5. Five
The drizzle sprinkled across my face as I dug my shovel into the soft dirt. It scraped the ground, and I grunted as I heaved another shovelful to the side.
I darted my gaze to Mikey’s body wrapped in a tarp and black plastic.
My dad huffed next to me as he moved at an almost inhuman pace. His face was beat red, and a fine sheen of sweat glistened on his brow. We were about halfway there.
I stuck the tip of the shovel into the ground and then grabbed my bottled water from beside the wheelbarrow. I gulped it down in a few large swigs and tossed the empty bottle, and it clanged against the metal as it hit the sides of the cart.
Dad jammed his tool into the ground and rested his arm on it, and he rubbed his hand over his jaw. “It’s not right. No parent should have to bury their children.”
He glanced over his shoulder, his gaze on the two tombstones to our right. Mom and Hannah were buried here, my grandparents and great grandparents behind them.
I picked up my shovel again but didn’t start digging. “How are you holding up?”
His face hardened, and the vein by his temple throbbed. “I had four kids and a wife I loved more than life itself. Now I just have my eldest son. Luna has turned her back on us. She’s betrayed one of her faithful servants. I’m going to make sure that she knows who I am.”
I sighed as I let my eyes slide shut. My heart ached for the dad I remembered as a kid. He had been loving and caring. Bad timing had killed my mom and sister. Mikey and Dad had brought his death on themselves.
I licked my lips and jammed the shovel’s tip into the ground again. “Maybe we should take a few days and recuperate.”
Dad shook his head. “No. Mikey wouldn’t have wanted us to stop for him.”
He pointed a finger at me. “Your brother might have been a little out of his mind, but he was loyal. We will remember him by pushing forward with our crusade.”
I ground my teeth but kept digging. “He also wouldn’t want to see anything happen to either of us. I think you need time to grieve.”
My dad tossed his shovel. It smacked against a tree with a crack. “Grief is something I don’t have time for. It makes you weak. Distracted. That is something we cannot afford.”
I ducked my head. “I’m sorry.”
Dad glared at me, watching as I continued to dig. “It should be your traitor brother we are burying. Not Mikey.”
My chest tightened, and I cleared my throat and swallowed down the thick lump. “You don’t think there’s any chance of reconciling with Lincoln?”
My dad stomped around the shallow grave and shoved me. “Lincoln is not my son. He’s not your brother. He betrayed us and then murdered Mikey in cold blood.”
I sidestepped and continued to shovel. “I’m sorry. I know. I just wanted to make sure. This is hard for me too, Dad. We’re all each other has left.”
Mikey might have been insane, but he was my brother, and Dad… Well, he would always be my father.
Dad’s face fell, and his eyes shimmered. He clapped a hand on my shoulder. “I know, son. I’m sorry.”
His face grew haunted as he stared at my mother’s grave. “I promised myself and your mother when I buried her I would watch out for you three boys. It wasn’t supposed to happen like this. The three of you were…”
My heart thudded painfully as I glanced at my father. He blinked a few times, ensuring the brimming tears never fell.
He lunged for me, and I stiffened, taking a step back until his arms circled me in a bear hug. “I won’t let anything happen to you, Sawyer. You have my word.”
I froze in his arms. The familiar embrace flashed me back to when I was a child, and there was no love like that of my father and mother. For a second, I envisioned my younger self and relaxed in his hold.
The instant he pulled away, the moment shattered.
He rubbed at his jaw and shook his head as he looked vacantly at Mikey’s body. “The only way I can protect you is by making sure this world is a safer place.”
I opened my mouth, but he continued before I could speak up.
“We have to bring all the packs under us.”
I clamped my mouth shut and dug again.
He stomped across the ground, his feet squelching in the wet mud as he retrieved his shovel. “Once we have a large pack, we will be untouchable.”
I huffed and tossed the fresh mud off to the side. “Sloane’s pack has proven resilient. Are you sure we should go after them again so soon?”
Dad grinned, his eyes sparkling. “We won’t. Not yet. They have lost their alpha, and Lincoln and that stupid girl think they can play alpha. They’ll turn on her faster than we can get there.”
He waved his hand and then started to dig again. “Let them pick each other apart. It will make taking them so much easier in a few weeks.”
I jammed the tip of my shovel into the ground, hesitating a moment before I moved the earth. “So we are going to take time to regroup, then?”
Dad threw his head back and cackled. I shuddered. Whatever sweet moment we’d had vanished. The maniac who had taken over my dad had returned.
His shovel sank into the mud, and he heaved it over to the side. “No. We can’t lose our momentum now. We’ve finally started gaining steam. We’ve gained more men these past few months than we have the past few years. Alphas are seeking us out to join our ranks.”
I stopped shoveling, watching as the loose earth splatted back into the hole. “Then what’s the plan?”
Dad grinned. “There is a pack about four hours from here. Charles Denning is the alpha. One of the other guys was telling me about them. They only have about thirty members. We will focus our attention there in the next few days. Overtake them. By the time that is finished, the other alphas should have turned on Lincoln’s bitch.”
I saw red. I flexed my hands on the wooden edge of the shovel so hard that I chipped it and gave myself a splinter. I gaped at my palm, blinking, the sliver long and in deep.
He had no right to talk about Sloane like that. I bit the inside of my cheek to keep from saying something that would give my true position away.
My dad hopped down into the hole. “That little brat with your pup is there, too. We’ll bring her back until she births it and then dispose of her, too.”
I swallowed hard. I hoped that didn’t happen. If he ever got his hands on Willa again, I didn’t think it would take him long to figure out that the child wasn’t mine.
Dad tossed mud out of the hole. “Unless, of course, you want to keep her. I’m sure she will have her uses. It is only you now. Perhaps you should have a few mates. Then we can choose the strongest male to be an alpha.”
My stomach turned. The thought of touching any woman but Sloane made me want to vomit. My skin crawled just thinking about it. “Dad, you’re getting ahead of yourself.”
He glanced up at me, a sickening smile twisting his face. “I suppose I am. First things first, we have to get the Denning wolves.”
“You plan to make them join us?” I asked with a sigh.
Dad shrugged. “That will be up to them. They can join us or be ridded from this world. Either way, it helps us.”
“You said there are only thirty of them?” It would be foolish of them not to join us. My father would obliterate them.
He chuckled and picked up the pace. “Only thirty. An easy conquest. We will destroy them for your brother. He so did enjoy the thrill of the hunt.”
Yeah, because he was mad!
So was my dad. I couldn’t let this other pack fall. They wouldn’t stand a chance against us.
Unless someone else got there first. I would have to tell Sloane and Lincoln about Charles Denning. Maybe they could warn him, and if Sloane brought new wolves into the pack, it would strengthen her position as alpha.
My insides knotted. My father was right, though. That jerk had already questioned Sloane at her father’s funeral. He probably wouldn’t be the only one.
Her place as alpha balanced precariously. Maybe I should have never left. Lincoln and I could both be there to protect her. To be her champion should another alpha be misguided enough to challenge her.
Dad climbed out of the hole and tossed his shovel over to the side. “I think that’s deep enough now.”
He wiped his arm over his brow, and his face fell as he glimpsed Mikey. “Help me lay him down in there.”
I threw my shovel to the side. The metal edge clanged against the one my father had used, making a ringing noise before it thumped against the ground.
Dad crouched down by Mikey’s head, resting his hand on the plastic. He leaned forward, pressing the wet black bags as he patted where his cheek would be. “My poor sweet boy. I promise you, your death will not be in vain. You will see. We’ll make you proud.”
I shuddered at his words. Then I kneeled and grasped his ankles.
I’m sorry, brother. I failed you. I wish things could have been different for all of us.
Maybe he had always been mentally ill, or maybe it was father’s cruel upbringing after losing our mother at such a young age. I’d never know.
We lifted Mikey’s body carefully. Dad climbed down into the hole first, supporting my brother’s head, before I eased down as well. We set him gently at the bottom of the grave. I put my hand on his knee and patted it.
Dad placed both hands on either side of his head. “Until we meet again, my boy.”
He sniffled, wheezing as he gasped for breath.
I swallowed hard. “Goodbye, Mikey.”
I stood, a bout of dizziness washing over me. I squeezed my eyes shut and then climbed out of the hole. Dad stayed down there a moment longer, paying his final respects.
When he finished, I offered my hand. Dad clasped it, and I heaved him up and out of the hole. We walked silently back to our shovels and picked them up.
I scooped up the mud, said a silent prayer to Luna that Mikey had found peace, and then tossed it over him.
My dad had a vacant look before meeting my eyes. “We are going to make them pay for this, Sawyer. Every last one of them. Together. This is our mission now. I won’t lose anyone else I care about.”
I didn’t have the heart to tell him he’d already lost me. Not to mention it would expose me.
He shoved his shovel into the muddy mound. “We will get justice for your brother. Lincoln will pay for what he has done. I’m going to get that bitch alpha, and I’m going to make him watch as I slowly take her life before his eyes.”