It took a little over an hour for us to reach the island. I saw the Nereus lighthouse peeking up from the waves long before anything else appeared. I pointed it out to Kaden and he finally came to stand beside me, more relaxed now that he realized I wasn't going to drown us.
I was surprised that the Cancer pack had come here, but I supposed there wouldn’t be any way for an outsider to trace them except the picture I’d found. I hadn't even noticed all that many boats missing from our harbor. If Brad’s dad really was alpha, at least he was doing a good job of keeping the rest of them alive.
Speaking of that asshole… As we pulled up, a group of shifters gathered at the edge of the dock, and I recognized Brad almost immediately in the illumination from the lighthouse above.
“Great,” I muttered, as I maneuvered us into position and killed the engine. I knew logically he would be here, but I'd hoped to at least talk to his dad before him. Last time I'd seen Brad and his mate, they'd broken my camera and beaten me up, and I couldn't imagine he'd be nicer to me now that his father was alpha.
Brad and a few other Cancer shifters who'd loved taking part in the fun of ‘punch and kick the half-human’ gathered around our boat, stopping Kaden and me from getting off unless we wanted to step into the water.
“What the fuck are you doing here?” Brad snarled.
“Visiting old friends,” I shot back. “What, did you think I was dead?”
"We hoped you were," his mate, Lori, said from behind him. Glad to see she's still a total bitch.
Brad crossed his arms. “It would have been better if that Leo asshole had hunted you down and killed you. We heard that’s what happened, anyway."
“You heard wrong,” I snapped. “Step back, I need to speak with the alpha. You’re in my way."
"I don't think so." He didn't budge. "You caused so many deaths already, why don’t you just turn around and leave?”
I raised my eyes to the moon, wishing the goddess would give me the strength to deal with this piece of shit. "I said, I need to speak to the alpha. Or are you still as dumb as a bag of rocks?"
Brad snarled and launched himself at me, but then Kaden was there, stepping in front of me. He grabbed Brad by the throat, holding him mid-air with the kind of strength only an alpha would possess.
A deep growl radiated from Kaden's chest. “If you touch her, I’ll rip you apart with my bare hands. And I will enjoy every second of it."
Brad kicked his feet feebly, his eyes bulging out of their sockets, probably so shocked that someone was bigger and badder than him for once. He looked like he couldn't breathe, and I put my hand on Kaden's arm. As much as I hated Brad, I couldn't let Kaden kill him.
"Put him down," I said with a sigh.
Kaden stared Brad down for a few more moments and then dumped him on the dock. Brad clutched his throat, sucking in a breath, while his mate kneeled over him. The other shifters eyed Kaden warily but didn't move to defend their friend.
“This was obviously a waste of time,” Kaden said, turning back to me.
I felt the old pit of anger flaring up in my stomach. I remembered every single time Brad and his gang had tormented me, and I wanted nothing more than to spit in their faces and turn the boat around. But I had to at least try. I had to be the better person, or I’d be just like them.
“Ayla?” a voice called out.
A voice so familiar it made my heart stop. The sound came from further up the dock, and I turned toward it, holding my breath as if it could keep the hope inside of me. I blinked a few times, trying to see if my eyes were tricking me. That line of shoulders, that carefree lope, that windswept hair—it was all too real.
"Wesley?"
Chapter Twenty
I hopped onto the deck and ran up the wooden planks toward my brother, shoving aside a couple of Cancer shifters in my path. As I got closer, there was no mistaking it—Wesley was alive. My brother was here, in the flesh, and I launched myself at him.
Wesley caught me, and I saw the flash of his teeth in the moonlight as he grinned, just before I flung my arms around him. I buried my head into his shoulder, breathing in deep, and he hugged me tight. I never thought I would see him again, but he was here, and not dead.
My eyes were wet when I finally pulled back, and my throat constricted painfully. I drank in the sight of him for several moments, hardly believing my eyes. The fact that he was standing in front of me seemed so impossible, I wanted to stare at him for several more minutes to make sure he wasn’t an illusion. “How are you alive?”