Red's Big Bad Wolf

by Jessica Coulter Smith

  A worried Memphis peered at her through the shattered glass of the passenger window.

  “Hang on, Red. I’m going to get you out of there.”

  She watched as he gripped the frame of the door, heard the metal groaning, and then he ripped it off the hinges, flinging it away. Carefully, he extracted her from the crushed car and laid her gently on the ground near the wreckage. It hurt to breathe and the bright light of the sun nearly blinded her. She closed her eyes and turned her face away, but not before she saw Memphis pull a phone from his pocket.

  Red listened as he called for an ambulance and then placed a call to Rook. Her body felt heavy, as if it were weighted down by lead. It became harder to breathe and the world faded to black.

  Chapter Eight

  The look in his Beta’s eyes told Ace something had happened. He hadn’t paid attention to the phone call when Rook answered and now he was wondering if perhaps he should have. They’d been tracking Tate for almost two hours and still were no closer to finding him. It was like he had vanished into thin air. Or more accurately, had been picked up in a car and driven somewhere. Werewolves might have amazing noses, but even they couldn’t track a person once they climbed inside of a car.

  “We need to go to the hospital,” Rook said.

  “Tate? Did he show up there with his injuries?”

  Rook slowly shook his head. “Tate and Myra just ran Red off the road.”

  Ace froze, his heart nearly stopping. “What do you mean ‘ran her off the road’? She’s fine, right? Just a few bumps and bruises?”

  Rook looked away.

  Without another word, Ace ran to the car and jumped in. Rook had barely closed the passenger door before Ace was speeding away. He could hear a roaring in his ears and his hands were shaking. The thought of losing Red…he couldn’t even think about it.

  “What did Memphis say?”

  “He got into an argument with Red at the doctor’s office. She took off and left him. By the time he’d caught up to her, he saw Tate and Myra looking down an incline. There were skid marks on the road and the front of their car was battered. When they saw him, they took off. He decided he should stay with Red instead of pursuing them.”

  Rage and fear battled for dominance inside of Ace. What the hell had Memphis been thinking? What could they have possibly argued about? When they pulled into a parking space at the hospital, Ace was torn between wanting to rush to Red’s side and tearing into Memphis. He decided to check on Red first. Then he’d decide just how pissed off he was.

  Rook and he stepped through the automatic doors and Ace went straight to the triage desk.

  “May I help you?” the woman asked.

  “Red, I mean, Ruby Maybury was brought in a few minutes ago.”

  The woman tapped on her keyboard. “Ms. Maybury is with the doctors at the moment. If you’ll have a seat, someone will be with you shortly. You’re family?”

  “She’s my mate,” Ace said.

  The woman seemed to focus on him for the first time. “My apologies, Alpha. I’ll see that the doctors find you when they’re done.”

  Memphis stood across the room and Ace headed in his direction. Stopping in front of the taller, older wolf, he clenched his hands at his sides to keep from punching the man.

  “Care to explain to me what happened?” Ace asked in a biting tone.

  “She got mad at me and took off. Before I could catch up to her, Tate and Myra ran her off the road. The car rolled down an embankment and landed on its roof.” Memphis’s jaw clenched. “She hadn’t been wearing her seat belt and she bounced around inside the vehicle.”

  “The airbags should have kept her in place, mostly.”

  Memphis shook his head. “They didn’t deflate.”

  “Son of a bitch!”

  “The EMTs said they thought her lung had collapsed and that she had fractured ribs. Maybe also a concussion and some other minor injuries.”

  “What the fuck was so important that you had to argue with Red about it? She isn’t the type of woman to run away from her problems. I want to know what was said and I want to know now.”

  Memphis looked at Rook. Ace didn’t like that look. It implied his Beta knew more than he was saying. Ace trusted Rook with his life and had trusted the man with his pack. Had that trust been misplaced?

  “One of you needs to tell me what’s going on,” Ace demanded.

  “It’s time,” Memphis told Rook.

  His Beta nodded. “We’ve lied to you,” Rook said as he looked at Ace.

  “Memphis and you?”

  “The entire pack.”

  Ace rocked back on his heels. He hadn’t expected that.

  Rook motioned to some chairs in a corner away from everyone. “Maybe we should have a seat?”

  “Is sitting going to keep me from killing you?” Ace asked.

  “No.”

  That wasn’t the answer he wanted to hear. Whatever they needed to tell him must be pretty bad. With Red in the hospital, he was already on edge. Add to it that Tate and Myra were still at large, and he wasn’t sure how much more he could handle right then. Everything was turning to chaos around him.

  “Rook and I knew about Red back when she was in high school.”

  Ace nodded. “I made sure the whole pack knew about her. Just because I didn’t claim her didn’t mean I didn’t want her protected.”

  The two men shared a look.

  “The pack did protect her, didn’t they?” Ace asked.

  Rook sighed. “Yes and no.”

  “They didn’t realize what had happened that night with Sean until it was too late,” Memphis said. “When he started causing trouble for Red at school, the pack members, who were friends with him, started backing away, withdrawing their support.”

  As Memphis’s words sank in, Ace felt every muscle in his body tense. “You knew? The two of you knew what had happened to her and didn’t tell me?”

  “You would have killed him,” Rook said. “While the pack gets away with a lot around this town, I don’t think law enforcement would have looked the other way for something like that. Especially if you had killed the town’s golden boy.”

  Ace felt his temperature rising, his rage growing inside of him until it felt like it was billowing out his ears. He closed his eyes in an attempt to get better control of himself, but failing, he looked at the two men sitting across from him.

  “You let everyone in this town think she was lying about what happened to her. You left her alone and defenseless. My mate. Instead of pulling her into the pack, having them give her their support and love, you isolated her. All of the fears, nightmares, trust issues… everything she’s battling right now is because of you two.” Ace glared at both of them.

  “We thought we were doing what was best for the pack,” Memphis said. “You weren’t in any position to take care of her.”

  “That’s what the pack is for!” Ace bellowed.

  Rook looked decidedly uncomfortable. “I was worried about you, Ace. You were sinking deeper and deeper, losing yourself in the BDSM lifestyle to the point that you were always a Dom, even out of the bedroom. The pack was scared and unstable. I did what I could to hold things together while you worked through your shit. Bringing that crap to your door wasn’t the answer, not then.”

  “‘That crap’?” Ace growled. “My mate was raped and you call that ‘crap’? I should ban both of you from the pack, but if I did that, I’d have to get rid of everyone, wouldn’t I? All of you were behind it. All these years, I thought I could place my trust in my family, and today, I’ve learned that the only person I can trust is lying in a hospital bed and may or may not pull through. Because right now we have no clue what’s wrong with her. The doctors may have discovered more dire injuries when she arrived, and instead of holding her hand and giving her my support, I’m sitting out here learning that everyone I’ve ever known and trusted betrayed the both of us.”

  Memphis had a blank expression on his face, but Rook, hi
s Beta, looked guilty as hell. Ace was disgusted with his whole pack. If he didn’t have so much invested in this damn town, he’d pack his shit and find someplace else to settle with Red. How the hell was he supposed to lead a pack that had hidden something so big from him? They had jeopardized his mate’s life and emotional well-being in the name of protecting him. He was the fucking alpha! He didn’t need someone to protect him. It was his job to protect them.

  A doctor approached and Ace tried to get himself under control.

  “Mr. Silver?” The doctor held out his hand. “I’m Dr. Sims. We were able to inflate your mate’s lung and she’s currently in stable condition. She has three cracked ribs, a fractured wrist, and some minor cuts and bruises. There’s a slight concussion, but as long as you watch her carefully, she should be fine.”

  “When can she come home?” Ace asked, intending to take her back to his place. And the first thing he was going to do was change the damn gate code. No one was getting in unless he personally opened the gate.

  “I’d like to keep her for about five days for observation, but if she stays stable, she can leave the following morning.”

  “Thank you, Dr. Sims. Can I see her now?”

  “Of course.” The doctor motioned for him to follow as he walked toward the double doors across the room. “She’s resting comfortably in a private room.”

  When they reached Red’s room, the doctor stopped him. “You should know, she’s going to need about six weeks to recover. Let her do whatever she’s comfortable handling, but she needs to stay home from work during that time. I’ll have something faxed over to the library for her.”

  “She won’t like being home for six weeks.”

  “Have you thought of taking a vacation?” The doctor squinted at him. “You have a place on the coast, don’t you?”

  “You want me to take her to Delaware? In her condition?”

  “Not right away, but maybe in a week. Something tells me the two of you could use a break from this place. Isn’t there a pack in Delaware you could visit? From what I saw in the waiting room, things are strained in the White Paw Pack right now.”

  Ace sighed. “Yeah. I found out some unpleasant truths about my pack today. I have some soul-searching to do. This pack is my inheritance just as much as my house is, but—”

  “But you aren’t sure it’s the right place for you anymore?”

  “Something like that.”

  “Take your mate to the seaside. Get her to relax as much as possible, visit with your allies, and maybe come home with some fresh ideas. Perhaps it’s time for things around here to change.”

  Ace thought that was the best advice he’d heard in a long time. And the doctor was right. Things did need to change. Whether that change included him remaining alpha of the White Paw Pack was yet to be determined.

  Chapter Nine

  Red glared at Ace. “You’re hovering again.”

  “Because you won’t rest, damn it! You’re in no condition to be running a vacuum cleaner, not to mention, I have someone who comes in to clean twice a week. If you don’t want to lie in bed, at least stretch out on the sofa or go lay out by the pool. Watch a movie. Read a book.”

  “The doctor said I could do whatever task I felt up to doing. That was two weeks ago. And right now, I feel up to cleaning the den floor.”

  “That’s it. Pack your shit.”

  She felt the blood drain from her face. “You’re throwing me out?”

  He reached for her. “No. I wouldn’t throw you out, Red. We’re going on a trip. The doctor recommended that I get you out of town and I think it’s time. We could both use a vacation.”

  “Where?”

  “A small town on the Delaware coast. It’s one the largest packs in the area.”

  “Which pack?” she asked with narrowed eyes. She might not know a lot about werewolves, but there were some packs you were better off avoiding. Not that she thought Ace would carry her into danger.

  “The Shadow Tip Pack.”

  “Shadow Tip?”

  “All of their alphas have dark-tipped tails. It’s a genetic thing.”

  “And it’s safe for me to be there?”

  Ace pulled her closer, his touch light. “I would never take you somewhere that wasn’t safe for you, Red. You mean a lot to me, in case you hadn’t guessed it yet. I’m not about to let someone harm you.”

  “Have Tate and Myra been caught yet?” she asked softly.

  “Myra’s body was found yesterday. It looks like Tate killed her. No one knows where he is. Memphis and three others tracked him, but the trail disappeared at the highway. We’re hoping he left town.”

  “But you don’t know for certain.”

  “No. Which is another reason I want to get you out of here. Let the pack do their job and find the asshole. Once we have him in custody, he won’t have another opportunity to hurt you.”

  Red bit her lip. “Fine. I’ll go with you to Delaware. I don’t think I can ride in the car for very long though, so be prepared to make lots of stops.”

  “We’re only driving about an hour away. But if you need to stop, all you have to do is say so.”

  “I just did laundry this morning, so give me a minute to put my things back into my suitcase and I’ll be ready to go.” Red brushed her hair out of her face. “Do you want me to pack your bag while I’m taking care of mine?”

  “Why don’t you let me pack the bags? I don’t want you to hurt your ribs by stretching and reaching for things. And while I’m doing that”—he unclipped his phone—“you can text Rook and tell him we’re leaving town.”

  She took the phone from him and looked at it uncertainly. “You want me to contact your Beta?”

  “You’re my mate, aren’t you?”

  “In name only.”

  “Not for long,” he muttered.

  “I heard that.”

  Ace grinned. “You don’t have to talk to the man. Just send him a text and ask him to watch over the pack while we’re gone. If he asks when we’re coming home, tell him you don’t know.”

  “When are we coming home?” she asked.

  “We’ll play it by ear. I’m packing enough stuff for us to stay for several weeks though. It’s going to be colder on the water. Did you bring any sweaters with you? Or do we need to go shopping when we get to Delaware?”

  “I don’t own any.” She hated to admit that. It wasn’t that she didn’t get cold. She just didn’t have the money to buy any. The long-sleeved shirts she owned had been less than ten dollars each, and even then, she only owned five or six of them.

  “We’re going shopping after we’ve reached our destination and you’ve rested.”

  Red wanted to argue with him, tell him she could take care of herself, but she was wondering if she was lying to herself. How many winters had she been cold because she couldn’t afford adequate clothing? If he saw her winter coat, he’d be furious. It was so thin that she felt every breeze that blew, not to mention it got soaked every time it snowed.

  She opened a new text to Rook. We’re going out of town. Ace said to watch over the pack.

  That was simple enough, direct, and to the point. She hit send and stared at the phone a moment, waiting to see if the Beta would respond. She didn’t have to wait long before the phone chimed at her. Red opened the message.

  When will you return?

  Red frowned. Ace had said he wasn’t sure how long they would be gone. Red had a job to return to, assuming the library held her position for her. But with Ace being so determined to claim her and take care of her, she doubted he cared much whether or not she had a job. Which meant they could be gone for god knew how long.

  She texted back. Ace didn’t say.

  The phone didn’t chime again, so she assumed that was the end of the conversation. Red shoved the phone into her pocket and headed upstairs to check on Ace. By now, he’d have seen how very little she had. Something told her he wouldn’t be pleased. When she stepped into the master bedroom,
a room she had been sharing with him the past week, he had a scowl on his face as he crammed clothes into a bag.

  “Rook knows we’re leaving,” she said, pulling the phone from her pocket and handing it to him. He didn’t take it though, just pushed it back toward her.

  “Keep it. If someone calls, answer it.”

  Her eyebrows rose. “You want me to answer your phone?”

  “I have nothing to hide from you, Red. This pack is as much yours as it is mine. An alpha doesn’t rule alone, his mate rules by his side.”

  “Something happened while I was in the hospital. You’ve been different, more subdued.”

  He stopped packing. “Would you still want to be my mate if I wasn’t an alpha?”

  Red smiled. “I don’t think that’s something you can turn off and on with a switch. You’re either born one or you aren’t.”

  “I’m serious, Little Red. If I were no longer alpha of the White Paw Pack, would you still be by my side?”

  The smile slipped from her face and she moved closer to him, placing her hand on his arm. “I don’t know what this is about, but I’m not here with you because you’re the alpha, Ace. I enjoy spending time with you. I’d like to think we’ve become friends.”

  He stared at her.

  “Yes,” she said. “I would still want to be with you, even if you weren’t the alpha anymore.”

  He nodded. “That’s all I needed to know.”

  “Are you going to tell me what’s going on?”

  “Not yet.”

  Red sighed. She didn’t like that he was keeping her in the dark, but she knew he would come clean when he was ready. Whatever had happened at the hospital, it was weighing heavy on him. She’d never heard him talk about not being alpha and she wasn’t sure she liked it. The White Paw Pack had been Ace’s family his entire life. Why would he turn his back on them? She could only think of one reason. Her. And if he was willing to turn away from his family for her, that meant he knew about her discussion with Memphis.