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  Betsy took in the room. “Listen, I think this is something we should be working with the Montana wolves on. Don’t you, my Alpha? This is their territory. They may want to help.”

  Now he was my Alpha? He groaned. Now she chose to act respectful and obedient? After she’d not stayed protected and stormed into the room in the middle of an Alpha fight?

  “Are you okay?” He tugged her against him. They’d deal with the particulars of the whole thing after he’d assured himself of her welfare. “You hit the ground hard before you finally ran. What were you thinking?”

  Betsy shrugged and bit down on her lip. “I hate to tell you this, but I had another blackout. I have no memory of any of it. I came to on the side of the road with absolutely no idea of how I got there or what had happened.”

  She must have been terrified. He inhaled the scent from her hair. Lake had fixed her. He smelled the familiar warm scent of pack magic on her. If his sister was back in her game, there wouldn’t be permanent damage to his mate, and for that he could be grateful.

  “What information did you think you could share with this pack?” It burned him to even use the word. There were legitimate ways to form a pack, and if Beaux, the rule follower, had done any of them, they wouldn’t be in this situation now. Of course, maybe that was the problem. The other werewolf had never believed the rules Lucian put in place to be true werewolf law.

  The whole thing made Cyrus’ head hurt.

  “How should I address, uh, Beaux? Is there protocol?”

  Cyrus shook his head. “Not for him, no.”

  Beaux growled, and Lake made a strangled sound in her throat. What the hell was going on with his sister?

  “Well, okay.” Betsy scratched her head. “My parents and some others have been involved for some time in stealing werewolf babies. They did so with me.”

  The wounded pack remained quiet and turned around to look at her. She continued speaking. “I’m not entirely certain what they’re doing with the babies, as a rule. But they kept me and raised me as if I were human. I’m not sure why they did that. I have a lot of questions. But I think we need to take down the whole lot of them, and, having come from their compound, you’re going to have to trust me. We need as many hands on deck to do that as possible.”

  Cyrus listened to her words, trying not to howl at the moon from the pain he heard percolating beneath them.

  Beaux spoke before he could. “Did you say you came from somewhere where they are stealing werewolf babies?”

  Betsy nodded, taking Cyrus’ hand. Her fingers felt small trapped within his. She was so tiny everywhere. How on earth would he ever keep her safe in this world where all the precautions he’d taken over the years had been blown to shit?

  “That’s right.” She nodded. “I went to them. I knew they’d know where you were. I had to find Cyrus. And since you’d apparently attacked,” she stared back at Cyrus. “And I couldn’t remember any of it, which is a real problem, I had no other choice.”

  “They told you we were here?” Beaux yelled roared his response, and Cyrus held up his hand. He agreed with the other man on sentiment, but he wouldn’t have Betsy spoken to in any kind of disrespectful way.

  “Obviously, they did. Actually, I think it’s brilliant. Go to the true believers since they know where we are, even if we don’t know they know.”

  “How can that be?” Beaux paced from the window to the center of the room several times. “We have taken precautions.”

  Cyrus rolled his eyes. “We’ve all been doing that for generations. They always find out. Why do you think Lucian wanted things run the way he did? There would be accountability for being a traitor.”

  “Lucian himself was a traitor, and it’s what got him killed,” Beaux snarled.

  “How dare you?” Cyrus stepped away from Betsy. He wouldn’t have her harmed in the crossfire of the explosion Beaux had triggered. “Lucian was a great man. He didn’t think you were worthy, but that doesn’t make him a traitor.”

  Beaux moved until they stood face to face. “He was a traitor to what it is to be a werewolf. In trying to make us more like them, he killed the best part of us. Why try to fit into their society? Why have to figure out how to co-exist in their midst without detection? We aren’t like humans. We don’t belong with them. It’s no wonder he got himself killed. It was inevitable the second he meddled in pack politics, sticking himself at the pinnacle, in a role that should never have existed.”

  His words slammed into Cyrus with the force of a freight train. How had Lucian done what he did? How had he become Alpha Prime? These were questions Cyrus had never had the answers to, and Cyrus had been too busy trying to hold together Manhattan to worry about the logistics of it.

  “He dropped me,” Beaux continued, “because he knew I’d never cow-tow to bullshit. He had all of you too wrapped around his fingers to notice. Maybe you would have always been Alpha of New York. Or maybe you wouldn’t have been. But that would have been your choice, your fate to decide.”

  Cyrus shook his head. “In that, you’re wrong. It was my choice. No one stood over me and made me challenge Shepherd.”

  “The weight of expectations watched over you while you did that. Twenty years old kids don’t overthrow their Alphas, not unless someone puts that idea in their heads. You might have taken over New York. Eventually. Now perhaps. When you’re fully in your power and you know what it is to be a man, a leader.” Beaux shrugged. “You really had no choice in that matter. None of Lucian’s prized Alphas did. And, for that, I pity you.”

  He would have spoken. He would have told the man he could take his opinions and shove them where the sun didn’t shine. Cyrus never got the chance. Betsy lunged forward, throwing her small weight against Beaux’s body. She wouldn’t normally be strong enough to do any kind of damage to a werewolf Beaux’s size, but the other man hadn’t anticipated her attack.

  Beaux stumbled backward. His eyes widened as he stared at Cyrus’ mate.

  “I don’t know who you are,” Betsy snarled, “but you aren’t going to speak to him like that. You don’t know the first thing about him or what he is capable of. Maybe you weren’t able to take over a pack in your twenties because you’re mentally deficient, but Cyrus can do anything he sets his mind to. Anything.”

  Cyrus stepped forward. If Beaux said or did anything to Betsy in response that was anything less than respectful, he’d show him the meaning of pain.

  “My Alpha,” said one of Beaux’s pack members, a small man for werewolf standards, with brown hair graying on the side. “There are humans coming in cars.”

  “Is this a problem?” Cyrus walked to the one window in the room that had been covered by a dark sheet. He pushed it away to look outside. What was the problem with humans? They had humans around them all the time in New York.

  “This isn’t Manhattan, and this is private property. If humans are coming, then it’s because your mate stirred them up.”

  “I…” Betsy started to speak, and Cyrus placed his hand on her arm to stop her. There wasn’t time for her response. Not if this really was an attack. The humans were coming on pretty strong. They must think this was going to be a walk in the park. Or they’d come on a suicide mission.

  “Are you prepared for an attack?” Cyrus regarded Beaux. “You’re not yet, are you? There aren’t enough of you to do much beyond whacking people over the head when you ambush their cars, are there?”

  Beaux growled. “We can defend ourselves. Can you, city boy?”

  It had been a long time since Cyrus had gone to war. But he was fairly certain he remembered how. His blood heated, and his wolf senses went on high alert. “Bring it on.”

  Chapter Eighteen

  Beaux pounded his fist on the wall. “Boys, it’s time for Plan B.” Cyrus responded to him, and they must have been debating a battle plan, but Betsy couldn’t focus on any of it over the ringing in her ears. Had she done this? Had she brought the true believers to Beaux’s pack’s doorstep? The
idea made her stomach turn, and she gagged, trying desperately not to lose the contents of her stomach onto the floor of Beaux’s lair.

  Lake moved up behind her. “Come on, we need to get out of the way.”

  “What?” Betsy shook her head. “I’m not going anywhere.” Cyrus needed her, and if she had caused this, then she had to be right by his side to see it through. Or maybe she’d go outside and see if she could talk to the men getting out of the Jeeps. They’d never killed her all the years she lived here. Maybe they’d listen to reason now.

  “I know you want to help. I would too, and I can see it in your expression. But this isn’t the time for us, okay? I’m a Healer, and you’re still untrained. You still black out in fights. We need to let Beaux, Cyrus, and the others do what they do. They can’t do that if they’re worried about us.”

  Lake made a good point, even if Betsy didn’t want to hear it. She really didn’t know anything about fighting. What good would she be in the middle of this mess? She took a step back toward Lake.

  “Where should we go?” She turned to Lake. Would heading out the back door help?

  “Stay inside.” Beaux turned around but had eyes only for Lake, not for her. Betsy glanced between them. It wasn’t the time for this, not by a long shot, but clearly there was something happening with Lake and Beaux. It wasn’t that she could smell it. They were both carefully guarding their scents but she could see it in the way they kept trying not to look at each other and failing. If they lived through the rest of the day, she was going to ask Lake exactly what was going on.

  Cyrus nodded toward the door. “We’re going out.”

  Betsy took a deep breath. “Look, I agree with Lake. I’m out of my element here, but I have to ask you something before I get out of your way.”

  “What is it, princess?” Already she could hear a growl in his voice. He was going to go wolf soon, and then reasoning with him on any kind of human level would be impossible. His fight with Beaux earlier? It had been nothing but show. Now she’d lose him to the animal until it was over. How did she know that? She chewed on her lip. Maybe from the fights she couldn’t remember? Oh hell, all of this was terribly confusing.

  “They aren’t werewolves. Do you have guns? I can guarantee they have them. They’re all hunters and experts at it to boot. You guys go out there charging like this is some kind of war from old times and they are going to pick you off one by one until you’re all drowning in your own blood.”

  “Oh, I have something else in mind.” Cyrus smiled, and she shivered. How could she be both so intimidated and ecstatic over his aggression? “We are going to take them entirely by surprise.”

  She hoped he knew what he was talking about because if anything happened to him she’d never be okay again. Those men had weapons. What did Cyrus and Beaux have besides shifting? Animals could be shot easily. This was too horrible to vocalize and she tried to swallow her fear.

  ****

  Betsy paced the room, unable to stop.

  “It’s been quiet for a long time.” Lake chewed on her fingernail, pacing around the basement with Betsy. But for every lap Betsy took, Lake made two. Where did the other woman get her energy? All she wanted to do was collapse onto the floor with worry. How long had it been since they’d been sent downstairs, and why was it so damn quiet?

  “Do you want to be distracted?” Lake tapped her foot on the floor.

  “No.” Betsy shook her head. She stared down at her hands. Maybe thirty seconds passed, but it felt like an hour. “Yes, okay, distract me.”

  Take my mind off the fact that Cyrus might be dead. Or dying on the floor. Bleeding to death. Shot. Maimed. Stabbed. Decapitated…Make it so I can’t hear the noise outside and scent the humans. Do that for me.

  “I think… that is to say… I’m wondering if Beaux is my true mate.”

  “What?” She stared at Lake. Could that be? She’d known something was happening but she hadn’t seen that coming.

  “Can you tell me how you knew that you were mated to my brother?”

  “Well…” A loud boom sounded upstairs, and they both stared up at the ceiling. What had caused that?

  The door to the basement swung open. John charged down the steps two at a time. A grin exploded across his face when he saw them, and Betsy let out the breath she held. He wouldn’t be smiling if her Cyrus lay dying somewhere.

  She rushed toward John and then up the stairs behind him. Lake followed in her wake, but Betsy had only one thought, and it was all about finding her love. She sniffed the air when she reached the upstairs and didn’t scent Cyrus inside the house.

  “This way.” John opened the front door, and for the first time since he’d come into the basement, she felt a moment of trepidation. Her hands were unsteady, and she shoved them in her pockets.

  “Is everything okay?”

  “Yes.” John laughed. “Look.”

  A wolf paced around a group of humans. It wasn’t Cyrus. She’d know his brown and gray coat anywhere. It was the darker black fur of Beaux. Cyrus stood behind the group. Eight men knelt on the ground, their heads bowed. One of them was Nathan’s father.

  “Hello, princess. Sorry that took so long, but these humans had to be dealt with using very little fuss. That took some arranging.”

  She cleared her throat. “It’s not like I had any appointments I had to miss today. My schedule is rather open.”

  “Well then,” Cyrus grinned. “That’s good.”

  “Monsters.” Nathan’s father bled from a wound on the top of his head. Blood covered the side of his face as it flowed downward.

  Beaux laughed. “Now now, Joe no one hurt you until you took a shot at us. Then you left us no choice.”

  John snickered. “We may have made ourselves easy targets to encourage that stupidity.”

  “I see.” And suddenly she did. The wolves had given the humans enough rope to hang themselves with. Now there would be no question in how they should be dealt with.

  “Joe, I think we talked about what you’re going to do now, remember? If you don’t want to see us go after your family and friends with the vengeance of a pissed-off animal, you’re going to do what we said.”

  “Betsy, I’d like to apologize for any wrongs we ever did to you.”

  She blinked, not sure if she’d heard him correctly. “What?”

  “Say it again.” Cyrus tugged on the back of the other man’s head, yanking his hair.

  Joe yelped, and several of the pack let out joyful howls. “I’m sorry for anything we ever did to you. All of it. From moment one when we decided to keep you.”

  This was her chance to get some answers. Her heart rate kicked up, and it took a half a minute before she could speak again. “Why did you decide to keep me and send my sister off?”

  It might seem a simple question considering the large problems they had to deal with. But it had pressed on her mind since she’d met Lilliana. What had happened?

  “We meant to keep both of you. Twin werewolf girls who didn’t show any signs of shifting? It was a real coup. But one of our group got chicken-shit and decided to take off with the two of you, rescue you. He nearly got out of town with both of you. Big battle. Shots. We got you out of the car, but the asshole still managed to hightail it with the other baby. I can assure you that we searched. Never found the baby demon.”

  She kicked him, hard, in the ribs. He gasped, and Cyrus laughed. It took Betsy a moment to realize what she’d done. In all her life, she’d never resorted to violence so casually. This time, though, she’d not even given a second thought before she’d kicked.

  She met Cyrus’ gaze, and she saw amusement radiating in his blue depths. “I guess I really am a wolf now.”

  “Oh, you are.” Cyrus smiled. “Do you have any other questions for this little man or shall we haul him off now and let Beaux’s people do what they will?”

  “Why take us at all? What did you do with the other babies?”

  Joe shook his head. “We waited to
see that you all really were werewolves. Babies start to show their shifting around age one. They howl. Growl. Start to act more like animals than human babies. You never did that, so we didn’t do to you what we did to the others. Some of us foolishly thought you could be saved.”

  Cyrus spoke before she could. “What did you do with the ones who weren’t latents? How many of them did you have hold of over the years? Where did you get them?”

  Beaux shifted into his human form. “That last point is pivotal. Where did you find them?”

  “You really are evil creatures, aren’t you? I mean the way you did that. The way your body shifted from one form to another. How can that be anything but evil?”

  Beaux shook his head. “Give me your knife, Cyrus. I want to slit his throat.”

  “After he answers our questions. Of course, I could contort his body in lots of way if he really wants to know how to shift. His muscles won’t accept the alteration, but he can get to know the pain.”

  “I…I...I…that is to say, we had the abominations put down. Slit their throats. They didn’t suffer long. That was less cruel than sending the creatures off to be experimented on, which was what we originally wanted.”

  The silence that fell over the moment was so thick Betsy wasn’t sure she could draw in a breath. She forced her body take in air. The information Joe had dumped on them was like a physical blow.

  Betsy turned to the other werewolves. None of them seemed as floored as she felt. There wasn’t a scent of shock in the air. For his part, Cyrus remained as calm as after the delivery of the news as before when he’d asked the question.

  Was she the only one who hadn’t expected all of those werewolves to be…dead? Tears swam into her eyes. Why was she so dumb about these things? What else could have happened to them? If the werewolves had been somewhere, at least some of them would have escaped by now. Someone would have known about this.