Chapter Three

Two days later…

The orange orb of the sun boiled up out of the horizon, floating in a sea of fire. Sharp lances of yellow-white sunlight stabbed through the trees, bouncing off Austin’s windshield and nearly blinding him. Tension twisted inside his gut as he negotiated a winding curve, heading out of Greenville.

Apparently everyone wanted a piece of him these days.

His niece, Serafina, had texted him, begging him to come visit their pack lands in Hidden Hills, North Dakota – or let her come visit him. His brothers, Cliff and Grant, were at each other’s throats all the time over stupid pack issues, and it was driving her nuts.

Austin had a soft spot for Serafina, whose parents had been almost as vile as his own, and he was glad that she was going away to a shifter college in South Dakota next year.

He’d had to tell her no, which had left a bitter taste in his mouth. But she should get used to life without him. After all, he was a wolf whose days were numbered.

And Cliff had been texting him for the last six weeks, with increasing urgency. Austin’s relationship with Cliff had always been strained. He’d ignored the texts. Whatever Cliff needed or wanted, Austin couldn’t help him.

And then three hours ago, his friend Tully had called him six times in a row until Austin finally answered the phone. Tully’s pack, the Pebble Creek Pack, was in the far northern part of Washington State, but he was driving south to meet Austin. It couldn’t wait.

He felt something sour brewing in the pit of his stomach. He suspected that Tully had found out about Austin’s little episode in the grocery store. And since Austin was still technically a member of Tully’s pack, Tully had no choice but to come down here and deal with it.

When Austin had first started having hallucinations, he’d gone to Korbin, the healer of the Crescent Moon Pack. The healer had told him there was nothing that he could do for him – and he’d predicted Austin’s grim path. Increasingly bad hallucinations and violent, uncontrollable outbursts.

Oh, he’d tried to be helpful. He’d urged Austin to fight it as hard as he could. Told him what exercises he needed to do to keep the madness at bay for a little longer.

To buy himself some time.

He’d thought about travelling around, searching for more help, but Korbin was one of the most powerful healers in the country. Why fight the inevitable? Why waste what little time he had left on a fruitless search for answers that couldn’t be found?

His mood was glum as he pulled into the parking lot of the small rest stop off Rural Route 7, where they’d arranged to meet. There was a gas station there to service the shifters who drove along Rural Route 7, and a small convenience store. Half a dozen cars were parked in front of the shop, and a family was eating at one of the picnic tables off to the side.

Tully, a burly man with a scar slashing the right side of his face, was already waiting for Austin at the other end of the lot, as far away from the shop as possible. He was standing next to his van, and he had a scowl creasing his forehead as Austin strolled over.

“Hey, brother,” Austin said, giving him a quick hug and a hard clap on the back. Then he took a step away. “I have a feeling that I know why you’re here.” His tone was steady and even, but his heart was thudding against his ribcage. He didn’t want a confrontation with the man who’d been like a brother to him. Because Tully couldn’t win.

Tully glanced around, scowling, as if to make sure there was nobody near enough to overhear them. “People are talking, Austin. They say you’re going feral.”

A rogue wolf was one who lived on his own. A feral wolf was one who’d tipped over into insanity.

Impatience and worry laced his voice. “Is that why you just up and moved all the way across the state? So we wouldn’t get caught up in the shitstorm?”

His light blue eyes were searching Austin’s for signs of madness.

Austin met Tully’s stare. “Listen, Tully, I want to thank you for everything you’ve done for me. I’m leaving your pack. I should have told you earlier.”

Tully and the pack had taken him in right after he ran away from military school. They were a small pack of hired killers and bounty hunters, who travelled the Northeast taking care of rogue shifters. They had accepted him as one of them. True, he had never felt completely at home with them, but he didn’t feel at home anywhere.

That tended to happen when most of your own pack shunned you as a cub, to the point where your father regularly tried to kill you, your mother sat there drinking and watching, and your older brother was so eager to be next in line for Alpha that he tricked Dear Old Dad into sending you away to a brutal military school.

His father had regularly beaten all three of his sons, but he’d had a particular hatred for Austin, his youngest. His pack members had sensed it, and most of them, fearful of Lloyd’s wrath, had tended to avoid him whenever possible.

Lloyd had gone into a long alcoholic decline a few years back, and Cliff had taken over from him, officially gaining the title of Alpha after Lloyd died. Technically, Austin could visit the pack now, but why would he?

Tully and his pack were as close to home as anything Austin had ever felt, and he would be damned if he would cause them harm.

“It’s not that easy,” Tully snapped. “You should have come to me for help as soon as you knew. Now my pack has been hired to take you out.”

“And yet you came alone.” Austin smiled politely. He cocked his head to the side. Tully knew what Austin was capable of.

“That’s because I’m not here to kill you, you idiot.” Tully shook his head with frustration. “I’m here to help you. Are you actually giving up this easily? Since when did you turn into such a pussy? Let’s start hitting up the healers and seeing what we can do.”

“I already went to see Korbin.” There was a snap of defensiveness to Austin’s tone. “He’s a legend among healers. He said that it was hopeless. He gave me some meditation techniques to try to push back against these dark visions that I’m having, to slow things down a little, but they didn’t work.”

Tully scowled. “Shit. Jason didn’t tell me that.”

“What does Jason have to do with this?” Austin demanded. Jason Washborn was the Alpha of the Crescent Moon Pack – the pack that Korbin belonged to as well. The wealthiest, most powerful pack on the West Coast. Jason had inherited the pack recently when his father Christopher died, and he’d been doing a shit job of running it, but he was also a Dominus with a psychotic streak and a lot of money, so nobody wanted to cross him.

Tully grimaced. “He’s the one who took out the hit on you. And he wants my pack to do it. As he put it, you’re our pack member, you’re our problem, so he formally requested that we be the ones to bring you in. And he also says that we’re the only ones who even have a shot at getting close to you. Harris agreed, and he said that if we didn’t agree to take on the hit, he’d never give us another bounty.”

And that was how Tully’s pack made their living. He’d backed them right into a corner. It was unheard of for a specific pack to be ordered to go after a mark, tradition always held that the call went out to all licensed bounty hunters in the territory, but Austin was an unusual case.

Rage swelled up inside him – rage at Harris and Jason both.

“Go on,” he ground out as his wolf snarled and paced, itching to break free.

“Apparently Jason also had his own men out looking for you, trying to take you out from a distance, but you keep sensing them, even when they’re half a mile away, and evading them.”

Austin snorted in contempt. “Figures. Jason has never been one of my fans.”

Six months earlier, right after Christopher died, Jason had tried to pick a fight with Austin when they were both at a state-wide pack gathering.

The Crescent Moon was the largest, most powerful pack in the territory. They held an annual get-together, and all the smaller packs came and brought gifts, a symbolic gesture showing their submission. It was a common practice throughout the country. The largest pack in the territory protected the smaller packs and ruled over disputes, the smaller packs paid them for their protection.

It was also the first pack gathering where Jason had been Alpha. He’d wanted to establish his dominance. Prove he was a big, bad wolf. So he’d picked the only other shifter there with Dominus power, which was Austin, and bumped into him, hard, then challenged him on the spot.

Jason’s little crowd of groupies, both male and female, had clapped and cheered. The rest of his packmates had just stood back silently, warily, watching.

Unfortunately for Jason, Austin had whipped Jason’s ass. Then, instead of killing him, he’d just held Jason down and drooled in his face for a long time until Jason waved his paws in surrender. Yeah, Austin could be a douche like that.

Austin could have sworn he’d seen disappointment on the faces of some of Jason’s packmates. They’d wanted him to kill Jason.

Jason’s pack, list most packs, had a Council of Elders. The 7 oldest members of the pack ensured that the pack’s charter – the original set of rules written to guide the pack, usually hundreds of years old – were enforced, and even the Alpha couldn’t violate those rules.

Except his pack’s council was notoriously weak, and they let Jason’s father step all over them all the time, and now Jason was doing the same thing. Jason was a schoolyard bully in a grownup’s body.

Austin probably should have taken Jason out when he had the chance, but then there was always the risk that his pack would insist he be their new Alpha, which was not Austin’s thing at all. The mere thought of dealing with pack politics made him break out in hives, and he’d be a terrible leader.

But now, Austin’s descending madness was providing the perfect opportunity for Jason’s revenge. As Alpha of the largest pack in Washington, Jason could say that he had the right to order Austin’s execution. Korbin the Healer would back Jason up on this one. He’d tell everyone what he’d told Austin – that sooner or later, Austin was going to lose his mind.

Forget the fact that Austin hadn’t actually caused anyone any harm yet; forget that Austin was still rational and in control ninety-nine percent of the time.

Feral shifters were a danger that needed to be eliminated. They had no control over themselves and their actions, and there was always the risk that they’d shift in front of humans.

Austin let out a rumbling growl of frustration and started pacing in the dirt. Shit, shit, shit. The last thing he wanted to do was have this come back on Tully and his pack.

“Here’s the problem,” he said, spinning to face Tully, who stood with his arms folded across his chest, watching Austin warily. “I’m not suicidal. And my wolf won’t let me just lie down and die without a fight. If you attack me and try to kill me, I’ll end up killing you. I won’t be able to help myself.”

“I know that. And I’m not going to try to kill you,” Tully said with exasperation. “But I can’t just ignore the hit. We have to figure something out here, bro. I can’t go back to Jason empty-handed.”

“I’ll leave Washington State today. You can even say that you tried to take me out. We can get in a fight, if you want to make it look better.” He bared his teeth in a fierce grin. “You’d look pretty with a black eye.”

Tully snorted. “And you’d look sexy with my boot up your ass. Pass on the fight, thanks.”

“Too bad, would have been fun.” He shrugged. “So I guess you just got here too late. You missed me. I’m already gone, friend. I’m going to run back to my house, pack up a few things, and head out of town.” An image of Savannah flashed in front of his face, and he felt a surprisingly sharp twinge at the thought of never seeing her again. Even though she’d all but ordered him out of her territory.

She hadn’t meant it, though, had she? He felt such a strong pull toward her, an increasingly urgent desire to be with her. If he weren’t losing his mind, could there be something between them?

But Tully was his best friend, his non-blood-brother, his packmate. He couldn’t expose him to Jason’s wrath.

“Later days,” he said, and started to walk back to his truck.

“I talked to your brother,” Tully called after him. “He’s been sending me messages. Said he needs to talk to you. It’s a family emergency.”

Austin spun around. “When did you talk to him?”

“Well, originally about six weeks ago. I’ve been trying to contact you, but you kept ignoring my calls and texts, because you’re a little bitch. It wasn’t until Jason approached us yesterday and ordered us to put the hit out on you that I decided to come find you here myself.”

Austin slowly strolled back to face his friend. “I’m surprised that Cliff didn’t tell you to just kidnap me and drag me back to Hidden Hills.” Raw emotion from old wounds burned through Austin. Cliff was a domineering asshole, a my-way-or-my-teeth-on-your-throat kind of guy.

“Who said he didn’t?” Tully cocked an eyebrow. “If you were back on your own home turf, you’d be safe. Jason won’t challenge your family.”

Or Austin would flip out and go on a killing spree, ripping out the throats of his family and former packmates. Or his family would try to help him by locking him up in a padded cell, and throwing away the key.

Austin barked out a harsh laugh. “Seriously. That’s fucking hilarious. Cliff sent you to haul my ass back to Hidden Hills. You honestly think you can take me?”

“Of course not. But a sufficiently large tranquilizer dart can at least keep you out for long enough to get you back to Cliff. It would be for your own good, you stubborn fuck. You’re giving up without even trying. And I know why.”

“Oh, please enlighten me.” Austin was getting pissed now. Bitterness burned through his veins, leaving a sharp metallic taste in his mouth. He was going to die young, never mated, never knowing love, never finding a place that felt like home. He just wanted to go out on his own terms. Was that too much to fucking ask?

“Because you don’t feel as if you have anything to fight for, not really.” Austin hated the pity glinting in Tully’s eyes. “Oh, your stupid wolf will fight to stay alive on instinct. But you’re sabotaging it your wolf at every turn. You cut yourself off from your family’s pack, and you never really let yourself get close to our pack. If you had a mate, it would be different. But you’re giving up without even realizing it.”

“Hey, thanks for the pop psychology lecture, Freud,” Austin sneered.

It stung because it was true. Why was he even fighting the madness so hard, when he didn’t have a pack? Nobody and nothing to live for? Shifters were social animals. They needed family and friends and that sense of belonging.

And he’d never really had that. No wonder he was losing his mind.

“Sorry,” Tully said apologetically. He lowered his hand in a sharp slash. Something stung Austin’s arm, and he staggered and went to his knees.

Tully had brought another pack member with him, someone watching from the tree line, no doubt. Someone Tully had just signaled to.

Someone who’d just shot Austin with a tranquilizer dart.

Fury burned through his veins, and his fangs descended. A wave of dizziness swept over his body. Everything around him shimmered and disappeared in a haze.

His wolf howled inside him, hackles raised, ready to fight. To tear into tender flesh, to drink the blood of any who threatened him.

No. Don’t kill Tully. No.

He snatched the dart, pulled it from his arm, and concentrated with everything he had. His fight or flight instincts kicked in, and he burned the sedative from his system with a bonfire of pure rage and jumped to his feet.

A car was pulling up to the rest stop. More of Tully’s pack? Had they come to help with the kidnapping?

Fucking assholes.

“I am a Dominus. You fucking moron,” he spat at Tully. “You’d need ten times that level of tranq to take me out.”

Tully’s eyes widened, and he took a step back. “Well, shit,” he said.

“Try saying that again after I knock your teeth down your throat!” They’d grow back, but Tully would be chewing mush for the next month. With a snarl of rage, Austin clenched his fists and advanced on his friend. He was about to hand down a serious ass-whipping.

Then he realized that it wasn’t Tully’s packmates getting out of that car. It was Jason. And half a dozen of his men.

He froze where he stood. “Jason’s here,” he said, in a low, urgent voice.

“Well, double shit.” Tully followed his gaze, glaring as Jason and his men hurried towards them. “I didn’t bring them with me, Austin, I swear. They followed me.”

Tully might be a lot of things, but he wasn’t a backstabber. “I believe you,” Austin growled.

As they got closer to him, Austin’s wolf paced restlessly inside him, and his Dominus power sent a wave of rage sizzling towards them.

The men glanced at each other uneasily, and their faces flushed red. They’d be able to feel the crackling in the air, and it would make them uncomfortable and afraid.

Jason Washborn strode up to Austin, bristling with anger and self-importance. He’d inherited his father’s high cheekbones, white-blond hair, and pale blue eyes, but not his self-discipline. From what Austin had been hearing ever since Jason took over, Christopher had been an icy control freak, and Jason was a volcano constantly threatening to erupt.

He was wearing his usual over-the-top ensemble of expensive designer jeans, hand-tooled ostrich-skin cowboy boots, and a leather belt with a buckle shaped like a wolf. He was a couple of years younger than Austin, and a couple of inches shorter, but broader, because he worked out obsessively. He was all flash and show, but it was pure theater. He had nothing to back it up with.

Austin’s lips curled in a savage grin.

Hell, dying in a fight with Jason and his men wouldn’t be the worst way to go. He’d make sure to go straight for Jason. Jason’s men would be packing, with silver-coated bullets in their pistols, but Austin was pretty confident that even as his body was dying, he could still make himself kill Jason. The state of Washington would be better off without him.

“Stay back,” he muttered to Tully as the two men faced Jason and his packmates. “This is my fight.”

Tully let out a non-committal, rumbling growl.

Austin’s gaze swept over Jason’s men, assessing them. Four members of his security team, his healer Korbin, a tall dark-haired man in his sixties with a white streak in his hair, and…a Truthmaker? That was an odd choice to bring to a fight.

Jason stepped forward, with Korbin by his side. Korbin gave Austin a gentle, pitying look. Austin ignored him.

“You know, I always knew you were a pussy, but seriously, a supposed Alpha bringing this much backup to a fight against one man? You need four armed guards to take me down?” Austin barked out a harsh laugh. He flexed his hands, his eyes glowing with eagerness. “Well, thanks for making my morning more interesting. I like a challenge, Jason.”

He saw the briefest flicker of fear in Jason’s eyes. Jason clenched his fists, baring his teeth, and rage burned away the fear in his gaze. Rage and pure hatred. Before he’d fought with Austin, he’d been known as the strongest wolf in Washington State. As long as Austin was alive, Jason would be number two.

Jason clenched his fists and shuddered all over. The bones of his face rippled hideously as he fought to keep his wolf contained.

Austin could practically see the wheels spinning in Jason’s head.

If he released his wolf, it was almost certain the animal would go for Austin’s throat – and even if Jason’s guards opened fire on Austin, it was a near certainty that Austin would kill Jason before dying.

Jason shuddered, and his face settled back into its normal lines of arrogance and contempt. His attention snapped to Tully. “You were hired to take him out, not sedate him.”

“His family wants him back,” Tully said, keeping his tone even and his head slightly lowered, to show respect to Jason’s Alpha status. “They think they can treat him. They’re his home pack – they have the right to deal with him as they see fit. We are removing the threat from your area, and once he is back on their pack property, if he flips out, it’s not your problem anymore.”

Jason’s eyes glowed with malice. “Oh, but we still have a problem. You knew he was here all along and failed to tell me where a rogue wolf was. A rogue who was known to be going feral. I can’t have a pack like that operating in my state. I can’t have a pack like that existing in my state.” Jason grinned at them nastily, letting the implications of that sink in.

Tully was here. Austin was here. They were the two strongest wolves in the pack.

Tully’s pack had some badasses, for sure, but Jason’s pack was twenty times their size, and if Jason wanted to wipe them out down to the last cub, he could, and he could say that it had been justified because they had let a rogue run free.

Austin’s lip curled back. “You want to threaten Tully’s pack? Let’s throw down, shitbag. I will make sure that you fucking die before you walk back to your car.” His voice slurred as his fangs descended. “You may think that your men can get me first, but I’m very hard to kill. Want to test me?”

Jason’s men fingered their weapons and glanced at him for direction.

Jason flicked a quick glance at the convenience store. His eyes narrowed, brows pinching together. There were easily fifteen people standing outside now, watching, as was the family who had been eating at the picnic table. Too many witnesses if he just tried to have his men mow Austin down. It would make him look weak, undermine his authority. An Alpha who relied on a squad of armed men to take down a rival was an Alpha who was begging for a true, official Challenge. He’d lose the respect of his people, pack members would start migrating to other packs, and sooner or later somebody bigger and badder would come along.

And also, for all his bluster, it was clear that he knew that Austin was right. Even if he did order his men to kill Austin, he knew the chances of him surviving such an attempt were slim.

He sucked in an angry breath and let it out slowly, shaking his shoulders and jogging in place. Then he grimaced and shook himself hard, and his jaw receded. His pointy ears rounded themselves off.

He held up his hand in a commanding gesture. “I have every right to take out Tully’s pack, but I am a reasonable wolf.”

Austin choked on a scornful laugh, earning him a glare from Jason and his men.

Jason cleared his throat and started again. “I have a different proposition for you. You’ve all heard of the rogue shifter, Roy? Former Alpha from some little pack near the coast, who flipped his shit and went on a killing spree?”

Austin made a gesture of impatience. “Yeah, yeah. Fled the state a week ago after he killed a family of hikers. He’s supposed to be somewhere in Montana now. As of today, the bounty to bring him in is a million dollars, but nobody will go after him because it’s a guaranteed death sentence. What the fuck does this have to do with me?”

“I’m the reason Roy’s bounty is up to a million dollars.” Jason shifted where he stood, meeting Austin’s gaze and then dropping it. “I donated half of that amount this morning. I want to see this situation resolved. I want you to capture Roy and bring him back to my pack. Alive. I can even tell you where he was last seen. I’ll text you the GPS coordinates.”

Austin stared at Justin suspiciously. “Say what, now?” This made no sense. Roy had never been part of Justin’s pack, and he’d never been part of one of his tribute packs, those smaller groups who paid for protection from a larger pack.

“You hard of hearing all of a sudden?” Jason snapped. “If you bring Roy in, I will let Tully and his pack off the hook, and I will remove the kill order on you. However, you have to bring Roy back to my property within ten days, and you have to agree that after you deliver him, you will leave the state of Washington for good.”

“Why do you want him alive?” Tully spoke up suddenly, scowling suspiciously at Jason. “Roy’s a full-blown psycho who killed at least two groups of humans. He killed hunters. He killed a family of hikers. Austin hasn’t done a damn thing to anyone, and you put a kill order on him, but you want Roy alive?”

Jason favored him with a smirk. “Well, now, we don’t have actual proof of what Roy’s done. We want our Truthmaker here to interview him to ensure that he’s actually guilty before we kill him.”

“No,” Austin drawled. “That’s bullshit. You don’t want me to kill him because you think he’s one of the few wolves alive who could actually kill me. And it would take me a few days to get him from Montana back to your property, and that gives him a few days to escape from his handcuffs and rip my throat out.”

Jason smiled, baring his teeth. “That would be tragic.”

Austin glared at him. “Why bring him to your pack? Why not have me take him to his former pack so they can take care of him?”

“Well, he was the Alpha, and after his mate died and Roy lost his fucking mind, his former pack fell apart and scattered.”

Jason gestured at his Truthmaker, a man named Orville.

“Orville. Compel me.”

Orville trained his gaze on Jason, his brow wrinkling in concentration. “If Austin agrees right now that he will bring Roy to your pack, alive, in ten days or sooner, will you contact Harris immediately and lift the kill order on him?”

Power flowed and crackled through the air. Austin could feel it, taste it, like smoke from a lightning strike. There was no doubt that Orville was genuinely compelling Jason, and Jason would have to answer truthfully.

“Yes, I will.”

“If Austin brings Roy to your pack, alive, in ten days, will you let Tully’s pack live?”

Sweat trickled down the side of his face. “Yes, I will.”

Orville nodded and stepped back.

“I’ll go with you,” Tully said to Austin. “You’re not going to be able to get him alone. Roy is the Dominus to end all Dominuses. Literally.”

“Only him,” Jason snapped. “He delivers him to us alone. That’s the deal.”

Tully stared at him in shock, jaw hanging open. “That’s bullshit!”

Jason’s eyes glowed with rage. “No, think of it as your punishment for lying to me, chief Alpha of the region. I hired you to take Austin out, and you went behind my back and tried to sneak him away. You showed me extreme disrespect. I should wipe out every male in your pack as punishment and take your females and cubs to do with as I will. And if Austin doesn’t bring Roy back, that’s exactly what will happen. There will be nowhere you can hide from me.”

Tully’s face flushed with fury.

He had a wife and five cubs.

His face went hairy and his claws shot out. He didn’t challenge Jason, though. It would be the end of his pack and his family. He just stood there, trembling with fury.

“You knew all along that Tully wouldn’t kill me,” Austin said, ice dripping from every word. “You forced his pack to take the kill order so that he’d lead you to me.”

“Is that so?” Jason’s eyes glinted with malicious glee. “Doesn’t really matter much, though, does it? Because you’re still a fucking nut job and the law is still on my side.”

“I’ll get Roy and bring him in,” Austin said coldly. “See you in ten days.”

And if he survived, so help him, he’d find a way to fucking end Jason Washborn.