Chapter Twenty-Seven
The days seemed to fly by even as the minutes crawled. Most of Danny’s days were spent lying in bed, watching the ceiling or the window or the wall. He almost wished he had a can of paint and a brush so he could watch it dry. Almost.
Everyone seemed to be whispering behind his back and sometimes right in front of him. Newspapers left in the kitchen open to pages with headlines about him. It was inescapable. He felt trapped, like the walls were closing in.
Jake was kind to him as were many of the others. They tried to draw him out, get him up and moving. But there was nothing to move for. His family was gone —all his fault—and how was it fair that he was still here, now living pain-free. That phrase almost made him laugh. Pain-free. He hurt so much, his heart and head, as if he might burst. His stomach churned over and over, forcing him to his knees in the bathroom at odd hours, regardless of how little he’d eaten.
He sat up as voices carried through the door. Jake had come to see him the previous evening, he and Will were going away for the weekend with Rhea, to stay at Will’s mother's house. Jake hadn’t seemed excited about it. Weren’t people usually excited to go away? Jake had made sure he knew who to go to if he needed anyone. Danny didn’t need anyone. He needed to be left alone.
The voices grew louder, then quiet again, and he turned over, burrowing his face against the blankets.
There was a knock on the door before it opened. Danny didn’t bother locking it most of the time. It was Colin. He looked after the day-to-day stuff in the Haven, making sure people pulled their weight.
“Hi, Danny. Mitch, the Alpha, his brothers are here. They’re going to take you to see him. It’s about your leave to stay in the city.”
They’d given him another restricted stay, three months this time, but there were weeks go before it ran out.
He sat up, scrubbing a hand across his eyes. “Now?”
“Yeah… well, they said to make sure you were presentable, so maybe after you have a shower?”
It was the last thing Danny wanted to do, but Colin could be persuasive and within half an hour he was showered, shaved, dressed, and his hair was combed.
Colin looked him up and down.
“I guess that will have to do. Can’t have you disgracing us in front of the city’s Alpha now, can we?” Colin gave him a weak smile and walked him to the door. “I’d come with you, but the rest are at a workshop and I’m keeping an eye on the infants.”
“That’s okay,” Danny replied. “I’m sure it’ll be fine.”
Outside the door, two shifters were waiting. Danny vaguely recognized them from the time they’d escorted him out of Eden.
“You must be Danny,” one of them said, giving him a smile. “I’m Nate and this is Brian. Our brother Mitch wants to see you, so we’ll take you to him.”
Danny nodded at that and followed them outside. Nate opened the back door of a car, ushering Danny inside, while Brian climbed in opposite him. Nate got into the driver’s seat and they left.
It was a short drive across the city, stopping at a large house with high walls surrounding it and two huge metal gates. There were guards at the gates who they opened them and waved them through.
Nate parked near the door. There were a handful of other cars around, at least two with drivers, the shifters standing around looking bored.
Nate and Brian walked him into the house then left him sitting on a seat outside the doors of a room. He could just make out the voices inside. Either whoever was in there was talking very quietly or the room was soundproofed.
There was a security guard at the end of the corridor, watching him, and for the first time, Danny began to feel afraid. He was alone here. No one knew he was gone except Colin. He had never dealt directly with Mitch before, it had always been through Will or Chris. So why would things have changed now? What could have been so urgent that they couldn’t have waited the two days for Will to return?
The door opened.
“Danny? Come on in,” a woman called.
He stood and followed her inside, feeling his hair standing on end. Whatever was about to happen, he didn’t think it was anything good.
Chris had taken Will’s words to heart, rolling them over and over in his mind. Had he been so blinded by guilt that he’d missed what was really there between him and Danny? Had his pulling back been what sent Danny over the edge? Though the Omega had been through enough in the space of a few short weeks to throw anyone into a depression.
They made a breakthrough at the hospital, one of the shifters they’d been working tirelessly with had managed to shift. It was early days, but it gave them hope. If they could save one, maybe they could save more. It was then that he decided to take a break and return to the city. He’d catch up with Danny, see the lay of the land, and work out if there was anything he could do to pull Danny out of his shell and reconnect him with the world.
His phone buzzed just as he crossed into the city. He pulled in to answer it, surprised by the name that flashed up on his screen.
“Colin?”
“Danny, my name is Zara. I’m Will’s sister and Mitch’s cousin.” He followed her inside where a man waited, sitting at a desk strewn with paperwork.
“Danny, this is Mitch, the Alpha of Eden.”
She urged him forward, and he stopped a few feet from Mitch, ducking his head submissively.
“Hello, Danny.”
“Alpha.”
Mitch stood, stepping closer before leaning in and scenting his neck. Danny held still, feeling the thump of his heart.
“Danny, I’m sorry to drag you here like this but I’m afraid there have been some developments in relation to you that have caused some concern.”
Mitch resumed his seat, gesturing Danny into a seat across from him. He sat, feeling the cool wood beneath him. The woman, Zara, stayed standing, hers arms folded.
“We have learned that the Dale County Police intend to request a warrant be signed to allow the searching of shifter premises in order to take you into custody for questioning over the death of your family. Given that this would give the police rights that would endanger the lives of the rest of Eden’s shifter citizens, I can’t allow it to proceed.”
A ball of tension started building in Danny’s chest.
“But neither am I willing to hand you over to them. Neither option would be in my interest or yours. Instead, I have a third option. There are certain parties here in Eden and in some of the surrounding Packs who feels that the potential danger you present would be nullified if you were mated off. And, in particular, if you were out of Eden altogether.”
Danny’s heart thumped in his chest as he waited to hear his fate.
“Luckily, we have had a generous offer from an influential Alpha who has agreed to what amounts to a mating on paper. There would be no obligation on your part to complete a mating but if any inquiries were made, the fact that you were mates would be made clear. He also has extensive property across the country and so will be able to situate you somewhere very comfortable and private. No more press, no more police. Just somewhere with peace and quiet where you can adjust to shifter life and grieve in privacy. In a matter of a year or two, this will all have died down, and you’ll be able to move around freely once more.”
Mitch smiled at him but the smile didn’t reach the Alpha’s eyes. He didn’t seem unkind just distant and distracted.
Zara stepped forward.
“It has all been arranged, Danny. Everything is ready. The Alpha is here to collect you.”
“But my things—” He’d left everything but the clothes he was wearing at the Haven, not that he had much to begin with.
“Anything you need can be sent on,” she said, tapping her foot against the floor as he hesitated. It wasn’t because of his belongings, it was the inherent wrongness in what they were saying.
“The sooner this happens, the better, Danny,” Mitch added, though his attention was now on the paperwork on the desk, Danny dismissed as an afterthought.
Feeling strangely numb, Danny let Zara lead him from the room, not by the door he’d come in, but by another set of doors leading to a library. A man stood by the window, staring out. He cut a tall and imposing figure, broad shouldered, with dark hair. But it wasn’t his appearance that struck Danny, it was his scent. The man turned to face him, pale green eyes lighting up as they caught sight of him.
“Danny, this is Vincent Hart. Mr. Hart, this is Danny.”
It was him. The wolf, the stalker, the man who had killed his family.