Chapter 43
Chapter Forty-three
Phoenix
I stared at my pack, my fighters. There weren’t as many as there would have been years ago, but as Emery was fond of saying, it was quality, not quantity.
We’d run to the same point as before when we came for Bayer.
Far enough that their scouts wouldn’t scent us, assuming they were even doing their job.
I sensed Matthew before I even heard him.
He padded out of the trees, then immediately shifted.
His expression was a mixture of worry and confusion.
“I can’t scent the scouts, Alpha. I don’t know if that means they’ve been called closer or they’re all the way back at the pack. ”
Bayer shifted and stepped forward. “He got very lazy. Without the humans for camp security, he may have been forced to dispense with the outer scouts completely.”
I glanced over in the direction of the camp. If they shifted, at top speed, it would take twenty minutes. Stealthily, at least double, and they couldn’t afford to go charging in. “How likely do you think it is that Micah will accept Ben’s explanation?”
Bayer gazed at me, and I knew the answer before Bayer spoke. “We both know he’ll make an example of him,” Bayer said. “But I think he’ll want to make him suffer first.”
“So a cage?” Bayer nodded, so I glanced at Isla.
“Isla, take Matthew and Draven. Circle to the back. If we can get Ben out without a battle, then good.” I glanced at Bayer.
“You and Karl with me. I left Simeon back at the pack along with ten of my gammas for pack protection. We left another ten about five miles back.”
It was Kasim’s responsibility to be a runner and go get them if they were needed, but I was still hoping for a quiet retrieval. I knew it was a little optimistic that we may catch them out twice, but—
And then I smelled it, and had shifted and was streaking through the trees before I’d even realized it.
Blood.
And at least more than one blood scent. I knew all my pack was behind me.
They’d immediately realized with my sudden shift that there was something wrong and followed.
The blood smelled stronger the closer we got, and knowing it was more than one made me push my wolf to even greater speed.
Not that he needed the order. My animal was just as much an alpha as I, and he was ready to fight.
Nothing could have readied me for the sight of utter carnage, and I screeched to a halt and shifted immediately.
I was so stunned I barely registered the rest of the pack arriving behind me.
There were at least twelve bodies—bears—dead in human form.
And right in the middle was the white, almost shriveled husk of what used to be Micah Olsen.
“Isla, see if the women are alive. Bayer, check the caves.” I knew they’d seen the same as I, and harsh as that sounded, I wasn’t giving them the chance to feel pity or even grieve. We needed to get back to the pack.
My dad came to stand beside me as Matthew and Karl checked the bodies, but I knew by the absence of heartbeats, none were alive.
“There’s only one way a death like this could happen,” my dad murmured, but I knew. I knew Micah Olsen had been drained of every drop of blood in him. It was a deliberate statement, and the only creature that could have done this without any visible wound was a silver-skin.
“Alpha?” I turned as Bayer came toward me, shaking his head. “The caves are empty. No sign of Ben. Let me search the cabins.”
“Alpha?” This time I saw Isla leading three women, one sobbing, one who was pale and wide-eyed, and a third more mature, and even as she was distressed, I could see her trying to comfort the other two.
I walked quickly forward and guided all three into an empty cabin.
They didn’t need to see any more than I could help.
Isla helped them sit and asked if they could explain what they knew.
“Alpha,” the older woman said. “I’m Maya.
My mate separated from me two winters ago, and I was the…
cook for the humans.” Her eyes lowered, and I wondered if her slight hesitation before she used the word cook meant that she’d been expected to perform other duties.
Fuck. If that was true and we found any alive, I would kill them myself.
I glanced at Isla just for confirmation. “Separated?”
“The equivalent of a human divorce,” she explained.
“The fuck?” Matthew exclaimed.
I knew what he meant. Some shifters had been known to take a second mate for varying reasons, and as far as I was concerned, so long as everyone agreed, that was their business, but the bears had started what they called separation as a response to the females not having cubs.
Idiots like Micah had obviously blamed the females, calling them defective, and some of the bears had bought into his crap.
“Then he didn’t deserve you,” my dad said suddenly, and I glanced at him, trying to hide my shock, especially when Maya shot him a tentative smile.
I sent Matthew and Karl with Bayer to check the rest of the camp. “Maya, we need to know what happened, but where’s the rest of your pack?” I prompted.
She nodded. “Many ran while the alpha was missing, but two of his men decided the females had to stay.” She looked up as Bayer came back in.
“Mother,” Bayer addressed her respectfully, giving her the title that the bears used as a term of respect, and I could see she was shocked. “We need to find them.”
“They’re in the old canyon,” Maya whispered.
Bayer looked at Isla. “I think it would be better if you went.” Isla stood, and taking the young shocked one with her, they left.
“Thank you,” I said gently and smiled at the she-bears that were left. “Now, please explain what happened.”
“It was the boy, Ben,” Maya said. “He came into the camp escorted by the scouts. He made no attempt to run. Said that as a human, he wasn’t accepted by your pack. Said he’d been restrained, but then you’d released him and told him to go.”
Maya kept her expression blank, but I knew she didn’t approve or hoped it wasn’t true. “He said he’d seen his dad die in the attack and didn’t have anywhere to go. Hoped he could be taken on if Micah needed more men.”
The other she-bear tried to swallow a sob, and Maya put her arm around her but continued without any more prompting.
“Micah was furious. He’d been drinking with the human male that came back with him.
He demanded Ben tell him where his dad had gotten the guns from, and Ben said that he didn’t know.
That he never told him, and Micah lost it.
He hit Ben so hard I—” Maya gulped in a breath.
“I thought he’d killed him. Even the human tried to calm him down.
Said they didn’t need the guns. That they had a better way of making money, and to trust him. ”
I glanced at my dad, and he nodded once. So, Christopher Valentine was still trying to sell his son down the river, and he wasn’t amongst the dead.
“Then—” Maya stopped and shook her head. “We’d heard rumors of the silver-skins, but the alpha always said they didn’t exist. That you were lying because you wanted the territory.”
My dad shook his head. “Phoenix tried to warn him at the Gathering months ago, and he wouldn’t listen.”
She nodded. “Micah called for the scouts to wake Ben up… throw water on him. Said he was gonna use him for training, and the human asked him what he meant, and he said Ben was going to get a five-minute start to run, and the bear that caught him and brought back his dead body would be allowed his choice of a she-bear for the night.”
Bayer took a look at Isla. “Since when? He’s never been that bad.”
“Are you surprised?” Isla asked her brother bitterly, but then her face softened. “Don’t mix up the man you hoped he would become for the man he actually was, Bayer.”
Bayer’s shoulders were hunched.
“It wasn’t your fault, Alpha,” Maya said quietly, and it clearly took Bayer a moment to realize she was talking to him. Micah was dead. Bayer was the alpha, except he’d given his loyalty to me, and obviously, I would release him and help, but I wasn’t convinced he wanted to run the bear pack.
“The scouts threw a bucket of water at Ben, and he roused a little, but he was barely conscious. Micah laughed and told him to run because if he didn’t, his scouts would catch him and rip him to shreds. Ben stared at Micah as if he didn’t understand, and all of a sudden, they were there.”
“The silver-skins,” I said. Not that I needed any confirmation.
She nodded. “The leader just appeared, and there were three more. We didn’t see where they’d come from, and they carry no scent.
He stared at Micah as the other three all surrounded Ben.
One moment Ben was there, and the next, he’d gone with one of the three.
They moved so fast I didn’t even see them. ”
“It’s like they glide,” the other she-bear that had been crying finally whispered, and of course I knew exactly what she meant. “And the alpha didn’t seem to know what to say, and even the human shut up.”
Maya nodded. “But Micah blustered and said they’d just violated the agreement because Ben was human, and the leader laughed. He just laughed and said it was Micah that had broken the vow because he’d attacked one of them.”
I hissed in a breath. It confirmed what we suspected.
“Micah started panicking. Denied everything, but the leader said they’d been aware that Micah had been breaking the agreement because he’d told humans their secret. That he was coming to the pack already but what he’d found was even worse, and that Micah had forfeited his life because of it.”
Maya paused and accepted the water that my dad had found without me even noticing he’d left and handed it to her so carefully.
She sent him another shy smile and took a couple of sips.
“Micah started denying everything and blamed the human. Said he was your mate’s sire and that he’d come to Micah suggesting they talk to the human military.
And Micah said he was just about to kill the human when they’d arrived. ”
Bayer shook his head in disbelief, and I knew how he felt. There was no way Alessandro would believe him.
“The human turned and tried to run, but—” Maya shrugged.
“He isn’t one of the bodies,” my dad said.
“The leader said he couldn’t be allowed to go free because of what he was prepared to do, and the leader gestured at one of the others, and he fed briefly.
He didn’t drain him, but it was enough to make him docile.
” The hormone released with the bite always rendered the victim pliant.
Except even I struggled to count Christopher Valentine as any sort of victim.
“The leader grabbed onto the alpha and ignored his pleas, his screams. The rest of the pack just seemed frozen as the alpha was drained. Then the leader released him and nodded to the bears they were holding. I expected them to drain them or feed, but they just cut them up.” She took another drink.
“I thought they were going to do the same to us, but the leader said I was a witness for when you arrived.” She hesitated.
“They seemed to know you were coming, but the only prisoner they took was the human, and the boy, obviously.”
I tried to think. “What are the food stores like?”
“Minimal,” Maya admitted. “And we have some elders that can’t shift.”
I glanced at Matthew. “Ask Kasim to take a message. We need trucks brought in for some elders and whatever people want to bring with them.”
He nodded, jumped, and shifted into his wolf as he left the cabin.
“We’re going with you, Alpha?” Maya said, hope in her voice, and glanced at Bayer. The question was directed at both of us.
“Yes, for now,” I said. “The eventual decision will be Bayer’s, but your lands have been overhunted for some time, and you have no hunters available to roam. My pack has the space, and we can shelter you while your people recover.”
Bayer inclined his head and glanced at Maya. “Please gather up the pack into groups when Isla returns and pass the message on.” He looked at me. “Four hours for the trucks?”
“Yes,” I agreed and looked over at my dad. “Can I leave you here? I need to get back.”
My dad put an understanding hand on my shoulder and nodded. “Before Matthew,” he said quietly.
Which was true. Somehow, I had to tell Emery that not only had the silver-skins taken Ben, but now they had his father, as well. And I had no idea what he was going to expect me to do.
No, that was a lie. I knew exactly what Emery would expect of me. I just had no idea how to make it happen.