Page 61 of The Night Wolf
“It’s Dani’s. She sent it up, telling me it would help you. I used it to wash you when we got home. I had to get his smell off you.” He touched Sean gently, worshipfully. “I could have lost you today.”
There was strained emotion in Gareth’s voice.
Sean bit his lip. “I know. I wanted you to stay away, and then I saw Quinn, and the only thing I could think of was I hoped you’d come to rescue him. Ryker…. They raped Quinn. He was passed around the pack, and Ryker said that since they had me, he would do the same to me and get rid of Quinn. He…. Oh God, Gareth. They ate my parents and said they were going to eat Quinn.”
The growl started low but grew in volume until it became a roar. Gareth’s face was a mask of pain, anger, and frustration. “I should have been able to do something. An Alpha is supposed to be able to fight. It’s how life has always been, but I thought I knew a better way. I wanted to kill Ryker for what he did to you, and then after meeting Quinn, I wanted it even more. But I knew I couldn’t take them. I’ve never been in a fight, and my inability to do so could have cost me my family.” He let his chin drop onto his chest. “I’m sorry I failed you. If the pack hadn’t shown up, I don’t know what I would have done.”
“The pack?” Had Sean somehow called them to help him? He didn’t think it could be done over hundreds of miles, but then again, he hadn’t known he could get pregnant either.
“And before you ask, no, it was nothing you did. They pinged the GPS in the Escalade and came after us. All of us. Lyram told me he wouldn’t allow Ryker to have what belonged to the pack.”
The memory of what happened seared through Sean. “He slit Caleb’s throat!”
A rub of the cloth over Sean’s chest, and a soft smile. “Hey, calm down. I told you, everything is okay. Caleb is fine.”
That wasn’t possible. “But how?”
Gareth shrugged. “Somehow Lyram pulled Caleb through his first shift. It was incredible to watch. Somehow my Beta became an Alpha in his own right.”
Though Gareth had said it, Sean was still so afraid. He’d seen Caleb fall, watched as blood spilled from the wound Kristopher inflicted. “You swear Caleb is okay?”
“He’s okay. He hasn’t come out of his wolf form yet. Lyram insisted he stay until the damage they caused had fully healed. Caleb looked at me like I was going to say otherwise, but Lyram laughed when I told him I agreed he needed to heal up.” Gareth grinned. “Little bastard pissed in my shoe.” His cheeks flushed. “Lyram feels more than protective for Caleb. He said…. Well, he told Caleb he needed him to pull through so they could talk.”
Sean breathed easy for the first time in a long while. “What’s going to happen now?”
“I wish I knew. Ryker’s going to try something, I know it. Lyram is pissed that we didn’t kill him on the spot, and I think Lyram probably could have done it, because he was so angry. But there was something nagging at me, and I told him to back off.”
“Why? What’s wrong?”
Gareth sighed. “You said that there were a lot of bad Alphas, and after Ryker offered money for you, I had to wonder if Ryker had alliances with any of them. Would they come after us if we took him out? Was there a worse threat right around the corner?”
“Then what do we do?”
Sean knew the answer, but he still didn’t want to explain to Gareth what he knew, because once he did, their lives would be over. And Sean was finally starting to love life again.
SEAN RAPPEDgently on the door, a war within himself. He was uncertain if he wanted Quinn to answer or not. It had been three days since Gareth had brought them home, and though he’d spent some time with Caleb, he hadn’t seen Quinn at all. On the one hand, he was desperate to see him, but on the other, he didn’t know if he could handle the pain his brother had undergone.
“Come in.”
The first thing Sean noticed was the room was pitch-black. The curtains were drawn tight, with not even a stray shaft of light filtering through. It didn’t matter, though. Sean could see Quinn plain as day. He sat on the bed, covers drawn up to his chin, his eyes wide and filled with fear.
“Hey, Quinn.” He stepped into the room and closed the door. “How are you?”
“Master is going to be angry. He’s going to punish me again.” Quinn’s lip trembled as he rocked back and forth. “Why won’t they let me go back to him?”
Sean hurried across the room and sat on the bed. “Gareth talked to you about this. Ryker isn’t your master. He’s barely even human.”
“But he’s Master. He’s supposed to be obeyed in all things. That’s his rule, and I broke it.” A soft sigh escaped Quinn. “Please, let me go home.”
“You are home. With me, where you belong.”
Quinn shook his head harshly. “This isn’t home. They won’t let medoanything! That woman, Dani, she keeps bringing me food, telling me I need to eat. But Master—”
“Stop saying that! Ryker is a monster. He killed our parents. Do you get that? He fucking….” No, he wasn’t going to tell Quinn what happened to their parents. It was bad enough Ryker had them killed, but if he cooked them, then Quinn might have…. No, he definitely wasn’t going to tell him. “He would have done the same to you.” As soon as he realized how harsh he’d been, Sean was swamped with regret. “He hurt you, and I wasn’t there to protect you.”
They were quiet for a few moments, and then Quinn spoke up. “I don’t know what to do. At Master’s house, I had jobs to do and needed to see to the… needs of the pack. I thought when I got here, I was going to be doing the same thing, but no one comes except Dani, and when I offered to satisfy her needs, she started to cry. I—I’m lost. I don’t know who I am or where I belong. All I know is I’m the property of Master, and when he finds me, he’s going to hurt me again.”
Sean vowed that Ryker would never again get his hands on Quinn. No one would.
