24. Mack
24
MACK
S omeone grips my arm and yanks me back before I can slam through the spiked pieces of wood inches from my face.
Bennett releases me and shakes his head. “I know you said you had enough of being Alpha, but that doesn’t mean I want the job.”
I snort and lift my head, sniffing. “The wolf?”
“Colton and Warren went after him.”
“What about Penny and Tina?” I ask, shrugging off my near miss.
That was an ambush I should have seen coming. It’s not like Aerin hadn’t warned me she had a bad feeling.
Bennett points back the way we came. “Keeping an eye on our flank.”
Two female wolves bounce toward us.
I meet their eyes one at a time. “Keep alert for ambushes. Where there’s one, there’s likely another.”
Penny rolls her eyes.
I disregard her attitude and drop into a crouch as I shift. Bennett does the same and we continue through the forest. On our way, we skirt around no less than three suspicious looking piles of leaves.
Whoever covered up the holes I imagine are beneath them didn’t try nearly as hard to make them look convincing as the hole I stepped into. Why can be a question for when we catch up to the wolf with a distracting scent.
In the distance, a wolf yelps in pain and we pick up the pace as Penny and Tina continue to trail us, alert for any attacks that might come from behind us.
We run for another five minutes, then find Colton and Warren, still in their wolf forms, pinning down a lean brown wolf.
All this shifting is exhausting, but whoever this wolf is can give us answers to questions, and I need to be human for that.
When I shift, Bennett does as well, though he grabs my arm and stops me before I can approach the snarling wolf.
“What distracted you?” Bennett asks. “You should have seen that trap with your eyes closed. Why did you miss it?”
I pull my gaze from the wolf who, at our approach, has ramped up his attempts to break free. But between Colton and Warren, both big wolves, he isn’t going anywhere.
I study Bennett as I think through the reasons for my distraction.
Ever since I first picked up that wolf’s scent, I’ve struggled to focus. “His scent.”
“You know it?” He cocks his head.
“No.” I think about it a little longer. “Yes. Maybe.” I shake my head. “I don’t know.”
He nudges me toward Colton, Warren, and the wolf. “Then let’s find out for sure.”
I keep sniffing, but I’m as confused as I was before. It isn’t often I don’t recognize a scent I’ve heard before. This one feels familiar. But it isn’t. Even my wolf is confused.
The wolf meets my eye and snarls.
He’s not an alpha wolf. Dominant, but not as dominant as I am. I need answers from this wolf and for that to happen, he needs to be human.
“Shift,” I order him.
He tries to shrug off the command in my voice, squirming to get free from where Colton and Warren have him pinned. Neither of them moves, so the wolf goes nowhere.
I let my amiable nature slide away. This shifter is in Winter Lake. My territory. His presence poses a threat to Aerin, and he was responsible for setting up the ambush I walked into.
“Let him go,” I order Warren and Colton as I hold the struggling wolf’s gaze.
They hesitate for a beat, and then release the wolf.
The wolf immediately surges to its feet. That’s okay. I’m ready for him.
I grab the wolf by the scruff of his neck and slam him back to the ground, holding him there.
He struggles.
I snarl at him. “Shift. Now .”
He fights me, but slowly, his wolf submits. And even slower, he shifts back to his human form. Once the shift is underway, I take my hands from him, but I remain close by, ready to grab him if he tries to run.
His shift, triggered by my order, is slower than it would have been if he’d wanted to shift himself, and I wait, in a crouch, inches away from him, watching him closely.
He’s older than I thought he would be. Late thirties, maybe, with a few threads of gray woven through his shoulder-length dark brown hair. He wasn’t a big wolf, and he’s not a big man, about 5’7 but he has the lean, coiled strength that most shifters have.
One look into his dark green eyes and I know why his scent confused me so much. The last time I smelled it was over twenty years ago, when I was still a child.
Colton is staring at the man with enough shock that he must recognize him as well.
“You were a Raleigh,” I say.
“I am still a Raleigh,” he spits out.
That’s not true. The Raleigh Pack died years ago. My former pack only exists in shifter history. So why does this guy, one of my former packmates, believe it does?
“You’re in my town. Why?” I demand.
He doesn’t respond.
Colton shifts and approaches, standing beside me to stare down at the man. “He won’t be here alone, Mack. There’s no way he dug those traps on his own.”
“I know,” I say, not taking my eyes off the man as I fumble for a name I once knew.
I haven’t stopped listening for any other wolf close by. Neither would have Bennett. This felt like a trap because it was one, and I have a feeling it hasn’t sprung shut yet.
Penny and Tina still haven’t shifted to their human forms yet. They have their backs to us as they watch for any approach from behind us.
Warren is also still a wolf, and he hasn’t stopped scanning the forest since I told him to let my old packmate go.
“Lester,” I say slowly. “That’s your name, isn’t it?”
He studies me, saying nothing.
I sigh. “My patience is thin. It’s cold, and you’re keeping me from somewhere else I’d rather be. Your name is Lester, and you were a Raleigh. What are you doing here?”
I briefly regret leaving my cell phone in Bennett’s car, even knowing there was no way I could have kept hold of it. I’d have liked to warn Aerin and the others back at the house what we found, and maybe even have Aerin call her dad and tell him what’s going on here.
Because something tells me if Lester is here, and unknown shifters have been snatching omegas, then it might have something to do with this old packmate of mine. Are more Raleighs involved or has Lester joined another pack who is behind all this?
He licks his lips. “I’m here to deliver a message.”
“And the message is?” I prompt.
He glances around. “Send them away and I’ll tell you.”
“They are going nowhere. What is this message you came to deliver?”
“An invitation.”
“You’re being deliberately vague,” I say, watching him closely. “And you’re giving me the distinct impression that you’re drawing this out. Possibly so whoever else is out here has a chance to attack us while we’re distracted.”
“I’m not here to attack you ,” he says.
“What’s with the strange emphasis?” Bennett says, stepping up.
“Exactly my next question,” I say.
Lester stares at me.
“You’ve been involved in grabbing omegas from packs across the country, haven’t you?”
He shakes his head. “Not me.”
“But someone you know?”
Silence.
“That was a question.”
He lifts his chin, still looking at me, as if no one else here matters. “Make your threats, but I know you won’t hurt me. We’re pack.”
“Incorrect.” I lean into him. “We are former pack. The Raleighs are dead and gone. I have a new pack now. And you are here, causing trouble.”
“Mack…” Colton drawls.
He doesn’t need to say a word. I hear it. The sounds are faint, but it’s clear what they are. The vibrations of footsteps headed this way.
“You said you’re not here to attack,” I say, getting to my feet.
“And I meant it.” Lester smiles. “But like I said, they’re not here to attack you. Your friends, on the other hand… they’ll be lucky to survive the next five minutes.”
I shove myself to my feet. “ Attack !”
But I didn’t need to warn anyone. The rest of my pack is ready, Bennett already dropping into a crouch and shifting as wolves burst out of the forest.