Page 157 of Conner's Luna

I leave the blanket and the bottle a few steps away. My wolf urges me to attack Trey and eat the pup, but Bailey's presence at my back keeps him reined in.

Mikko won't eat. Trey murmurs to him softly, trying to fit the bottle into his mouth with trembling, bloody hands. I can see Trey become more agitated as Mikko refuses the bottle.

Bailey starts to hum softly. Her soft, lush little body presses against my back. She's scared and upset and it's pissing me off, but, once again, she calms the little guy down. A moment later, the only sounds are Mikko's greedy suckling and Bailey's sweet voice.

"What did you do with Lydia, Trey?" I bite out.

He won't meet my eyes now, staring down at the pup in his hands.

"Nothing," he finally responds. "I couldn't hurt her."

"Fuck."

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Bailey

Conner is seething mad with me as he deposits me back in the truck like an errant toddler.

OK, so it was stupid of me to leave the truck. But there was a tiny, little baby and I felt so horrible for him. I had to help and I did, didn't I?I give Conner a sidelong glance. Maybe now isn't the time to point out that I helped. I'll wait until later.

The Grim loads Trey and baby Mikko into the back of the SUV. It’s a very heavily-secured backseat, I notice. We pull out, slowly, and I have to bite my tongue to keep from asking where we are headed now. Conner's phone beeps and with a very angry jab, he turns on the Bluetooth speakers.

"Conner," the deep rumble makes me shiver, curious and wary of the apex predator. This is definitely a wolf on the other end of the call.

"In," Conner greets him.

"My luna tells me that you have a new mate."

Word travels fast. "Yeah, she's mine. Bailey," Conner says in clipped tones. At least he didn't deny it.

"Willa wants to meet her."

"She's grounded."

"Hey!" I protest. I shut up, though, when Conner frowns at me.

"We're heading to a murder scene," Conner says.

"Sarj sent me the details," Inuit reveals."It's a clusterfuck, for sure. Is this a potential kidnapping ring? Same issues as before? We can't seem to pin it down up here."

"We don't know much, yet, but it seems to be different. Maybe even wolves or humans who know about us. The doctor who was our link was murdered, allegedly, by Trey Wilkinson."

"Damnit,"the man growls, animalist even for a wolf-man."Devel was talking experimentation. Fuck. I'm in talks with some of the alphas up here. We're securing more territory.I need to know that the south is secure. I've got KilClaw and GriMaw pretending they can't see us to my west. Bunch of fucking idiots. I've got this Council to my east. They're a problem."

"How so?" Conner asks.

"They're too secretive, Con. What the fuck are they hiding in there? I don't like it. We have them pinned there for now, but it makes my skin crawl."

"What is the Council trying to do?" Being nosy is an alpha trait, I guess.

"Fuck up every alpha they can so they build their own power. We intercepted a few messages," he says gratingly."From someone down your way. We can't decipher all of it, but it seems like it's about building power."

"Wilkinson," Conner spits.

"Trey?"

"No. His fucking father. We're heading that way, now."

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