give whoever was speaking a chance to finish the question before I was inside and my arm was around the adult’s throat, cutting off her air before she got to say another word.
She passed out in seconds, and I let her body drop to the floor.
I had no interest in killing her, just getting Ben’s sister.
I took in the trash-strewn interior, the moldy smell coming from the takeout boxes balanced haphazardly on most surfaces.
The broken and chipped pots used as overflowing ashtrays, and the remains of rolled cigarettes that I knew didn’t just contain tobacco.
Next to a small gas heater were some foil strips with scorch marks that neither I nor my wolf liked the smell of either.
Then my eyes narrowed on a pile of filthy blankets and the little girl that was blinking up at me with huge brown eyes.
Little girl? Barely more than a baby. I didn’t know how old, as I hadn’t seen many children, but I doubted if she was more than a year.
She was wearing a filthy diaper and not much else.
Her lank black curls fell haphazardly about her head, and I could smell the slight taint of blood from a deep scratch on her arm.
There was a broken bottle next to her that carried the woman’s scent and a bruise forming on her scrawny shoulder.
I breathed out my fury, as I didn’t want to scare her, but I was willing to bet the old hag had thrown the bottle at her.
I bent down and smiled. “Hi, sweetie, my name’s Isla.
Want to come with me and go see Ben?” I reached down for her, and miracles of miracles, naming Ben must have worked because she reached up and let me pick her up without any protest. I transferred her to my hip and paused.
I wasn’t sure how much babies were supposed to weigh, but she didn’t seem chubby or healthy like the ones I saw in pictures and the ones on the camping grounds we occasionally saw.
She clung her arms tightly around my neck.
And seeing a little blanket with puppies—not quite as dirty—I grabbed that, as well.
I took a last look around the hovel, needing to be out of here before either the woman woke up or anyone else arrived, and spotted a curtained-off space and looked in.
To say this was completely different was a gross understatement.
Just as threadbare, but clean and tidy. I saw a small teddy and a pack of diapers pushed under a folded blanket and grabbed those, as well.
I would’ve known instantly this was Ben’s space, even if I hadn’t smelled him faintly on everything.
Awkwardly, because I was still holding Callie, I spotted a ripped backpack with a mixture of clothes in it and grabbed that, as well, shoving the blanket, the small pack of diapers, and the teddy in there.
I brushed a kiss on Callie’s head and turned for the door, admitting that I quite liked the way she still clung on, realizing I was holding a child for the first time in my life. “Come on, sweetie, let’s get you out of here.”