Chapter Four
Sofia
Three days later
Relief floods through me. My shoulders physically unclench, and the tightness in my chest eases enough that I can breathe freely now that Emily has finally woken up.
Jackson mindlinked me to say he will be bringing her to his place, and that she seems okay.
I’ll give them space. As much as I want to see her; she needs her mate right now, and I’ve told Jackson to mindlink if they need anything or if Emily wants female company.
I still can’t believe how close we came to losing her.
A sharp rap at the door lets me know Ryan is trying to talk to me again. “Please, Fia, we need to talk.”
I want to tell him to go to hell. I have told him to go to hell, to fuck off, to never speak to me again.
I’ve shut down the mindlink between us completely.
But the anger I was previously flooded with has cooled to a dull, constant drum of disappointment.
That’s the real wound. The real reason I don’t want to talk to him.
I don’t want to give him another opportunity to let me down.
But realistically, I can’t give him the cold shoulder forever.
With a long, grudging sigh he will definitely hear, I heave myself off the bed and stomp over to my door.
My hand clasps the cold knob, and I take one last breath before I yank it open and glare at my brother.
His sheepish expression is antithetical to the usually sure-of-himself alpha I’m used to.
But he should feel bad. And I’m certainly not going to make this easy for him.
"Fine," I say sharply, folding my arms in front of me. “Talk.”
“Can we go sit down?” His eyes are pleading, and his voice is low, like he’s afraid he could scare me off. “There are some things you need to hear.”
I don’t reply, but I brush past him and make my way towards the kitchen table and pull out a chair for myself.
The wood scrapes against the floor, and I sit right at the edge of my seat, ready to walk straight out of here if I need to.
Ryan follows behind me and slumps into the chair across from me.
He runs his hands down his face before leaning forward onto his elbows.
Dark shadows are under his eyes. He looks bone-tired, and if this were about anything else, I’d sympathize with him.
I’ve always felt for him about how tough his role must be.
Thrust into the role of alpha, made responsible for a whole pack, when he wasn’t much older than I am now.
Not because he was the right fit for the job or even because he wanted it.
No, he was the previous alpha’s oldest son, the strongest shifter in the pack, and that means everything to wolves.
I’d hate to be in his position. But that doesn’t excuse his actions.
“I have reason to believe Aidan Blackwood and John Anderson were involved in abducting and trafficking omega wolves going back years. Jackson’s sister might be one of them. She might be alive.”
Goosebumps erupt along my arms, and I blink rapidly, trying to process the words Ryan just said.
“What?” I ask. It’s as if all the air in the kitchen has been sucked out, or it’s gone too thin.
My voice cracks as my mouth goes dry and my breath stutters, shallow and rapid, as I struggle to draw enough air.
“Katie is dead. I felt it. We all felt the bond snap.”
Ryan ignores my words, plunging ahead as if I hadn't said a word. “I wouldn’t have let him take Emily back. I was… trying to get some answers. Caleb challenged John for the position of alpha, and we are working together to try to find out where the missing omegas are. But I think we’ve fucked it all up.
The Iron Fang elders, the ones who knew something, defected as soon as the challenge was over, taking over half the warriors with them.
The remaining ones don’t know shit. And we’re at square one right now. ”
My head spins, trying to process all the information Ryan just blurted out. Images of Katie Clark flood my mind. She was older than Ryan, and an omega like Emily. She used to babysit me. She was sweet and kind. And she was training to be the next pack doctor.
“John is?”
“Dead. Caleb killed him in the challenge. He was going to question the pack members under alpha command once the power fully shifted to him, but they were in the wind instantly. Like they knew exactly what we were thinking.”
“Yeah, because that was a stupid plan.” I massage my temples with my fingers. Ryan’s words land heavy, like they are being hammered into my skull, and I feel like a damn fool for avoiding everyone except Emily and Jackson, while I licked my wounds about being overpowered by Luca.
“Does Jackson know?”
“Yeah, we spoke the night before Aidan...” he trails off, shifting slightly in his chair.
“Tried to abduct Emily? Threatened me?”
Ryan winces. “I’m sorry, Fia. I get it. This was unforgivable.
I’m not asking you to stop being pissed at me.
I'm sharing with you what's necessary as a key piece of this pack. We will be working with Caleb and his brothers to free these omegas, and I’m hoping you can put aside your feelings about me as a brother and alpha—justifiable as they may be—to help us. You’re the smart one in the family. I need you.”
His plea lands somewhere raw inside my ribs—part obligation, part kindness. The word ‘need’ wraps around me and presses in. I stare at my hands, flexing my fingers, buying time I don’t need but wanting to make him sweat a little longer.
Damn him. It’s not as if I can say no to saving a bunch of missing omegas.
“What do you need me to do?” I ask. Ryan manages a small grin, one that doesn’t quite reach his eyes. His shoulders rise and he rolls them back—like he’s rolling off the tension of the past few days. He looks five years younger immediately, and shit, now I regret adding to the burden he carries.
Only a little, obviously. I’m still pissed at him.
We spend the next half hour mapping out logistics—looking at what I can do to take some of the load of being Alpha off his shoulders while Ryan coordinates with Caleb about the other potentially involved packs. When we’re done, he pulls me into a hug and kisses my forehead.
“Love you, little sis.”
I don’t melt. I don’t forgive all in that embrace. But I let the contact hold me for the length of a breath—long enough to steady me, to remind me that while he fucked up monumentally, he’s still my brother. My only family.
“Yeah, yeah. You’d be lost without me,” I say, rolling my eyes and pushing away his affection.
“Completely lost,” he says, pulling me back for another squeeze.