Chapter 8 #3
It was on the tip of his tongue to agree.
The urge was powerfully strong, but he recognized how irrational that was.
He couldn’t just arrest someone without charges on her say so.
Truthfully, he’d wanted to take in the whole damn pack two days ago when the Griz had raided the wolf lab and discovered the poison, but Simon had talked him out of it on purely logistical reasons.
More than half the cops were out with the Flu.
The rest wouldn’t be able to handle werewolves hopped up on poison.
This was a shifter problem. The best thing to do was find and destroy the wolves’ stash of poison, then make the ones responsible pay.
That’s what his original plan had been when he’d started tailing the two werewolves through the sewer system.
He saw no reason to change tactics. At least he didn’t until he looked into her eyes and saw the crystal clear purpose in her.
She believed her way was the best, and part of him agreed with whatever she wanted.
“Where are you keeping the poison?” he asked. “And how are you getting it into the water?”
She shook her head. “I don’t know. I was trying to find that out when you got shot.”
“Not good enough,” Simon snapped.
She rounded on him, her teeth flashing. “What would you have me do? I’m telling you who is responsible. Go get Raoul! I’ll find out the rest.”
“How?” Ryan asked.
She swallowed. “There are people I can talk to. People who aren’t addicted.”
“Like the ones in the sewers? Like the guy who shot me?”
She lifted a hand in a helpless gesture. “He didn’t kill you, and he was under orders.” Her gaze went to Simon. “Tell your people to travel in groups. The wolves will kill them if they can.”
“And let the dogs run wild? I don’t think so.”
“I’m trying to save lives!”
“You’re doing a piss-poor job of it.”
Ryan saw the impact of those words on her. She covered quickly, but the flinch told him it was a true hit. She really was trying to help, but people were still dying. “I’m giving up my brother,” she said, fury in her clenched jaw and narrowed expression.
He held up his hand to stop the argument, and though his body moved closer to Frankie’s, his gaze connected with his alpha. “Can you have Alyssa get whatever information she can on Raoul? Frankie and I will go talk to her people. Find her brother’s stash of poison.”
Simon nodded, a quick slash of his chin, but he clearly wasn’t on board with trusting Frankie. “I don’t want you going alone,” he said but Frankie cut him off.
“I can’t take him, let alone anyone else. He’s a bear.”
“I’m going,” he said. No argument.
She tensed at his words and he reached down and grabbed her wrist. He’d meant to keep her from fleeing, but instead of gripping her in a tight hold, he ended up holding her gently while his thumb stroked up and down her wrist. He was aware of what he was doing.
The pleasure it gave him to touch her was beyond anything expected for so simple a gesture.
What the hell had happened to him that he would caress an enemy wolf?
Simon was still considering his options when his cell phone buzzed. He answered it without shifting his gaze from either Frankie or Ryan, but as he talked, his expression tightened into fury.
“Yes? How many? Understood.”
He thumbed off the phone and anger radiated through the room. “The wolves are scouting our territory, checking for weaknesses. Killing bears when they can.”
Frankie dropped her head back against the wall. “The serum has made everyone crazy.”
“Why is Emory doing this? Why poison an entire city? Why start a war with the bears?”
“It’s not him. It’s my brother.”
Simon didn’t speak, but then again, he didn’t have to. Everyone in this room knew that her father did as he pleased. He was not a man to be run by his son. And yet, Frankie shook her head.
“Raoul heard about the serum. Our numbers are low since the cat-wolf war. This was a way of getting more people quickly.”
“By dumping it in the water supply?”
“Yes. It activates latent shifter DNA. So people who are part wolf can turn into full werewolves.”
Vic snarled out an angry retort. “And fuck the ones who go crazy? Too bad about the dead people?”
“No one knew that would happen. He started small.” She gestured to the hypodermic. “Direct injection.”
“They experimented on you?”
“My brother did, but my father got a taste, too. Raoul told him it strengthened shifters.” She lifted her chin. “Have you seen my father hold his shift partway? That’s the serum. He’s stronger, but he also wants more.”
Ryan was starting to understand. “He wants more people, more serum, more power.”
She nodded. “He wants shifter-kind exposed. And he wants the wolves in charge.” She shrugged. “He thinks we’ll do a better job.”
Simon snorted. “You want to run the country?”
“I don’t!” she snapped. “We can barely manage our territory well, but they won’t listen to me.”
“So what are you going to do about it?” Ryan spoke casually, as if her answer meant little to him. But the truth was that her next words would mean everything. They would decide whether he trusted her enough to follow her lead.
“I’m taking over the pack,” she said. “I’m giving you Raoul, my father’s going into detox, and I’m going to make damn sure nothing like this ever happens again.”
Ryan felt the truth of her words settle into his bones. He believed her. Which meant he was going to work with her—whether she liked it or not.