JAYCE

“Who is she?” my alpha Draven asked, directing his question at me, but Eddie pushed a plain manila folder into his hands.

“Violet Murphy. She’s a twenty-six-year-old paralegal from Green Bay. Parents are Paige Stewart, a housewife, and Ryan Murphy, a big-time land developer. Owns a country club out there. Very affluent family. Very wealthy,” Eddie said.

“High profile human female. Great.” Draven raked his hand through his hair and grumbled.

Treyton snorted, and then commented, “She smelled like she came from old money.” He looked over Draven’s shoulder at the papers. “Looks like she’s even engaged to be married.”

“Was,” I corrected.

They all turned around to look at me, frowning as if I was telling some lie or something. “Guys, she means us no harm,” I exclaimed, pushing off the truck I was leaning up against.

“It’s too soon, and you’re already head over heels,” Treyton blurted.

“Despite the circumstances, I know the difference between a fake and an innocent woman. And she just wants to forget about this whole thing and get to a friend in Mill Valley. She was headed there when the group snatched her from the gas station.”

“She won’t forget. Look at this.” Draven pointed to something on the paper. “She has a law degree. Graduated with honors. Girls like her don’t forget. She has every resource available at her disposable to shine a light on this whole thing. We don’t need that, but she has every right to. I’ll give her that, but innocents will get swept up in the crosshairs just like last time. A few bad rogues are out there making us all look bad.”

“How do we know there’s only a few?” Eddie asked.

Draven shrugged. “Could be a whole pack or it could be a few. That’s the thing about the Black Ridge wolves. They disband when the going gets rough and then they regroup.” Draven closed the folder and turned around. “You said the woman heard one of them address an alpha?”

I nodded. “But I don’t think he was among the slain wolves. She said there were six and I only brought down three of them.”

“And even if you had killed their alpha, there would be another ready to take his place. The Black Ridge crew change alphas just as often as they change underwear,” Draven replied. “They hardly ever recruit. They breed.”

“Violet mentioned that the alpha said that they were going to chase her down and breed her,” I added.

“Why’d they come back here though?” Eddie asked. “And why her? They could’ve taken one look at that Mercedes and seen that a disappearance like that in Arrow Lake would cause mass attention and chaos.”

“Those rogues don’t care,” Treyton stated.

“Also it’s unclear whether they snatched her randomly or was already following her. She’s clearly an out-of-towner, so they knew that much,” I replied. “What makes matters worse is that she kind of didn’t tell anybody where she was going exactly. Just her friend.”

“Okay, I’ve got a hunch about something and you probably won’t like it,” Eddie stated, rubbing his long beard.

“What is it?” Draven asked, his voice laced with caution.

“This bit of information was kept off the records. When the rogues were run up out of here after the councilmen voted to take back the town, they took some people with them. Some humans.”

“That makes sense, though,” Treyton said. “Lots of people disappeared when us shifters were pushed out into the mountains, and in some cases, out of the state. The councilmen persuaded the citizens into thinking the humans who left with the shifters weren’t really humans at all. The truth was, they left on their own accord. They wanted to be with family.”

“Yeah,” Eddie stated. “But you can’t stand here and tell me that some of them weren’t kidnapped. I trust you guys. You keep your pack together and you do the right thing, but those Black Ridge wolves are known for kidnapping. Women especially.”

“You’re probably right,” Draven offered. “But I can guarantee you that not one Timber Rock wolf held any human against their will. We took what we owned and got the hell out of here with our families.”

“The same thing can’t be said about the rogues,” Eddie said. “I mean, isn’t how this all started in the beginning? Our town was once a mess. We weren’t pulling in revenue because our area was deemed unsafe for tourists. Longtime residents were moving out of here. At one point, we even became a popular hide-out spot for washed up criminals and convicts.”

Draven nodded. “The rogues thrive on chaos. They were going to tear this town to pieces just so they could take it over. I think the rogues finally pulled the last straw when they took a councilmen’s daughter and got her pregnant.”

“And that…” Eddie held up a finger. “That is why I think the rogues are back. This whole thing might have started with the Black Ridge wolves going rogue, but it ended personally. Old grievances don’t die, unfortunately. Councilmen Rick’s daughter was defiled in ways I don’t want to even imagine and then she ended up carrying a child.”

“What of the child?” Draven asked.

“Only two years have passed. I don’t even know if she gave birth. People are whispering around town that she had an abortion, but there’s been no proof of that since she hasn’t been seen in town since Councilmen Rick found out.”

“Shit. We’re talking about an unresolved dispute between a councilmen and the rogues,” Draven grumbled. “So this mess might not even concern us, but somehow, just like last time, we’re in the middle of it. Jayce rescued a woman, killed some rogues, and now we have her here on our land.”

“I did what I had to do,” I said, sternly.

Treyton stepped forward. “With all due respect, Draven, we would have been in the middle of it anyway. Let’s not forget that I witnessed one of our own get arrested and carted off to jail last night for no apparent reason. These Councilmen aren’t going to target just one group, they’re going to target all of us until we’re wiped off the Arrow Lake territory for good.”

“Not gonna happen. We helped make this town what it is today. The valleys, the hills, these mountains…the town is ours. We have every right to live here,” Draven said.

We all nodded in agreement. None of us were willing to leave our homes.

“The wolf who bit this woman was a rogue, then?” Draven asked.

I nodded. “He was. And he’s dead.”

“The trail might have gone cold on her, but there are people riled up in the city talking about sightings of shifters and being chased and attacked by them. This isn’t over. If the treaty has been violated, the townspeople need to know who is behind it, because I can guarantee you if we spot any armed men in our neighborhoods on wolf hunts, there’s going to be serious problems,” Treyton stated.

Eddie glanced at Draven. “We can’t have that. No one should die over this.”

Draven shook his head. “I can’t stop my people from doing what they have to to protect their family, their young pups. I can keep them contained on our territory for the time being. However, effective immediately, any outsiders attempting to cross into our parts will be stopped.” He then turned to Treyton and said, “You know the land well. Get a team together, will you? I’m not having none of that shit going down on my territory.”

“I’m on it.” Treyton broke away from the group and headed toward his pickup truck.

Draven turned his attention to the house. There was some movement between the curtains by the window.

“I want to meet her,” Draven stated. “She needs to know that we’re not like the rogues.”

“I’ve talked to her about that. She’s calm. For now,” I said.

“That’s odd.”

“Not odd at all. She’s not afraid of me because her instincts tell her not to be. She carries my mark.”

“A mate mark?”

I nodded.

Draven seemed just as surprised as I was. “She needs to know that she can’t leave until the rogue’s bite has completely healed. If any of that wolf’s essence still lingers in her, they will hunt her down. Especially if they want to finish what they started.”

I growled, my fists tightened at my side. “I won’t let that happen. Not even over my dead body.”

“That’s what I’m afraid of. You don’t want to lose her. And I don’t want to lose you.”

Draven started off toward my house. I followed my alpha up the steps. Even before we crossed the threshold, I scented Violet and picked up on the mix of emotions running through her. Confusion. Panic. I wanted to take it all away from her. And I would.