Page 24 of Claimed

Because if Wyatt thinks I just ran away, that I didn’t bother to do what he wanted me to do today, something awful will happen. He’s threatened harm to Halla. He’s dropped blatant hints about what might happen to the other women in the pack, particularly Adelaide and Misty, not to mention Aunt Shea. And I can’t let them down, either.

I need to get to the motel. Hopefully, Jimmy is there waiting for me and hasn’t alerted Wyatt that I didn’t come back today yet. If my bag isn’t still outside, Jimmy has the other key to my room.

I note that behind Greyson’s house, there are no more homes that I can see. I don’t know if it’s the end of the village or if there’s more beyond the forest back there. I studied the map when I first got to town and though it looks on the online map like Arcana Falls hasn’t been updated at a street level like everything in Drowsy Hollow, I’m thinking if I follow the river we walked along, it will eventually take me to the old highway that runs back down to Drowsy Hollow.

My plan? I have no earthly idea what to do except that I have to try to talk Wyatt out of his plans somehow, some way. He will never win. Not from what I’ve seen. The size of these men, the resources they have, the sheer numbers of healthy, able-bodied folks in their pack? He can’t possibly win. And I don’t want him to try. I don’t want the casualties that will be inevitable if he does. I don’t know what the deal is with Tyson Savage yet. I don’t know why he killed Father. What I do know is that this pack isn’t the abomination Wyatt made them out to be. Not from what I’ve seen so far.

If someone else were in charge of our pack, they might see the logic in working with this pack instead of against them. Maybe the Arcana Falls pack would offer restitution for Tyson Savage’s crime against my father. That could help our pack in a big way. Maybe help us move to some new land, somewhere we can dig a new well, for a start.

If I can get back home and find a way to have a quiet word with Malachi, I’ll tell him about this pack and the fact that they often help with consulting for other packs and have a whole lot of manpower. Maybe we can ask them to consult on ways to make our village more like theirs after Wyatt is gone. I don’t know how we’d pay, but maybe we could work it out.

Deep in my heart, I know there’s only one way to stop my brother. And that’s not by exiling him. The only way to stop himis if he ceases to breathe. And I hate that I have to think that way, but I do. I know my brother too well.

Maybe one of this pack’s alphas could challenge Wyatt. An alpha in a place like this wouldn’t want our territory so maybe they could help get Wyatt out of the way and then eventually Mal could take over what’s left of us. Though, why would someone do that for us? The way Greyson spoke tonight has me thinking all kinds of things that might not be possible.

I haven’t got it all worked out, what I’ll say or do. All I know is that I need to get to that motel and meet with Jimmy before Wyatt does something stupid. Before someone gets hurt. Halla. Addy. Aunt Shea. The girls might be subjected to even more injustices than they endure now.

I need to get back before Wyatt tries to get someone else to attack here and hurts somebody. Such as Greyson.

Even if Greyson thinks I’m his mate, even if he’s right, I can’t turn my back on my pack. No. Can’t just abandon those girls who deserve to get out from under Wyatt’s vile dictatorship. I can’t let Wyatt use Halla as a weapon when she grows up. Maybe I can get back, sneak her out and bring her here. Greyson’s cousin from the Young coven might be able to help me reach Aphra’s coven. I hope Aphra is okay, but even if she isn’t, I’m sure her family would want to protect Halla. And if not, I’ll look after her myself.

My mind is spinning with options and possibilities, but the overall feeling is fear. All I know is that I have to do something and that something starts with meeting Jimmy and getting him an update. Tell him I failed at killing Tyson, but that I think Wyatt should talk to them about a truce. I could try to make him think it’s worthwhile, that there’s more to gainthisway. Tell him how they’ve helped out many other packs. I don’t know; it couldall go wrong but all I know is I need to get back and meet Jimmy who said he’d be at the motel tonight to get my update and give me more masking agent. I’ll see what he says, hopefully find out where Wyatt’s head is at, and judge from there.

I’m only wearing the soft grey Savage Construction t-shirt, so I’m hopeful my bag hasn’t been stolen.

I tiptoe outside and find my bag on the front step of the home beside a large, beautiful, aromatic basket. I don’t have time to peruse the basket but immediately see wine, candles, and I can smell chocolate and other food fragrances.

We could never leave treasures like this on someone’s doorstep at home. It’s not far off wolf-eat-wolf in the pack. The climate and culture in our pack is abysmal – an illustration of what happens when you live with next to nothing in your pantry and your pocket for a long time.

I’ve never resorted to theft, others have and though I’m not a thief, I’m guilty of other sins. Clearly our circumstances in my pack have meant I’ve had to resort to other unsavory things. Attempted murder. Poisoning perfect strangers. Wishing my brother was swept away on the wind and gone out of our lives forever.

Self-loathing slithers through me as I stand on the doorstep and quickly get into my jeans, my socks and shoes, and pull my sweatshirt on over top of Greyson’s t-shirt. I stuff my other t-shirt and bra back into my bag and move quickly into the night, noticing how peaceful everything is, how charming this village is – even in the dark, and content the energy is here. This is so, so different from the energy where I come from.

6

Grey

I’m jarred awake by something – I don’t immediately know what it is – and then it hits that I’m alone. I take a whiff of the air, follow my nose, and wind up at the front door.

I’m beyond unhappy. Because I’m not supposed to wake up alone anymore. The knowledge of this fact is deeper and more meaningful than I could’ve anticipated. And the gravity of it has anger stirring me toward a dark feeling I’ve never experienced.

I’m a deep sleeper, difficult to rouse unless I’ve gotten a solid, uninterrupted seven or eight hours. It’s a running joke that I sleep through tornados, because I’ve often slept soundly through howling storms.

This is what happens when I fall asleep in this form.

When things are amped around me, I sleep as wolf, sleeping light enough to rouse easily and deep enough to feel well-rested. I should have done that tonight with everything that went down today, but I fell asleep as my lungs synched up with hers.

I drop my jeans, shift, and sprint as wolf from the front step where I note the requisite Skye Quinn claiming basket along with the absence of the backpack Linc said he dropped off.

I follow Stacy’s scent easily, as it’s the strongest scent in my nose. Gunpowder is faint, but it’s still on her. She’s got a touch of my scent and something about that is soothing, but not soothing enough, because she probably only carries a trace of me. Time to fix that.

It’ll be dawn soon, and I don’t like the notion she could be around people when I find her. That I could have to go into town to get to her. I run at full speed towards her scent.

***

I’m only a mile outside Drowsy Hollow when I spot her. I’ve been considering hitting the clothing and supply cache near the water tower that my father’s council used, because I’d need some gear if I have to step into town, but seeing her on the old highway outside town happens just in time because the sun is about to rise.

She must catch my scent because she spins to face me on the dirt road and gasps at the sight of my wolf. I’m now walking as wolf instead of running.

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