Page 74 of Pack Ruin
Scars and Second Chances
FLOR
“I’m worried about Grigor,” I admitted later that afternoon. We could still hear the sounds of a hunt outside, and I’d been trying not to let myself think that it was my mysterious suitor who was at the front of what sounded like a pack of wild wolves. More than once, a wolf had come close to the house, one even snuffling at the front door before it gave up and wandered away.
We’d decided not to use the stove, of course, since the smell of food would definitely be noticeable in a pack that was this starved, magic spell or not. Del’s house wasn’t in the nicer parts of the compound, and nobody out here had ever had much food.
The Pack House was in the center of the fenced compound, more or less, with dorms and barracks on two sides, and houses and double-wide trailers in sloppily concentric half-circles for a mile or so. Del’s house was just about close enough to the fence line to make getting us all out possible, but not before it got dark, and not without Grigor’s magic.
That’s what had me worried. Even though he’d said he was feeling better before he left, Luke and Glen both seemed a little fatigued, and I wasn’t certain why. Was Grigor still weaker than usual? It could have been the magic he was using now that was draining all three of them somewhat.
Luke and Glen had spent the first hour after Grigor left hunting for even more cans, but hadn’t found anything else. So we wouldn’t have long before hunger would drive us out. At least we had water, and knives to sharpen. So when the sun went down, we would make a run for it.
I had Del’s whetstone and the last few paring knives from the kitchen, and was spending my time at the kitchen table, making them sharper than they’d been brand new.
Luke and Glen were playing cards on the sofa—with a towel covering the desecrated fabric, thank goodness—and conversing in quiet voices. I could hear every word they said, of course, and I was learning more than I’d counted on, about Luke, mostly.
“I didn’t expect to see you again,” Luke murmured. “I still can’t believe you came for me.”
“Of course we did. You’re her mate. Or you will be, once you two figure your shit out.”
“When did you two…? Was it a life-saving thing?”
Glen laughed. “You heard about Brand, huh? Poor bastard, it about killed him to have his claim be a medical emergency. Then Finn, in the family parlor at Northern, right before he had to go back to Eastern?—”
“No way. She’s really bonded to Finnick as well? How the hell did he pull that off?”
“Shedid it, man. Or her wolf did. Bradley had Alpha-commanded him to tell him everything about what had happened with the Russians who abducted her?—”
“What the fuck are you talking about?”
I’d finished two knives by the time Glen got to the end of that story.
“Holy shit,” Luke muttered. “I thought she’d be safe once she got away from here.”
“Yeah, not so much. Trouble seems to follow our girl wherever she goes. Anyway, she bit Finn on—get this—his tongue.”
“That’s… probably good, given where he’s stuck right now.” There was a moment of silence before Luke went on. “Okay, so I can see where she claimed you. And Brand? He’s wearing her mark, too?”
“Yeah, that’s the… Oh right. I forgot about your pack’s, ah, tradition. I can’t imagine claiming my mate, and not having her return it, you know? It would feel like nothing would be complete. I’d wear ten of her bites if I could.”
Outside, a shadow crossed the sun, and the only sound was cards flipping for a long moment. Then Luke murmured, “We all knew it was wrong. The shifters who were older than Callaway always claimed one another. I think that’s one of the reasons that he started up the ‘tradition’ of males not allowing females to return the mating claims. It made what he did seem less…”
“Evil? Twisted?”
“Profane,” Luke supplied. “He twisted everything the moon intended. And when anyone spoke out, he punished them. Killed them more often than not, or had Van Blackside do it for him. It’s why our pack was so small, and so weak. He made us weak.”
“You could make Southern strong,” Glen said gently. “If you stay here?—”
“Like you stayed with your pack?” A soft laugh filled the room. “If she’ll have me, I’d leave everything and not look back once. I’ll do exactly what you did—become a rogue, abjure my pack, and follow her anywhere. I’d follow her into Hell, Glen. Just like you would.”
“You might have to do something harder, Luke. You might have to stay here, and take the Alpha position.”
“I don’t want it. What the hell would I stay for?” It was exactly what I’d said to Glen when I’d left here months ago.
“To fuck up their plans. Finn’s parents were trying to kill you, or get you to die. They’re planning something big. Samuel told me he suspects they’ve been setting this up for years. Setting all the pieces in place, funding the Russians who took Flor, maybe. Giving information and even weapons to Callaway and Blackside—the ones Joaquin found during the battle. Samuel said there have been far too many coincidences for it not to be a plan.”
Luke muttered the word that was on my own lips. “Fuck.”
