Page 140 of The Alpha's Second Chance Mate

Helping Kyle do what he was doing, creating whatever drug he was using? Dallas should have fought against that, regardless of his own safety. Sometimes there were things worth dying for. If Dallas couldn’t see that, then he was a coward. If he was helping Kyle willingly, then I’d put his ass in the ground along with Kyle if need be.

“What’s the play, Cole?” Trent asked.

I caught his eye, then glanced at the others. In the space of ten minutes, Langston had gone from an outsider I was threatened by to an ally who could help me save my son. I could only hope that Langston and his friends were ready to do what needed to be done. If we wanted to get Ashton back, we’d need to be as ruthless and dangerous as Kyle. Fight fire with fire.

“We rain down hell on this fucker.”

34

AVERY

Ihad a hard time concentrating on anything as the afternoon turned into evening. My mind kept going back to that video. The man, screaming and writhing. It had been like watching a horror movie, except it was real. A living, breathing man had been given something that tortured his body until he turned into an animal.

Stormy stayed by my side the entire time, keeping an arm around me, rubbing my back, and trying to ease my mind. I appreciated it. I needed a safe place to anchor myself to, and my best friend was the best I could imagine. Her or Cole.

Now that I knew the true extent of the danger Ashton was in, my earlier fight with Cole seemed a bit silly. Cole was the first person I’d wanted to latch on to after seeing that video. His strength had kept me from shattering as I imagined all the awful things that might be happening to Ashton.

He and the others were now discussing what came next. Part of me wanted to get involved, but the other part was too distraught to do more than try to keep it together.

“Do you want some tea? Water? Anything?” Stormy asked.

“I don’t think so,” I mumbled. “I might puke if I put anything in my stomach.”

Nausea roiled in my gut. Terror, panic, and anger mixed together, making my stomach heave dangerously.

“Well, let me know if you need anything.”

Suddenly, I realized she’d been here for most of the day. Shame washed over me. “God, Stormy. You need to go home. Shiloh probably needs you.”

She shook her head and patted my back. “We’re good. I’ve been texting Mom. The two of them are having a grand time. No worries.”

“Are you sure?”

“Positive.”

“Okay,” I said with a sigh. “But if that changes, you should go. I’m a big girl. I’ll be fine. Cole’s here, so are Trent and the others. I have support. I don’t want to take advantage of you.”

Stormy rolled her eyes. “Do you remember what a mess I was when Marcus died?”

Did I remember? Of course I did. Stormy had called me, screaming and sobbing. It had taken me almost five minutes to get her calmed down enough to tell me what had happened. A drunk driver had hit Marcus, pushing his car off a bridge and into the Des Moines River. He’d died on impact. I’d felt like I’d been kicked in the gut hearing it, and that meant Stormy had been a thousand times more distraught and heartbroken.

I’d rushed to her side and went with her to the hospital to identify the body. Stormy had wanted to be the one to do it, but I managed to talk her out of it. Seeing Marcus like that, skin pale and cold, face expressionless, nothing but a husk of the jovial and kind man I’d known, had almost broken me. I wasn’t sure Stormy would have survived seeing the man she loved like that—not mentally, at least.

“That was different. You lost your husband, Stormy.”

“And your son has been kidnapped,” she said vehemently. “He’s not dead, and hewon’tbe, either. That doesn’t mean you don’t need someone to hold you steady, keep you calm, and be your anchor in a storm. It’s what you did for me, and it’s the least I can do for you.”

Tears welled in my eyes and threatened to spill down my cheeks. To prevent another sobbing breakdown, I turned my attention to the guys talking at the kitchen table.

“Is this some sort of designer steroid or something?” Porter asked.

Zayde shook his head. “Doubt it’s a steroid. Those alter the hormones already present in the body. Whatever Kyle injected that guy with works at the fucking cellular level. Altering DNA, forcing rapid skeletal changes, the whole nine yards. What I want to know is where he got it, or how he made it.”

“It doesn’t matter what it is, and it doesn’t matter how he got his hands on it,” Cole said. “What matters is what he has planned. Why is he developing it?”

Trent shrugged. “What if it works in reverse as well? Maybe he wants to change shifters into humans. Reduce the number of shifters he has to fight when he moves into a town?”

“Maybe, but that seems pointless to me,” Langston said. “This guy obviously wants to be in control. What better control is there than the control an alpha has over his pack? If he changed all the shifters in Harbor Mills or North Crest to humans, they wouldn’t be in thrall to his aura. They’d run off and start new lives. He’d be left with nothing.”

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