Chapter Forty-one

Sam struggled to maintain his composure as Lana chewed him a new one over the phone.

“Lana, I know you’re upset. I know we screwed up.”

“No, you screwed up.”

He rolled his shoulders forward in an attempt to ease the tension. “Fine, I screwed up. But Ian, Marcus, and Caleb are here now. The feds are in cuffs and stashed in their own SUV. Marcus and Caleb will take care of the Suburban, and Ian and I will find her.”

“And just how are you supposed to do that?”

He didn’t know. But if he didn’t at least tell himself he stood a chance he wouldn’t be able to maintain his human shape. And then he stood no chance of finding her at all.

“We’re enforcers. Let us do our job.”

Ian gestured for the phone and Sam shoved it at his beta with more force than necessary. He stalked away from the Jeep over to a narrow strip of grass where he might be able to breathe in this sea of concrete and metal.

Marcus walked up. “Alastair is on his way. He’s going to meet us at the warehouse in Lakewood.”

“Great, just fucking great. Just what I need, fucking perfect Alastair to come clean up my mess.”

“We need to find out where they’ve taken her, and then we need to wipe their memories. Alastair can do all of that.”

“I can fucking interrogate them. I don’t need Alastair.”

“Yeah, but he’ll do it faster with less mess. He has the talent. You don’t. I don’t.” The bitterness in Marcus’s voice pushed through Sam’s rage.

Sam took a deep breath. “Hey, man, you are way more important to the pack than fucking Alastair.” He didn’t know what he’d have done if he’d made it through the fever to find out he was never going to be a wolf, like Marcus.

“He serves his purpose. At least he has a talent.”

“It’s not your fault you missed out on a gene.”

Marcus shook his head and looked away. “I know.” His face was resigned, but his tone was bitter.

“Hell, if it weren’t for dormants like you, we wouldn’t have saved Glenna from these bastards in the first place. She’d be locked away getting tests done while she goes through the change, alone.” He swallowed.

She still might be alone, locked in a cage, shifting for the very first time with no pack to guide her through. But if he dwelled on that, they’d never find her.

“Hey, it’s okay. I made my peace with it years ago.”

Marcus might have made his peace with never changing into a wolf, or even being a spelltalker, like Alastair, but not having enough of the genes, or maybe any, that interacted with the fever made him less attractive as a mate. And Sam knew that burned. Competition for mates within the pack was stiff. Marcus could look outside the pack, but if he did that, he’d have to cut all ties and go mundane. They couldn’t bring humans into the pack. It was too dangerous.

“I’m going to wait here for the tow. You guys get going before someone sends the cops.” Marcus smiled and waved at the squashed fender of Sam’s ride.

Sam gave him a friendly shoulder shove. “Yeah, just take the sweet job so you don’t have to look at Alastair’s ugly face.”

Marcus shoved back. “You know it.”

Ian hung up the phone. “Man, Lana is in a mood.”

“You can say that again,” Sam said. He kept twitching, he couldn’t keep still. He needed to get going and find Glenna.

“She’s stuck between the council and a bunch of screw-up enforcers. I guess she’s earned the right to yell. Anyway, she’s given us the go-ahead to move them.”

Sam growled. “Has she?”

He exhaled again. This was why the packs had females in charge, because the males couldn’t think straight half the time. He knew it, even agreed with it, but it chapped his ass. “Are they secure? Ready for the trip to the warehouse?” Sam wanted to bash their faces in until they spewed everything they knew all over the concrete. Make them pay in blood for Glenna’s disappearance.

“Sam.” Ian moved up next to him, bumping his shoulder with his shoulder in a show of solidarity. They crossed the parking lot to the SUV where the feds were cuffed and doped up with their own drugs. “Alastair will force them to talk. And he won’t kill them in the process.” Ian’s anxiety for his alpha was palpable. “What’s with you?”

“Can’t you smell it?” Caleb leaned against the door of the vehicle. With his dark secretive eyes and long black hair pulled back in a ponytail he had a bad boy rep on the force. “He’s sniffing after the girl.”

Sam lunged for the other enforcer, gripping handfuls of his expensive silky shirt and shoving him up against the metal door.

“Be respectful.” His words were almost inaudible growls. “She’s my responsibility, that’s all.”

“Yeah, whatever.” Caleb’s nose wrinkled. “But you smell of fear and pussy.”

Sam hauled back and slammed him against the door again. Caleb just grinned.

“Sam, back down!” Marcus ran across the parking lot. “You need to get the hell out of here. Get in the Jeep and let’s get going to the warehouse before someone calls the police.”

Sam shook, his fear and anger threatening to overwhelm him. He had to shake this or he would be no good to Glenna. His muscles bunched. Caleb would be a great place to sink his teeth and vent his emotions.

A sleek grey compact car turned into the parking lot.

“Sam!”

As a dormant, Marcus might have missed out on the DNA that would have given him alpha potential, but Sam heard the command in his voice. Sam’s wolf screamed that he was the alpha here. Marcus could fuck off—Caleb was challenging him over Glenna.

But Glenna wasn’t here.

It was that thought that calmed him down. He was wasting time.

“Screw you, Caleb.” He let the other enforcer go and backed away. He could smell Ian’s relief as the situation deescalated. “Let’s go,” he told the beta. “We have feds to interrogate.”

He’d deal with Caleb’s insinuations. He’d deal with his own frustration and anger. He’d deal with anything if it meant they found Glenna before the fucking feds had a chance to hurt her.

***

Sam paced back and forth inside the Lakewood warehouse the pack kept filled with supplies and emergency goods. He’d grabbed his kit bag from the Suburban before they’d had it towed and changed into his spare clothes and now he had nothing to do but pace. “Where the hell is he?”

Alastair was late. The three suits were tied up in folding chairs, heads lolling as they slept off the drugs.

“I’m right here.” Smooth as grease Alastair slid into the warehouse. He pulled the door shut behind him. “Seems like you’ve got some trouble on your hands.”

Sam worked at keeping his balled-up fists at his sides. The man always set his teeth on edge, but the smirk he shot at Sam seemed calculated to bring out the wolf today. Or maybe it wasn’t Alastair, maybe it was losing Glenna.

Alastair brought over another metal chair and unfolded it in front of the first fed. “I’m going to need you to leave, Sam.”

“No fucking way!” Sam lunged, but Caleb cut him off and gripped him by the shoulders.

“Your agitation is too disruptive. I can’t work with you here.”

Sam caught the looks between Ian and Caleb. “I’m fine.” He wasn’t. He was hanging by an edge, but he could fake it. God knew he’d done it enough over the past two years. He ran his hand through his hair and backed away from the men. “I’ll watch from over here.”

Sam could tell they didn’t buy it, as he walked over to the warehouse door, but no one said anything. He cracked his neck, popping stress out like a string of firecrackers. The line between him and the wolf had thinned. The urge to just go out and hunt Glenna down using only his nose, legs, and powerful jaws was getting harder to resist.

But he still held control by the tips of his claws. He would stay human.

For now.

He bounced his weight from foot to foot, keeping his distance as the room got quiet.  Alastair took his own tall, skinny frame through some neck rolls and joint loosening. Prep for the trance the spelltalker would need to go in to do his work.

Sam paced, back and forth, tracing the length of the door. He could sense the day moving on, and every minute meant Glenna was getting harder and harder to find.

“Out.” Alastair pointed a long finger at Sam. “Or I can’t do this, and we are losing time.”

Sam lunged at Alastair, teeth bared, shrinking the space between them with lightening speed.

Caleb stepped in front of the slender man. “Do I need to call Lana?” Caleb’s frame seemed suddenly larger, his face had gone serious.

He could take him. Caleb was fast, but he was bigger and stronger. All it would take was one lunge and he’d rip out the other man’s throat, like slicing through a steak. Blood would spurt. And—

“Fuck!” Sam whirled around and slid open the warehouse door, exploding out into the sunshine.

The door slammed shut behind him. He strode down the pavement between the isolated storage buildings, moving faster and faster until he ran the length of the building and around the block. He ran until he’d wrestled his control back from the edge.

He made his way back to the warehouse, sweating, but not as tired as he needed to be. Caleb waited outside, lounging casually against the peeling steel wall, looking cool despite the heat. “I know you don’t want to hear this, man, but someone needs to pull you off this case.”

“No.” He couldn’t hold back the growl.

“You’ve got it.”

“Don’t you think I would know?”

“Yes.” Caleb stepped right up to him, got into his face. “Yes, I think you would know. And I think you do.”

Sam balled his fists at his sides, panting with the effort of not shifting and challenging the other wolf.

“Man, have you got it bad.” Caleb flashed a smile, but it didn’t light up his eyes and his stance said he was ready for action.

Sam relaxed each muscle individually until sweat dripped between his shoulder blades. It was almost successful. “Don’t tell Alastair,” he said. “He’ll call Lana and I’ll be through.”

“You’re a wild card. Someone should call Lana; someone should call the chief and replace you.”

“No one will work as hard for Glenna as I will.”

“Sam, we all know your history. You can still back it down. Stay away from her and the fever might ease.”

It wouldn’t ease. It burned through him hotter and faster this time, like flame after easy fuel. Like it knew his weaknesses. “Once we find her I’ll get her someplace safe. And I’ll take off.”

Caleb tilted his head, his eyes skeptical. “She’s not used to us, not used to our ways. She won’t know what the hell is going on. Does she even know if she turns you down what will happen to you? Are you sure you want to take the risk?”

“There’s no risk. I won’t spend time with her. I’ll just help you find her and then I’ll take her back to Lana’s. I’ll go.”

“It’s your soul, man.” Caleb shook his head and headed back into the warehouse.

The sweat trickling down Sam’s spine grew cold on his skin. He’d find her. His wolf wouldn’t let him rest until he did. Then he’d get her somewhere safe and leave. And give himself up to the place he should have gone two years before—into the wild.

Ian and a pale, shaky Alastair exited the building.

“We’ve got a location,” Alastair said. “Ian and I are going to head up there now. It’s way down I-70, on the Western Slope. Maybe five, six hours from here.”

“I’m going.”

“No, no you’re not. Lana wants you back at the cabin.”

Sam tensed. “I’m responsible. I’m going to find her.”

Alastair stepped two steps closer. “You failed. Lana wouldn’t trust you not to fail again. No one trusts you. I’ll find her, and I’ll be the one to take care of her.”

A low, menacing growl worked out of his throat. His head dropped, his shoulders bunched. “You want her for yourself.” He growled, and Alastair’s eyes went wide. The man thought he could have Glenna? Fuck him. He’d rip his throat out.