“No, but I should have known,” he admits. “I failed as a clan leader. I failed as a Carnage Wolf. I failed as one of your Alphas. I’ll accept whatever fate you assign to me.”
“He saved me from Alpha Kin,” I interject, still partially trapped beneath Volt’s bulky form. Apparently, the shirt isn’t enough for him. Or maybe he just likes laying on top of me. “This… this was after Alpha Kin told me he’s my half-brother. His father… his father raped my mother.”
It hurts to voice out loud. But Tieran needs to understand that Alpha Kin’s loyalty was never to Alpha Dirk.
And while yes, Alpha Dirk should have suspected the lack of allegiance, sometimes blood can be a powerful motivator in manipulation.
“But Alpha Dirk killed Alpha Kin, and he killed Beta Gafton,” I say. “He acted in honor of the pack. In honor of me.” It’s something I instinctively understand, the way he bowed to me for nearly thirty minutes after Tieran’s howl.
He was submitting to my wolf.
“Alpha Kin told you that about his father?” Tieran asks, stepping around Volt’s wolfish head to meet my gaze.
I nod. “Bryson let him do it because he knew my mother was a half-breed. He thought she would make a nice… fuck toy… for his father.” I cringe with the term, but it’s the one he used. “Only she ended up pregnant.”
Tieran considers me a long moment. “I’ll have my father confirm his scent with one of the Nantahala Wolf witnesses.”
I frown, not understanding what he means, but Volt distracts me by shifting back into his human form. His strong legs trap mine as he moves to lay more firmly on top of me with his elbows on either side of my head. He doesn’t speak. He just kisses me. Hard.
Caius clears his throat.
Volt grunts in response, then buries his nose in my hair, inhaling deeply.
“Tell me everything,” Tieran demands. “From beginning to end.”
Alpha Ebony obliges, reiterating all the facts of what happened up until the attack. Then Alpha Dirk takes over to fill in the missing pieces, about how he went to the telecommunications tower to investigate the power outage and realized Alpha Kin sabotaged it all and followed him here.
Where he found him attacking me.
I listen, partially numb to it all, and sigh as Volt begins to purr.
“We could hear you through the phone,” Alpha Dirk concludes. “We chose to wait here for your return. It’s deep underground and not many wolves know how to breach Alpha Duncan’s security.”
“But you did,” Tieran points out.
“Yes. I know how to breach a lot of security on the island, but that doesn’t mean I use that knowledge.”
“No, you just shared it with Alpha Kin,” Tieran accuses.
“He was my clan mate.” Alpha Dirk doesn’t voice it as an excuse, just a fact. “I… I trusted him.”
Silence falls.
The concept of judgment is heavy in the air as Tieran evaluates everything they know.
“Someone helped Beta Gafton reach the island,” Tieran says. “I want to know who it was. Find out for me and I’ll consider lessening your sentence.”
Alpha Dirk nods, accepting the task.
Tieran is quiet for another moment.
Then he throws his head back on a howl that scatters goose bumps down my arms and legs. Volt and Caius immediately join in, answering his call and empowering it with their energy and strength.
My wolf purrs in response to their joint song.
Ours, she’s saying. These males are ours.
Volt nuzzles my neck when the howling finishes, his tongue laving my pulse. Only for his head to snap back on a snarl in the next second.
I flinch.
Caius and Tieran are there in an instant, both of them burying their heads into my throat to sniff whatever inspired Volt’s reaction.
Both men growl.
“Did Alpha Kin lick you?” The words are from Tieran, anger making them come out in a low rumble of furious sound.
I swallow, then nod.
All three of them snarl now, Volt jumping up off the floor and lifting me into his arms like I weigh nothing.
“Bring the bodies with you,” Tieran snaps at Alpha Dirk. “You have ninety minutes.”
I have no idea what he means.
That howl must have been a signal for something.
“Don’t you dare help him,” Tieran adds, looking at Alpha Ebony.
“He’s not touching Duncan,” she replies, her gaze intense as she challenges her superior. “He’s mine.”
Tieran considers her a moment, then concedes with a nod. “Only Alpha Duncan.”