Chapter Four
Parker slid through the wards on his way back into the den, ignoring the pinpricks of sensation along his skin. He ran a hand over the back of his neck. “Something’s wrong.”
“You mean beyond the fact that no matter what we do, the Packs keep facing the unknown?” Brandon asked, a frown on his face. The other man rubbed his side, and Parker held back a frown. He knew Brandon had healed from the gunshot wound, there wasn’t even a scar since their Healer knew what he was doing, but it still had to ache sometimes. He hated that he’d been too slow to help him when it had mattered.
He pushed those thoughts from his head, focusing on what mattered now and not what he couldn’t change. “No, not that. I mean, yeah, that too, but something about what we just left. I can’t place it, but…”
Brandon stopped in his tracks, and Parker did the same, his wolf rising slightly to the surface. “We shouldn’t have left her on her own in the dark.”
Parker looked up at the darkening clouds and cursed. “A storm’s coming in, making it feel later than it is. It wasn’t that bad when we left her…”
“But that was only a few minutes ago, and now it’s worse. Shit.” Brandon turned on his heel. “Let’s just make sure she made it back to her car alone. We shouldn’t have let her leave like that anyway.”
“Because she should be safe,” Parker bit out as he once again slid through the wards. Magic sliced over him, tugging at his wolf. Since he wasn’t a Talon, going through the wards hurt more than if he’d been going through the Redwood’s. Because he was a guest and under the Alpha’s invitation, he could go back and forth without a Talon member at his side, but it still hurt like hell.
“Her car was only like fifty feet away behind the copse of trees,” Brandon muttered. “Still…”
“Still, we shouldn’t have just let her go alone.” Parker shook his head, annoyed with himself for thinking that anyone could be safe anymore. Avery had shown up at the den because of their lack of security, and yet he and Brandon hadn’t made sure she made it to her vehicle safely.
If it weren’t for the fact that his head was in a thousand different places, he might have actually done what he was supposed to do, instead of going half-assed. But between what was going on inside his body, the fact that he was in a new and unfamiliar den yet again, and his weird attraction to not only Brandon but also Avery, it was all a little too much for him.
As soon as he and Brandon made it completely through the wards, Parker knew something had gone terribly wrong. The two sentries on duty turned, their wolves in their gazes.
“Blood,” the one closest snarled. “It just hit the wind.”
Parker cursed.
“We’re on it. Notify Gideon,” Brandon bit out as he started to run to where Avery had gone off. Parker followed, his wolf reared up fully now.
At that moment, it didn’t matter that he was growing weaker with each passing day. It didn’t matter that something was terribly wrong with his wolf and the blood in his veins. It didn’t even matter that the man by his side—the man who had a chip on his shoulder for some reason—was in a similar boat as Parker regarding health. They each had secrets, each was growing weak for a reason beyond what Parker could comprehend.
But none of it mattered right then.
Not when blood filled the air, and the woman who had been in his charge was in danger.
They made it past a group of trees, and a growl ripped from his throat. An unknown sandy-colored wolf loomed over Avery’s prone body, blood on his muzzle and mud splattered in his tangled fur. The wolf had turned as soon as Brandon and Parker came into view, so it faced them as it stood over Avery’s still form.
From what Parker could see, bite marks covered her body, torn open flesh a macabre display as a tableau of blood pooled beneath her. He could still scent life on her, but whatever she had left was fading fast. If they didn’t get her to an Alpha soon, she’d die.
And because he knew she was so close to death, there was only one other option—she had to change.
To become shifter.
Fuck.
But first, Parker and Brandon needed to take care of the piece of shit who had dared to hurt an innocent woman. Because she was innocent, damn it. No matter what her father had done, she had had nothing to do with it.
Curious statement coming from you, he thought to himself and pushed that out of his mind. There was no time for that now—not ever.
“You’re fucking dead,” Parker growled. “Do you understand that? You know the laws. You never change an unwilling, and never without an Alpha present. Your life is forfeit.”
The wolf growled at them, his back arched.
“Look at his eyes,” Brandon said softly. “There’s something wrong.”
Parker met the gold eyes of the rogue wolf and let out a curse. “He’s gone truly rogue. Someone did a number on him, but fuck, there’s nothing we can do right now for him. Not without losing Avery in the process.”
“Damn it,” Brandon growled.
“Go,” Parker ordered, his fangs elongating and his claws poking out from his fingertips. It took too long to change fully, but at his power level, he could at least partially shift so he’d have a better chance of fighting this wolf. Since the other shifter had gone rogue, it would fight as if it had nothing to lose—making it all the more dangerous. “Get Avery.”
Brandon growled low. “On it.”
Then they moved.
Brandon darted to the right as Parker went head-on. The other wolf ignored Brandon, taking in the larger of the two as the threat. Little did this wolf know that Brandon could fight just as hard as Parker, but that didn’t matter now. Parker just had to get this wolf off of Avery’s body so that Brandon had a way of getting her to Gideon to save her.
The wolf lowered his head as if to bite Avery again, and Parker slashed out, his claws raking along the sandy wolf’s hide. The rogue howled, leaping toward Parker in the next breath. Parker moved to the side, growling as he slid his claws along the wolf’s flank once more.
The rogue turned back to attack, and Parker moved so his back was to Avery and Brandon, protecting them from whatever this other wolf might do. As he turned, out of the corner of his eye, he could see Brandon assessing Avery’s wounds, covering her body with his in the process. Parker wasn’t sure if they should even move her, but they might not have a choice if he didn’t take this wolf down soon.
The only problem was, he had a feeling this wolf was far stronger than he’d planned for. Whatever had made it go rogue must have been horrific, because he had to have been high in the power structure within his Pack.
Meaning if Parker weren’t careful, he might not be able to come out of this unscathed, especially in his weakened state.
To hell with that.
His wolf panted at the surface, much more tired than it should have been with such little energy spent. He cursed, using whatever power he had left to lunge. The wolf in front of him jumped, as well, but Parker—thankfully—was slightly faster. He wrapped his arm around the wolf’s neck and used his other arm to keep its body in place. With one twist, he snapped its neck, knowing that the wolf had been beyond saving.
And he hadn’t missed the plea hidden deep within the rogue’s eyes.
It was dead before it had even bitten Avery the first time and it knew it.
Parker let the wolf slide to the ground as he fought to catch his breath. His body shook, and he bent over, bile filling his throat. Holy fuck. Whatever illness had taken hold and weakened him when he touched that damn box back with the elders of the European Pack was truly killing him. He shouldn’t be out of breath and on the verge of throwing up after one small fight.
He was even weaker now than he had been on the battlefield against Montag. The progression of whatever was killing him was speeding up, and Parker knew he only had so much time before he lost it all.
He let out a breath at the sound of people running toward him and stood up, wiping his face. He couldn’t show them weakness, not now, not ever. And he was well aware that Brandon was still behind him, watching everything.
Well, Parker had already seen Brandon weak; turnabout was fair play, after all.
He pushed aside thoughts of his wolf and his weakening dominance and turned back to where Avery lay in Brandon’s arms.
“Shit.” He moved the few steps that separated them and fell to his knees. “She’s not going to make it.”
Brandon’s eyes were wild, blue rimmed with gold. Fierce. “I can’t stop the bleeding,” he croaked. “And if I move her, I might tear whatever’s not already torn away.”
“You need to move her anyway,” Gideon growled as he ran toward them. “That wolf was almost an Alpha, meaning he’d have had enough strength in him for the change to take hold.”
Only an Alpha or a wolf almost as strong as one could bring the change forward. That was why it was so hard to make wolves. A weaker wolf could bite someone, but the human would either bleed out or die from infection—if they couldn’t somehow find the will to survive. Sometimes, if they were mates chosen by the goddess, by fate, they could bring on the change, but that was rare.
“What does that mean?” Parker asked, his hands over some of the worst wounds. Blood seeped through his fingers, and his wolf howled. Avery didn’t deserve this. No one deserved this.
“It means she’ll change if we can get her back through the wards,” Gideon growled. “Get her up now, Brandon. I can’t fucking help her outside of the damn wards with the satellites watching. We only have so many secrets left.” His words were so low that Parker knew no one but the three of them would have been able to hear. “We have to protect our people and Avery.”
Parker stood up at the same time as Brandon, Avery between them. Without words, he helped roll her into Brandon’s arms firmly before the other wolf took off running, Gideon on his heels. Parker looked down at the blood on his hands and tried to focus.
“Come on, Parker,” Mitchell growled. Parker had been aware that the other wolf had shown up with Gideon, but his attention had been on Avery and not the Beta of the Talon Pack. “We have to go, before someone shows up. My men are moving Avery’s car, and I’ve got the rogue. But we need to get behind the wards and regroup.”
Parker nodded and took off beside Mitchell. The other man held the rogue to his chest, the anger radiating off of him so thick that Parker could feel it, and he wasn’t even a damn Omega. Someone had sent this wolf after Avery. Either that, or they’d sent him to the den for another reason, and Parker needed to know what that was. From the look in the wolf’s eyes before he died, Parker had a feeling the dead man had wanted no part in whatever had gone on.
Something big was coming; Parker could feel it; only he had no idea what it was.
For the third time that day, Parker slid through the Talon wards, his skin raw from the onslaught of magic. Others were scrambling around him, doing his or her duty for the Pack, but Parker could only follow Brandon’s scent trail, needing to make sure they could save Avery. His wolf was silent during it all, which worried him, but he had to focus on what mattered right then, and that was the life of an innocent woman who’d only wanted to help those she’d never even met.
He stormed through the infirmary doors, aware that Mitchell had veered off at some point with the dead rogue in his arms. Parker’s hands shook as he made his way to the room where they’d set Avery down, praying that she’d find a way to fight.
“Is she going to make it?” Parker bit out.
Walker, the Talon Healer, looked up at that moment, his hands hovering over the deepest wounds on Avery’s body. “I don’t know.”
Walker turned back and started working on her wounds alongside Leah, a witch and a healer in her own right. They weren’t using magic since Avery wasn’t connected to the Pack, but they were at least trying to do what they could medically.
Gideon cursed. “The wolf that bit her smelled of Pack, but I don’t know which one.”
“He was an Aspen Pack member,” Parker growled. Everyone turned to him, and he lifted a lip, baring fang. “I know all of the scents now that I’ve visited them. He smelled faintly of Aspen, but it had been a long time since he’d been to the den.”
“He could have been held somewhere else before he came out here,” Brandon put in. “There was just a manic energy seeping off him. So much that I couldn’t tell anything about what he was truly feeling. We don’t have issues with the Aspens, do we?”
Gideon blew out a breath. “They’re one of the more insular Packs, so we might not have beef with them directly, but they might hate us for the Unveiling. Lots of Packs blame us, even if they don’t say it. It doesn’t matter at this exact moment, though because I’m going to have to bring her into the Pack if we want Walker to save her.”
“It’s going to hurt her more,” Parker said on a growl. “Because right now, whatever change might happen would make her Aspen.”
Leah cursed under her breath, blood covering her hands, and Parker did his best not to move to help her. He only had basic first aid training, and he would only be in the way at this point.
Gideon shook his head. “Not necessarily. If the Alpha doesn’t automatically trust those high in his hierarchy to bring in another wolf, then the connection won’t come. It’s not an exact science. The thing is, if we bring her into the Talons, we bring whatever she has burdening her, as well. We’re still trying to untangle the ramifications from the last time we brought an unknown into the Pack bonds, and my wolf is telling me that doing this will add to that. She didn’t ask for this. We don’t know if she’d have wanted to become a wolf at all, and yet she might not have a choice unless we snap her neck right now. So either we watch and see what happens, trying to save her the human way, or we bring her into the Pack and be sure that she’ll live. Only as a wolf rather than the human she thought she’d die as.” He cursed. “The world can already guess how we’re made, but now, they’ll know.”
“So you’d rather we let her die?” Brandon spat.
Gideon growled, power radiating off him. “I’m bringing her in. I can’t watch her die, but we also need to protect our people. I’m Alpha, damn it. I have a duty.”
“Brandon and I will take care of her,” Parker said without thinking.
Brandon’s gaze darted to his, and the others gave him curious looks. He honestly didn’t know why he’d said that, but he knew the words were meant to come from him.
“We’ll protect her,” Brandon said slowly. “And ensure she’s not a threat to the Pack.”
Gideon looked between the two of them once more before using his claw to slash a cut along his palm. The Alpha pressed his now bloody hand over one of the bite marks and squeezed. Though Avery had been passed out and motionless this entire time, her entire body jerked at the contact. Parker growled, taking a step forward without thinking, but it was Brandon who held him back. The other man wrapped an arm around Parker’s stomach and held him there, his back to Avery but his gaze on Parker.
“We need to let him do this,” Brandon whispered. Again, their voices were so low that not even the Alpha in the room could have heard.
“We should have been there.” Parker’s voice was raw, guttural, and he hated himself more in that moment than he had when he’d realized that something was wrong when he stepped through the wards. If he and Brandon hadn’t let her go off on her own, Avery might not have been attacked as she was.
Or she could have been attacked later at her motel if she were the true target.
They might not ever know, but Parker would forever blame himself for the agonizing pain she was in at that moment. And each time Gideon cut himself before closing his hand over another wound, Parker hated himself even more.
He’d done this.
He and Brandon.
And now, Avery would pay the price.
“It’s done,” Gideon growled. “She’s Pack. Talon.”
“She’s in so much pain,” Brandon gasped, and Parker moved to hold the other man up. “And not just from what happened on that field.”
Walker looked up at that moment, his eyes glassy. “Yes, it’s something more.”
“Goddess help us for what we’ve done.” Gideon’s plea radiated through them all, and Parker bowed his head.
They’d saved Avery’s life, but at what cost?
“It’ll be a few hours at least,” Walker said after a moment. “Come back in a little while, but give me some time to work.”
Parker never truly understood how Healers worked within a Pack since it was different for each of them, but he did know that a lot of their work was personal. And though he’d just told the others he would protect Avery, he knew he needed to give Walker privacy to Heal what he could.
Each change was different. Each Healer was different. Each Alpha…different.
Parker wasn’t a Talon member, but watching how the Talons worked, he knew that their Pack did everything in their power to ensure their Pack’s safety, even when the cards were stacked against them.
Brandon tugged on his shirt, and Parker followed the other man to one of the other rooms without saying a word. Leah and Gideon both left, as well, and Parker could scent their mates waiting on the other side of the building. He craved a mating bond of his own, and it had nothing to do with the fact that a bond would save his life.
He wanted someone to hold, to hold him when he couldn’t take the pressures of this war or his life anymore. Yet, he had no one.
“We need to clean off the blood,” Brandon said after a moment. “There are two big sinks here.”
Parker shook his head, clearing his thoughts. “Okay.” He wasn’t sure he had much more in him right then to say anything more.
They cleaned off their arms and necks, standing side-by-side in silence. They both needed a change of clothes, but he figured that wouldn’t be happening until they made it back to the house. And that probably wouldn’t happen until after Avery woke.
He’d been in worse positions in his life. A little dried blood wasn’t going to kill him.
“We shouldn’t have left her there,” Brandon bit out after a moment.
Parker cleared his throat. “I know. It’s our fault.”
“Damn straight, it is. We fucking left her to that rogue. Didn’t even scent the bastard until we were right on top of him. She’s lying there dying, maybe becoming a shifter and having her entire life changed without her consent, and we’re the ones responsible.”
Parker turned on Brandon, his wolf waking up again, anger filling him. “Yeah, I get it. But don’t fucking yell at me. Got it? There’s nothing we can do now except make sure Avery knows she’s not alone.”
Brandon snorted. “Yeah, like’s she’s going to want to be near us when she wakes up and realizes what happened. You’re not an Omega, not Pack. You can’t feel what I do, Parker. She’s hurting. She’s always been alone, always frightened. And yet we did nothing about it.”
Parker threw up his hands. “We don’t know anything about her, damn it. We did what we were supposed to do and brought her back to the meeting place. We didn’t invite her into the wards or give her a damn cup of tea because we don’t know her. She could still be an enemy for all we know.”
Brandon raised his chin. “An enemy we brought into the Talons. Not the Redwoods. So you wouldn’t understand.”
Parker growled. “You think I don’t understand enemies? That I don’t understand traitors within a Pack? Do you not know what I came from? What monster forced a mating on my mother? He used dark magic to make sure she got pregnant. You remember that part in the history lessons? She had to run from this Pack because your dad, your former Alpha, couldn’t stand the sight of her anymore and was too chickenshit to do anything about the Centrals. So my mom, a woman you knew, ran away with her brother, an outcast from the Pack. And then I was born with no Pack, no family beyond the two people who had sacrificed everything for me. So don’t tell me I don’t understand, Brandon. The blood in my veins is proof enough.”
Brandon sighed, reaching out for Parker at the same instant. Parker didn’t move back as Brandon gripped his arm, keeping him steady. He just didn’t have much left these days to fight.
“I knew Lexi and Logan. We all did. But we also couldn’t do anything about it. We were being tortured daily, and our Pack was dying because of the older generation. I didn’t even know that she’d been cut from the Pack because I wasn’t the Omega back then. I didn’t know anything about it until it was too late.” The other man paused, and Parker’s breath finally settled. “I’m sorry for saying what I did. I’m just pissed off, and you’re the only one here for me to lash out at.”
Parker let out a breath. “Same. It’s just all a little too much, you know?”
Brandon nodded, his gaze resting on Parker’s lips. “I know.” Then the other man leaned in, and Parker didn’t move away, no, he moved forward.
Brandon’s lips were soft yet strong, the kiss tentative, as if neither was sure why they were doing this. Parker closed his eyes, letting the taste of the other man settle on his tongue.
Then the reality of what was going on hit him, and Parker pulled away, clenching his fists at his sides.
“Shit. This is not the time for this.”
Brandon’s breathing was just as ragged as his. “There’s never going to be a time with the way things are going.”
Parker met Brandon’s gaze, hurt and indecision running through his body. “I need a mate, Brandon. Not a fuck. And you’re not my mate. This can’t happen again.”
And with that, he pushed past Brandon, knocking the other man back, and stormed out of the building. He was going to fucking lose it if he weren’t careful, and yet…and yet, he couldn’t get Brandon’s taste out of his mind.
He’d just made a mistake, and if he weren’t careful, he’d do it again.
Soon.