Chapter 14
Wolfe
She answered on the second ring.
No braid tonight. No soft glow behind her. She was seated on the couch in my shelter, sleeves rolled up, a bruise beginning to show at her temple. The urge to demand who had left their mark on her was strong, but I needed to focus.
Her eyes lit up for a half second—reflex more than anything, not delight at seeing me, I was sure—and then narrowed the moment she registered my expression.
“Okay,” she said slowly, sitting straighter. “What happened?”
I didn’t waste time.
“One of the Hollow wolves—Hollis—was using his son to run messages to the ones who are attacking us.”
Her eyes widened, then narrowed. “Wait, Hollis? Aren?” Rowen didn’t look convinced. “Are you sure you have the right names?”
“Oh, I’m sure.”
Rowen’s expression became guarded. “Where is Hollis now?”
“He’s currently in a cell.”
Her frown was deepening. “Cell?” She took a deep breath. “And Aren?”
I recalled the boy from earlier, clinging to his mother, his hold on his little sister tight. “Aren is safe. Scared. Brand caught him before he could hand anything off…” I felt tiredness settle into my bones. “This time.”
Rowen cursed under her breath, then leaned forward, her eyes focused. “How long?”
“Solana—his wife—says two moons. Possibly longer. Claims Hollis wanted to ‘preserve the old ways.’”
Rowen’s face went hard. “So he’s a traditionalist? But what is he trying to sabotage? The Hollow hasn’t changed! Not even with the merge.”
“He would disagree.”
She leaned back, rubbing her forehead. “This is insanity,” she muttered.
“Hollis…he’s so nice! And Aren wouldn’t say boo to a goose, and the little girl?
” She looked at me. “She is adorable.” Rowen watched me as she finished speaking.
“You look like I’ve said something to upset you, and you already looked upset… ”
“I don’t think you know Hollis as well as you think you do.”
She rolled her eyes. “Well, I wouldn’t have said he was a traitor.” She pushed her hair over her shoulder, and I could imagine her grip was tight on the phone. “Fine! You got me.”
I got her? I was potentially about to lose her.
“Did you know he beats his wife?” I asked her softly, my voice laced with the anger I still felt.
Rowen froze, her eyes the only thing moving as she searched my face. “Wh-what?” She looked at me with confusion. “What are you saying?”
“Did you know he ties his wife to their bed and lets a stranger come into their bedroom and use her against her will?”
Her hand flew to her mouth, her eyes wide with horror, tears shining in her eyes. “No!” she gasped. “Wolfe? No!”
I nodded. “He hit her in front of us.” I made a small sound of disbelief. “She still tried to lie for him.”
I looked at my mate. So strong. So fierce. So oblivious to what lay beneath the surface of her pack.
“Tell me,” she asked. “What have I missed?”
Everything.
“Your pack loves you—”
“Don’t flatter me, Wolfe.” Rowen stood up abruptly, walking out of view, then coming back when she remembered she’d left the phone behind. She picked it up and started to pace. “Tell me what I missed.”
“When Stonefang Pack arrived that night, weeks ago, a female of your pack approached me and told me she’d lost her husband recently. She had three children—”
“Lyra?” Rowen asked. “I know her well.”
She was making it so much harder for herself. “Do you know Lyra was struggling to feed her children? She was struggling to sleep. She was exhausted.”
“Struggling to feed her…” Rowen looked bewildered. “I always ensure we have enough to feed everyone in the pack.” Whatever she saw on my face only raised her ire. “Wolfe! You’ve seen me do the meal plans; I overprepare!”
“And if you have three young children, and you’re struggling, it’s not always possible to attend the pack hall every night.”
“Then why didn’t she ask?” Rowen snapped and instantly winced. “That’s not what I mean. I’m not angry at her…I’m frustrated. Why didn’t she ask for help?”
“Why didn’t you notice?” I countered, and an uneasy silence fell between us. “She asked for help, she now has that help, and she and the children are doing much better.”
“She could have asked me,” Rowen grumbled.
“She did.” I saw her scowl and felt it in the bond, but I couldn’t sugarcoat this for her. “And you told her that the best way to move forward was to contribute to the pack.”
I watched her as she thought about what I’d said, saw her thinking, no doubt rerunning every conversation she’d had with Lyra.
I also saw the moment she recalled, and her eyes flicked to mine.
“That’s not what I meant,” Rowen said, her tone unhappy.
“The kitchen staff complained about her taking more than she needed and then the food being wasted. They asked that I talk to her.”
I listened with my alpha hat on, not my mate hat. “And perhaps a gentle rebuke from the alpha’s daughter made her think she wasn’t allowed more?”
Rowen sighed heavily. “It was not what I meant. Not at all.”
“I wanted to have this conversation with you when you were in front of me, but today’s events have pushed me forward…
” I watched the guarded look in her eye and knew she wasn’t going to like it.
“Your pack is not the pack you think it is. Your pack, not all of them, but some of them are unhappy. They present a happy persona to you, but your…” Fuck me, how did I say this?
“But your father would have known. And—”
“And did nothing,” Rowen snapped, as I knew she would.
“His health was declining for a long time, Rowen.”
“Starving children? Abuse? Rape?” Her eyes filled with tears.
“He was dying, he wasn’t blind!” She pushed her hair off her face.
“Like I have been!” She looked at me through the screen.
“This is what Killian meant, isn’t it? When he said I was blind.
” She was already nodding as if I’d answered.
“Of course it was. This is why he hates me. He thinks my father chose to ignore it. Saw the suffering and did nothing.” Her hands dropped to her sides, my view changing to an extreme close-up of her bare leg. “And that I didn’t even see it.”
“Hey,” I called. “Put the phone in front of you,” I reminded her.
The camera jiggled, and then I was looking back into her moss green eyes. “I forgot,” she mumbled.
“It’s still new to you,” I consoled her.
She carried on as if she hadn’t heard me. “No wonder they were so quick to embrace you,” Rowen said with a bitter smile.
“We are shifters, Rowen. The spirit of the wolf is in each of us, and every pack, even in the wild, needs an alpha.” I shrugged. “It is our nature. A pack leader does not fill the void like an alpha does.”
Silence descended again, Rowen moving back and forth, not agitated, thoughtful.
“He beat her?” she asked me quietly.
“Yeah,” I sighed, the very thought abhorrent to me. “He threatened his son that he’d hurt his sister, his own daughter, if Aren didn’t deliver the notes.” I looked away, my gaze on the window toward the pack outside. “I don’t know if he would, but the threat was enough to get compliance from Aren.”
“You said he’s in a cell?”
“I will present him to the Pack Council for his crimes. At the moment, he could still be key to whoever is running the attacks. Although…” I returned my gaze to her, considering whether to give her this trust, and deciding I wanted to.
“Brand and I have questioned him extensively; he knows not much more than Aren did.”
“You used your Will?”
“I did.”
“Good,” Rowen growled fiercely. “I hope you made the fucker bleed.”
My smile held no warmth. “He’s feeling it, trust me.
” I had denied him his right to shift. When I left Hollis, he was on the ground, in a puddle of his own piss, sobbing for mercy.
I had none to give him. I had learned that it was Simon, the dead shifter, who had been assaulting Solana.
I’d told her, and while her nightmare may be over, her journey towards healing would take some time.
Rowen was quiet for a long time. “Are they okay?”
I nodded once. “Brand is with them. No one’s getting near any of them again.” I needed to tell her. “I’m sending them to Stonefang, with their consent; the family needs a change of scenery, time to heal.”
Rowen’s mouth tightened, but I saw the flicker of something else beneath it. Pride, maybe. Definitely approval.
I adjusted the phone slightly, more out of restlessness than anything else.
“At first, I thought it was just mismanagement,” I admitted to her. “Shifters not adjusting to change, causing tensions to flare. But with the repeated attacks, this isn’t just about pack culture anymore. This is orchestrated. Intentional. Someone’s feeding these attacks.”
“And it’s not just Hollis.”
“No.” I paused. “It’s deeper. Which means this isn’t a clean-up job anymore. It’s war.”
Rowen exhaled through her nose. “You’re going to need eyes everywhere.”
“Diesel is running external sweeps as he tracks them. I trust him. Axel and Brand are watching everything, everyone.”
Her expression softened. Just slightly. “And you?”
I met her gaze through the screen. “I’m calling my mate and telling her some hard truths, knowing she isn’t someone who flinches when she’s outnumbered.”
She tilted her head. “Flattery? After the conversation we just had?” She looked away. “I don’t think I deserve it, Wolfe.”
“It isn’t flattery. It’s a necessity.”
She looked back at me, both of us watching each other. “And what exactly do you want from me, Wolfe?”
“Support,” I said. “Information. Anything you may have seen or heard and not even known that’s what it was at the time, anything that could be similar leaks or rogue sightings. If you remember anything, I want to know, and hopefully it will prevent the next funeral.”
She nodded slowly. “I’ll go over everything that’s happened in the Hollow since Dad started to fail. Everyone.”
The silence stretched again. Not comfortable like last night, but not fiery. Just tired.