Page 40 of Pack Rage
“Look-away,” Mama panted as she walked stiffly to the door.
“No, Mama. We have disguises; we don’t need that. Save your strength.” Vanya gave us an odd look, but passed me a basket of clean kitchen linens, before taking one herself and handing Mama a light stack of folded towels.
We followed her inside, surrounded by the chilly air of the house and the scent of something I didn’t recognize but never wanted to smell again. Mama sniffed and whispered, “So much pain,” then fell silent as Enforcers confronted Vanya, demanding to know where we’d been.
She answered, but not fast enough obviously, since one of the men slapped her across the face. “Get to your station.”
Mama and I scurried behind her, though we knew better than to help her up. But when our eyes met behind the girl’s slumped shoulders, I could practically hear Mama’s words. They would all need to die.
I nodded slightly.Absofuckinglutely.
Chapter 19
Hiding in Plain Sight
FLOR
The kitchen at Eastern was a sterile, too-quiet space, white tile from floor to ceiling. Four women moved around inside, wearing uniforms identical to ours, but with aprons. At least the room smelled good. There was a huge spread of food on the white ceramic table in the center, and three pots bubbling at the stove. No one hummed, whistled, or spoke, and when we entered, no one even looked up.
When I finally dared to, though, I noted the camera in this room was also dead, or at least I hoped it was. I whispered the question to Vanya.
“I think so,” she said aloud. “They all have a light, and none of them so far have been on. Something’s messing with the power.” The others in the room froze at her words, though no one spoke. It was creepy. In the kitchen at Southern, even though it had been an awful pack, Del and I had been able to talk to each other. No one had wanted to watch what we did in there, or cared what we said as long as they got their food on time. “Becca, is the camera here still out?”
The oldest woman at the stove stopped stirring and turned to face us, her eyes wide. She was as old as Brand’s grandmothers, at least seventy-five, and had a long, deep scar that ran in a jagged arc from her hairline, where her silver-brown hair was caught up in a tight bun, to the corner of her mouth. That one had been made with silver, for sure. “Who’d you bring in, you stupid girl? You’re going to get us all killed.”
I opened my mouth to reply, but Vanya beat me to it. “Which would be better than this. These shifters are here to kill Alpha Callaway, and I’m going to take them down there to do it.”
The woman’s dark brown eyes stopped on me for just long enough for her to curl her lip, and then landed on Mama. “Who are—” she began, then went silent. For a moment, her lip trembled as she took in Mama’s scars. She sniffed, and her brow furrowed. “You’re dying already. Who are you?”
“I’m the Alpha Mate of Southern,” Mama replied, and I had to swallow hard to contain a gasp of surprise. She’d never called herself that before.
“You here to take him away?”
Mama let out a soft short laugh that only sounded a little bit crazy. “I’m here to serve him the moon’s justice.”
“The old ways,” Becca murmured. “You need a sword?”
Wait, what?
“I have one.” When Mama didn’t say anything else, I gave her a look—I needed to know what they meant by the old ways when it came to swords and cheating true mates—then sketched out the details of what we were up to, as many as I figured they needed, anyway.
It wasn’t enough. Becca sat us down and fed us, pulling the entire story out of me, one detail at a time. By the time an hour had passed, they knew a whole hell of a lot more than I would normally have told a group of strangers. I scowled at Becca, wondering if she had some kind of truth-telling magic. When Igrumbled the question, her smile wrinkled up the scar. “Used to have a lot more. But it takes it out of a person, feeding a hungry bitch every day for decades.”
“Feeding?”
“Elina, the Alpha’s mate. This pack used to be halfway honorable until she showed up.”
“Tell my girl about her, about the witch,” Mama asked quietly. “She’ll need to know.”
Becca shared a few details about Elina and Aidan’s odd relationship, and how important it was never to let her touch you. How Tana and Finnick had seemed far stronger when they were young, but had grown weaker over time.
“Stronger?”
“Magically. Like you and your mama here. An Alpha Mother, sitting right here with me,” Becca muttered. “I never thought I’d live to see another one.”
Mama just lowered her head and asked a few questions about the lower levels. I was in awe. She seemed so normal. If it weren’t for the smell of her blood and the lines of pain at the corners of her eyes, I would have thought she’d been healed. But I supposed that was partly being closer to her mate.
I closed my eyes for a moment, checking my bonds. Grigor’s weird bond was still numb, but Luke’s was stronger than ever. It felt good, in my soul, though I could tell he was worried.
