Page 47 of Pack Rage
“I’ll help him. I’ll need some more clothes as well.” Finnick followed him, the briefs doing nothing to hide his toned ass, and my blush grew deeper.
“Don’t go to any trouble on my account,” I muttered, watching his butt cheeks flex hypnotically as he left. I couldn’t keep my eyes off him, off any of them. Damnit, I was turning into a pervert.
The sound of muffled screaming started down the hall a few seconds later, bringing me back to the reality of our situation. “Bearman, are we safe here, for the moment? You said we were trapped.”
Brand had already moved to my mama on the sofa and was kneeling beside her, examining her almost as closely as he had me. She was still asleep, but the frown line in between her brows made me think her dreams weren’t good ones. He pressed a clean cloth over the bloodsoaked one on her stomach, but it didn’t wake her. He shook his head. “Safe? Not until we’re home on my packlands, little one. But we have some breathing room for a few hours. The witch isn’t here, and the moon is full tomorrow.”
He came back over to me, sitting cross-legged on the floor and pulling me down onto him. I laid my head against his chest as he spoke, letting the rumble of his voice soothe me. “We had a plan to wait until the Council meeting. Luke would challenge Callaway and put an end to that problem. Finn would challenge his father right afterward. Grigor and I would take care of Elina.”
“You want to tell me how this happened?” I whispered, running my hand over the new mark on his right arm. “Did you bite him, too?”
The shaking in my chest might have been his laughter. “We didn’t exchange marks. One bite is all it took. We’re not mates.”
“I wouldn’t be jealous,” I teased. “I’ve got four mates so far. I don’t have a leg to stand on.”
“You won’t have a butt to sit on if you’re not careful,” Brand mock-threatened.
“Do I need to defend you from my brother mate, little blade?” Grigor called from the doorway. He looked refreshed, somehow. Like he’d just had a long nap, though his stolen uniform was even more rumpled. His hands were bloodier as well, but he picked up a discarded napkin and wiped them clean before approaching.
Not a nap. Dessert.My wolf was preening about her thoughtful mate-to-be.
I wasn’t going to ask if he’d really eaten the goatee guard, but my imagination was going wild. “Where’s Finn?”
Grigor’s attention was on my mother, but he answered while he grabbed a chair from the table and carried it over to the sofa. “He’s releasing Glen’s parents from their cell.”
While my mind spun—how had I forgotten about the Hilliers?—Brand asked, “Breaking the lock?”
“It’s electronic,” Grigor replied, reaching for one of my mama’s hands. “I taught him a little trick. He’s a clever pup. Someday he’ll be a powerful one, too.” He leaned over and pressed his forehead to the hand he’d lifted, so that it looked like she was checking him for fever. What was he up to?
“Pup?” I asked softly, but Mama was already awake.
“Get away!” she shrieked, her voice high-pitched and frantic. I jumped up and raced to where she could see me. Brand was behind me in an instant, protecting my back.
“Mama, it’s okay! He’s with me. He’s one of my mates.”
Mama’s face froze. Brand sighed heavily. I didn’t dare look at Grigor, since I’d sort of jumped the gun on that one.
“I should be so honored,” Grigor murmured at last.
“Good that you know it,” Brand grunted like a possessive cave bear as he sat back down.
Mama wasn’t having any of it, as she kept scooching to the end of the sofa. “Baby, you’d better be lyin’ right now. That man is filled with evil. I can hardly look at him.” She blinked furiously as she hit the opposite sofa arm, obviously seeing something in Grigor that I couldn’t.
“Finally, someone with a little sense,” Brand grumbled.
I gave him ashut uplook, and went to join Grigor and Mama. Well, Grigor anyway. Mama looked like she might tumble off the far end of the sofa to keep her distance. When I put an arm around Grigor, though, and pressed a kiss to his shoulder, the only part of her that moved was her mouth flopping open.
I grinned. “You look like a largemouth bass, Mama. Close your mouth and come over and meet my… suitor,” I finished, wondering when I’d started blushing every second minute. “This is Grigor Dimitrivich. You’ve probably heard some things…”
“I don’t need to hear a thing,” Mama spat out, pushing her wild silver curls away from her scarred face. “I can see it.Look,baby. Really look at that creature. He has no business anywhere near you.”
“Except that the moon has seen fit to give me a path to redemption, Lily Rain of the Western Pack,” Grigor said gently. He squeezed me gently, and that cold, prickly feeling that I’d grown to love returned, like energy moving between us. Maybe that’s just what it was; I felt stronger after he touched me. “If your daughter decides to allow me to stand with her, I will do all I can to deserve that honor. I will die for her.”
“You almost did,” I grouched. He still looked far weaker than when we’d first met. “I don’t want any of my mates—or suitors—to die. I want us all to live, which means working together. Evenif you think his soul looks like roadkill, Mama. He’s my mate, or will be. You’re gonna need to get along.”
My heart broke a little more, because that might not really be true. Mama was mortally wounded, and the rest of us were up shit creek. None of us were guaranteed to survive. Without reinforcements or divine intervention, we might not make it to the next full moon, and that was only… hours away, I realized. One more night, and then tomorrow, as soon as the moon rose, there would be a Council meeting.
Grigor kneeled before Mama. “Alpha Mother, I know you. I see you as well, your shining spirit wrapped with a tainted bond, an evil you never earned. I will vow on the moon not to hurt her, or any of her kin, if that helps you to see how precious she is to me.”
