Alpha Pack 02 - Savage Awakening (21 page)

“I know. He’s got great friends, too, to see him through.” She squeezed his hand.

Guilt clogged his throat, but he managed to speak around the terrible knot. “We’ll all do everything in our power to make sure he gets well.”

“I know.” She gave him a small smile. “Alpha Pack may battle monsters, but what you do here is about so much more than that. You guys help the innocent, whether they’re human or not.”

“I hadn’t really thought of it like that, but I guess it’s true. Though Kira and Sariel, with the help of the doctors and nurses on staff, do the hard work of rehabbing all sorts of supernatural beings through their project.”

“Block R. They’ve told me some about it.”

“Did they tell you Nick approved construction of a new building for their program?”

“Kira mentioned it the first day I was here, but just briefly.”

“They’re going to expand and give it a better name, and they plan to make it a haven for displaced paranormals as well as sick ones.”

“That’s a neat thing for them to do.” She paused. “Is there really a basilisk here?”

“Kira told you that?”

“Yes. She also started to say something about a wolf, but Jax stopped her from saying more.”

“Oh. Well, the wolf is a sore subject,” he said, unable to keep the emotion from his voice. “His name is Raven, and he was one of our team members when Micah, Jax, Ryon, Zan, and I were in the SEALs. He was
turned along with us. The difference is, he never came back from his shifted form. He’s feral.”

“God, that’s horrible,” she breathed. “They’re trying to reach him?”

“They have been, for almost six years. They’re hoping that with the opening of the new center and hiring an expert or two, they’ll finally succeed.”

Rowan’s expression was so compassionate it made him ache. Why couldn’t this woman be his?

“I hope so, too. What about the basilisk?”

“Actually, he’s a basilisk shifter, and his name is Belial. He’s quite a handful, tries to seduce everyone in sight to get what he wants. Of course, he doesn’t get anywhere because we’ve all got his number. No one trusts him, with good reason.”

“Can’t they kill if a person looks them in the eye?”

“No, that’s Internet bullshit. But when he shifts, he goes from a regular-looking tall, lean guy to a snake the size of a fucking sedan. His fangs are each about a foot long, and he could swallow a full-grown man whole if he wanted. He doesn’t need more abilities than those.”

“Jesus, no kidding.”

“They haven’t let him out much just yet, but Kira’s lobbying for leniency so he can prove himself.”

“He might prove useful in the fight against Sariel’s father and those Sluagh things.”

Aric shrugged. “We’ll see.”

Their trek led to the rec room, where Rowan stopped. “I suppose skipping through the woods is out of the question. What a waste of great scenery.”

“Yeah, unless we want to take two others with us. Kinda cramps the style.” He pulled her toward the sofa. “Want to play a game on the Wii?”

“What are we, twelve?” she joked.

“Mentally, that fits most of us around here. Keeps us sane. Anyway, I love video games. I used to spend hours in my room with my old PlayStation, just to stay away from my stepsister…” He trailed off, immediately cursing his stupid mistake. Of course, she caught his blunder, eyes narrowing.

“So you have a stepsister. You told me you didn’t have any family left.”

“I… Well, my mother remarried when I was in high school, but I don’t consider my stepfather or his daughter to be my family. Far from it,” he said bitterly. “Bruce was a world-class asshole and his precious girl was a witch, and I mean that literally. She still is, and a dangerous one.”

Rowan paused, and he could almost see those dots connecting at warp speed. Why did the woman have to be such a goddamned smart cop? Then again, maybe a tiny part of him wanted to confess to someone who’d understand.

“Do you know where your stepfather and stepsister are these days? What they’re doing?”

“Not my dear old stepdad. But his daughter?” He shook his head, stomach clenching. “I wasn’t so lucky on that score. Beryl turned up in my life a few months ago, like the proverbial bad penny.”

“She found you here, came to see you?”

“Worse. She showed up on Jax’s arm… as his girlfriend.”

Rowan’s eyes rounded. Yep, she got it.

A low snarl sounded from behind them. “You goddamned son of a bitch.”

Oh, fuck. This is gonna be bad.

Heaving a deep breath, he stood and turned. Faced an extremely and justifiably pissed-off Jax, who stood in the door to the rec room, fists clenched, blue eyes sparking with rage. Aric held up his palms.

“Jax—”

“Beryl is your fucking stepsister?” he choked. “You knew. For months, that bitch and her evil cohorts were planning to annihilate us, you
knew
. And said
nothing
!”

“I can explain—”

The man crossed the room in three strides and leapt over the back of the sofa, slamming into Aric like a bull out of a chute. Aric flew backward, crashing on top of the coffee table, which shattered into pieces. They hit the floor and he felt a painful stab in his back, probably a shard of wood, as Jax took a handful of his shirt and unloaded on him with a fist that packed the punch of a jackhammer.

Pain exploded in his face, reverberated through his skull. He wondered whether his jaw had been broken, but the blows powered into his head, scattering all thoughts but one—he deserved this. Had it coming for ages. He and Jax had scrapped before, but this time he didn’t fight back, simply took what the man dished out.

His lip split, and blood ran down the back of his throat. Rowan was yelling for help, but Jax was unfazed. His sole mission was to pummel Aric into dust. Then, out of one swelling eye, he saw Nick, Zan, and Hammer appear behind Jax. They grabbed him, pulled him off, though it took all three of them to do it. Jax’s face was a mask of fury as he struggled to come at Aric again.

“Jaxon, cool it!” Nick yelled. “Knock it off!”

Hammer got their friend’s arms pinned at his back. “Jesus, man, what the hell?”

Rowan crouched beside Aric, helped him sit up. “Are you all right?”

Wiping the blood off his lower lip, he winced. “Feel like I was hit by a truck, but yeah.”

“I should fucking kill you,” Jax yelled.

“Maybe you should,” he agreed. That admission seemed to give Jax pause, though he was still plenty angry.

So was Nick. “Anyone care to tell me what’s going on in here? Why the hell are two of my best men going at it like junkyard dogs?”

Jaxon pointed an accusing finger. “Ask him who Beryl is to him! Ask him!”

The other three men looked at him in silent question. He didn’t want to do this, but since he had no choice, he preferred to be on his feet. He stood, with some assistance, and his heart sank. Every single one of the team including the newest, A.J. and Kalen, were waiting for an explanation. Those who’d been around the longest, during Beryl’s time as Jax’s girlfriend and the disastrous aftermath, were wearing hard expressions.

Steeling himself, he told the long-denied truth. “Beryl is my stepsister,” he said. “But I’ve never claimed her as family.”

Zan gaped at him. “Why would you keep this from us? Even if you don’t consider her your sister, why didn’t you tell us?”

Jax lunged again, but was held back. “You should’ve warned us—me—about her true nature. But you never said a word.”

He tried to make them understand. “Looking back,
yes, I should have. I was suspicious of Beryl’s motives, but I talked to her and she swore you guys made each other happy. I didn’t think she could’ve changed so much from the selfish bitch I’d known when her father married my mother and they moved in with us. But, Jax, you thought you were in love with her, remember? You wouldn’t have believed me.”

“You never gave me the chance!”

“You thought she was fantastic. Anything I said would’ve hurt our friendship.” He hated the desperate tone of his own voice. The fear.

“You could’ve at least mentioned her tie to you, if nothing else,” Ryon put in. “That’s messed up, man.”

“She begged me not to, and she did a great job of faking sincerity. She said she didn’t want the animosity between us to interfere with the love she’d found with Jax. I
wanted
to believe her, and that’s why I didn’t say anything. And after the ambush, the guilt was too much and I didn’t know how to come clean. Please, try to understand—”

“What I understand is that you should be dead,” Jax replied coldly. “It should be
you
.”

Jerking out of his friends’ grasp, he spun and stalked out of the room. Aric’s heart died in his chest, crumbled to ashes. Jax was right.

He had to get the fuck out of here. Whirling, he stumbled blindly for the exit and pushed outside, ignoring Nick’s shout to stop, Rowan’s entreaty to stay, that his friend didn’t mean it. He shut them all out and walked quickly, stripping off his shirt, kicking off his boots and unzipping his jeans. Then he jogged across the lawn, picking up speed until he was running.

He shifted without breaking stride, streaking for the
forest. For freedom. If he ran far enough, fast enough, maybe he could outrun his teammates’ voices. The lost souls of Terry, Jonas, Nix, and Ari, accusing.

Do you think we’re out here waiting in despair, just like Micah? Being torn apart, piece by bloody piece, driven out of our minds? Praying for death?

It should be you.

Aric kept running. With no thought of ever going back.

“Aric, wait!” Rowan called. “He didn’t mean it!”

Her lover vanished through the outside door like a demon from hell was after him. The stark, naked agony on his face was something she’d never forget. After a moment’s hesitation, she jogged to the door and, searching, saw him shift and bolt for the woods. No way could she hope to catch him.

Turning back to Aric’s shell-shocked friends, she threw her hands up in frustration. “Well, aren’t you going after him? I sure as hell can’t catch him!”

“Fuck!” Nick burst out, shoving a hand through his dark hair. “Okay, leave Jax alone for now and let’s go.”

They filed out, and Rowan jogged in the other direction, intent on doing everything
but
leaving Jax in peace. Christ, this place had as much drama going on as they frequently did at the department. One major screwup and too much testosterone in a small space did not make for a harmonious environment.

She spotted her target’s retreating back at the end of the hallway and hurried to catch up. Grabbing his biceps, she jerked hard, which probably wasn’t the smartest move. He faced her with his lips pulled back in a menacing snarl, canines elongated and ready to rip
something—or someone—to shreds. A glance at his hands showed that the backs had sprouted fur, his nails morphed into sharp claws that could kill in a split second.

And in that millisecond she thought about retreating with an apology—until she recalled Aric’s face, devoid of all hope.

She let every ounce of venom seep into her voice. “How could you? That man has been your loyal friend for years, ever since you guys were in the military, and you just shit on him?”

“He fucked up and cost us half the team,” Jax yelled.

“You’ve never fucked up?” she countered fiercely. “You’ve never done anything that cost the team? How about trusting the witch and bringing her here to start with?”

Bull’s-eye. For a couple of seconds, she really thought he’d strangle her. The man was big and truly scary, with his spiky black hair, goatee, and the tats running down one arm. But the feral light in his eyes dimmed, the merest fraction.

“If he’d told any of us—”

“Well, he didn’t, and there’s nothing anybody can do about it now. Yes, he screwed up, but he did it out of love for you, with the best of intentions. You heard him—he truly wanted to believe that she loved you and he didn’t want anything to get in the way of your happiness. Be honest. What would you have said to him if he’d bad-mouthed her back then?”

“I would’ve…” His protest trailed off, lost most of its heat. “I would’ve been pissed, and told him that he was full of crap. But we still might’ve caught on to her, if he’d just started the ball rolling.”

“Maybe, maybe not.” Taking a chance, she grasped his shoulder, like she would a fellow officer. In friendship and gentle admonishment. “Jax, you just told a good man, a friend who’s had your back for years, that he should be dead. And he believed you.”

The words hung between them, awful with their weight.

“You did what?”

Both of them looked to Kira, who stood a few feet away staring at her mate as though she didn’t know him at all. She marched up to them, pinning him with a glare that made the tough wolf take a step back.

“Jax, who are you guys talking about?”

“Aric,” he said, his defensive tone suffering a quick demise at her incredulous expression. “I overheard him telling Rowan that Beryl is his stepsister! He kept that from me, from
all
of us. Don’t you understand what that means?”

“Yes. It means your friend makes mistakes like everyone else,” she snapped. “Don’t you understand how bad he must’ve felt all these months, how he probably has been beating himself up already? And then you came along and kicked him when he was down.”

The silence ticked away and Jax hung his head, pinching his nose. “God. What have I done?”

Kira took her mate’s hand. “Go after him. He’s not going to listen to anyone but you now.”

“I’ll make it right,” he promised hoarsely. The man wrapped his woman tightly in his arms, kissed her hard on the lips, and then headed off.

Rowan watched him go. “I didn’t think this day could get worse, but that’ll teach me to assume.”

To her surprise, Kira gave her a quick hug. “They’ll
get things settled and it’ll be okay. This isn’t the first time those two have gone for each other’s throats and it won’t be the last.”

“I’m not sure that’s a comfort.”

“Alpha wolves. What can you do?”

Rowan was sure she had no clue.

Aric’s legs burned. His lungs were on fire, but he didn’t stop. For a while, he wasn’t conscious of where he was going, but in the back of his mind he must’ve known. The trees eventually thinned and he found himself racing toward a place where the earth met the sky. Nothing more than a sheer drop. At the last second, he skidded to a halt and stared over the edge of the deep ravine, breath sawing in and out, sides heaving.