Page 28 of Savage Games

"Rough morning?"Callum asks, his tone carefully neutral as he joins me.

I grunt noncommittally, unable to take my eyes off the paths in front of me, determined to speak with her when she returns.

"I saw Naomi talking to Brad before her race yesterday," Callum says, his tone carefully neutral."Didn't look like a pleasant conversation.She seemed… rattled."

“Her alpha?”I ask.

The mention of Brad sends my wolf into high alert, remembering how Naomi's scent had soured with anxiety when she'd seen him watching us during the first task.

"Her sister’s alpha, actually,” Callum corrects.“I believe she never transferred there.It was supposed to be a short-term thing, but then Maddie’s mate died… and she stuck around to help her recover.I’m surprised they both haven’t returned home."

My wolf's ears prick up at this information.Callum isn’t saying there’s something fishy about the whole situation, but I’m getting the message, loud and clear.

I've met enough alphas to know there are two kinds: those who earn respect through strength and wisdom, and those who demand it through fear and manipulation.Everything about Brad, from his smug expression to the way Naomi tenses when he's near, tells me which kind he is.

Callum gives me an intense look."From what I saw, it would appear the alpha has set his sights on her."

I think about the note from her sister, about Brad's smug expression, and Naomi's sudden withdrawal.

My wolf growls.Naomi doesn’t like her alpha, and for shifters, where your pack is supposed to be your family, that’s not a good thing.

“Why not just leave if she’s miserable there?”

"Not everything is as easy as it seems."Callum claps me on the shoulder, ready to leave, but then pauses."And Wyatt?Be careful.Brad isn't known for being a nice guy."

My wolf is finely attuned to other people’s emotions.Jamie tells me it’s a trauma response, always trying to work out the mood of everyone in a room.Whatever it is, it’s telling me that Brad is toxic.

"Thanks," I tell him, already trying to plan how to get Naomi alone again.It’s nice to have someone on my side for once.

I linger a little longer, but Naomi never reappears, and now I know she’s avoiding me.Which isn’t ideal, but that’s not the most urgent issue.

My mate is upset.And I'm going to figure out what's really going on.

10

Naomi

That note.My stomach has been tied up in knots since I got it.

Between that and the wounded look in Wyatt’s eyes every time I keep my distance, I feel sick to my stomach.Watching him waiting for me at the packhouse with more food than I could ever eat almost broke me.

I hate that I’m hurting him, but I can’t think about anything other than my sister right now.Wyatt’s strong.Maddie is most definitely not, and her note has made me even more worried about her.

"Brad knows something's up," she wrote in her cramped, unsteady handwriting."He's been asking questions about that night, about what happened to Rowan.I don't know how much longer I can keep pretending.Please hurry."

The paper trembles in my hands, her fear seeping through the ink as I rub my finger across her words.She’s not coping without me there.Her wolf is fragile, suffering after the severing of the mate bond in such violent circumstances, and Brad practically has her under lock and key, with his pack cronies following her every move.

They pretend to be concerned, but I see the way they look at her.They think she’s going moon mad without her mate.That her mind is about to snap.

Not Maddie.If she didn’t break after everything Rowan did to her, she won’t now.

But I still can’t leave her there, not with him dangling the suspicious death of her mate over her head like a sword, while I ride off into the sunset with Wyatt.

At the same time, I can’t steal Wyatt’s chance at winning a pack out from under him to do it.Even putting our bond aside, could I really do something that would force him to leave here as a rogue once more?

But she’s my sister, my blood, and I’d die for her.

Damn it.What the hell do I do?

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