“You don't deserve a why,” he answered. She thought that would be the end of it, but he added more. “You waltz into a random damn town, and because of your fucking bloodline you're suddenly in charge? You don't know us. You don't know our lives. We've worked so hard for so long to keep ourselves hidden and safe; you don't know how hard it is for us,” he said, shaking his head angrily.
“I don't. You're right,” she agreed, wanting to be on his good side.
Maybe she could convince him out of killing her.
“You didn't even know that you were part shifter. You don't know about our history, about our current lives, and now you're suddenly the fucking leader,” she could hear him getting angrier. Willow kept her mouth closed. She couldn't help but wonder if her family, as distant as they were, had also laid their head on this seat.
The idea choked her up.
She couldn't do better than them. She didn't fix what happened to them, didn't change anything, didn't even learn from their lives.
The second she found out that it was Alphas missing, that she was an Alpha, she should have fled.
She knew this, and it hurt her.
They'd died for nothing.
“The pack needs a leader who can be trusted to make the right decisions because he's done it before, not one who was just lucky enough to be born with a deformity like a star in his fur,” he added. “Luck is no way to run a pack. Luck isn't going to protect you from the real world,” he explained.
“I'll step down as Alpha. You can take the role,” she offered, wanting to bargain, even though she knew it would be futile.
“No, no, it's easier just to take you out this way,” he disagreed. “I considered just shooting you out there. It's how I took out Alex,” he mused. “I was kind, though. Let you have one less romp before I got rid of you,” he sounded like he was waiting for her to thank him. Willow didn't reply.
“I've worked my whole life to be someone the pack would look to as a natural leader,” he continued. “Worked so damn hard as a cop, as a man. I've devoted my entire life to making sure this pack is happy,” he said. Willow tried to think of ways that she could escape.
He didn't have her in handcuffs, which meant that if she could just get out she could be free. Sure, he had a gun, but who uses a gun in a small town like this and expects not to be found out? The houses and buildings became sparser, and they headed into the woods, the midday sun leaving the woods without much shadow.
It seemed sick to her that it would be so sunny out when she was about to be murdered.
“You killed the Wells family, right?” she found herself needing to know for sure. Needing to get it off her chest.
“Yes,” he said, as though she asked if he like pizza, his voice casual and light.
“You know that if the pack found out about this they'd want you dead,” she said, trying to find a grip to save herself. “If you let me live, I'll leave town immediately. I was already planning to.” It wasn't entirely a lie. The guilt spiked higher in her.
“And subject some other pack to an Alpha who's one only in name?” he asked, looking at her in his rear-view mirror. “If it were up to me, all Alphas would be gone,” he explained. Willow tried harder to think of ways to escape. If she shifted, then she could run away into the woods the second he opened the door.
It's all she had.
“I could just live without shifting,” she offered, one last attempt.
“See, that's why you have to die,” he shook his head. “A true Alpha wouldn't just roll over and expose its belly like you are, wouldn't be so pride-less,” he explained.
She couldn't do anything right.
“Lucky for you, though, I'm going to show you the Wells' home.” They pulled into a long and winding driveway and started toward a dark house in the distance.
This was it.
Her last chance to escape.
The idea of a missing poster on the local paper's site with her picture on it clipped into her mind again.
This was really happening, and she didn't think she could do a single thing about it.
The car stopped, and Keech got out, walking toward her door.
The same two words filled her mind as she waited for him to open the door. 'Shift, change, shift, change, shift, change,' she thought to herself, the words beating along like a drum of anxiety.
He began to open her door.
Chapter 22
He didn't want to send out the group text.
It meant admitting his failure.
I meant them knowing he'd lost her.
If Willow was fine, however unlikely he knew that was, he would look like a fool for letting her vanish from him. He needed to get back to her and have her in his arms. He needed to do this himself.
Sending out the group message anyways would alert whomever had been killing off the Alphas that she was alone. That she was vulnerable. If they didn't already have her, then they'd be going for her. It was his fault, and he knew it.
Instead, he texted his best friend.
“Hey, Willow is missing. Can you help?” he texted James, trying to sound less panicked than he was.
He didn't know where to go or what to do. Carter was sitting in his car, staring at the parking lot around him.
Where the hell was he supposed to go?
James wasn't replying. He must have been on the beat or interrogating someone. Either way, Carter couldn't just sit there and wait. He couldn't let himself waste a second.
Pulling to the edge of the parking lot, he stared down both sides of the road thoughtfully.
'Turn left,' something in his mind echoed, like some kind of GPS imprinted in his head. He didn't hesitate, didn't wait. His car was heading down the road before he had time to question it.
It was blindingly sunny out, and everyone seemed to be out in the city. He searched the crowds for Willow's face, for her long dark hair, but he didn't see her.
The voice didn't tell him to turn, even after he'd been driving for twenty minutes. He began to wonder if the stress was making him lose his mind.
He flicked on his turn signal, ready to turn around back into town, but the voice came back.
'Keep going straight,' it insisted. It sounded to him like he was just thinking it, like somehow, he instinctively knew to keep going forward. He'd take any help he could right now, even if it was just random voices in his head.
“All right,” he muttered under his breath, continuing forward. A car behind him honked at him for slowing down, and he waved an apology and kept driving. The forest started in around him as he drove into the other side of town than he lived. He started recognizing the familiar path. It had only been a week since he'd been there last.
He was heading to the Wells' home.
A road was coming up, his next turn, and he knew to turn there before the voice even said it.
Carter chewed the inside of his cheek and tried to think about what he expected to see.
Why would she be out there?
Had she gone on her own? Was she taken there?
Was the family still alive and trying to convince her into leaving, too?
He felt like a conspiracy theorist, letting the ideas and plots and questions grate away at him like sandpaper.
He was tired of feeling guilty, tired of feeling useless. He knew it was in part his fault that the Alphas kept vanishing, but he knew that whomever took them was also to blame. Guilt wasn't going to help him find her, and it wasn't going to change the situation at hand.
When he pulled up to the house, finally, James' police car was outside.
He breathed out a sigh of relief, glad to know his friend was already on it, and hopped out of the car, slamming it behind him. He wasn't sure what to expect, but he was glad he wasn't going to be alone in this.
Chapter 23
Willow wished she were alone.
Officer Keech had dragged her in through the house, warning her not to scream. The second
he stopped his police cruiser, he opened the back door and slammed her against the grate, using her shock as a chance to slip handcuffs on her. He had a gun in his holster and a grimace on his usually kind face. The house was large – three stories, somewhere between a Victorian house and a modern one with the decor. The power was out, probably since the owners went missing and couldn't foot the bill anymore, and it added to the horror of the situation.
Family pictures lined the hall he pushed her down, each face echoing back the 'missing person' reports. She realized where she was and dread filled her like a thick sludge, coating her heart and mind.
What the fuck?
Willow started kicking again, wanting to run, wanting to escape, and he knocked her to the ground, dragging her by the handcuffs around her wrists.
“I offered to give you a tour of this place before,” his voice was almost casual, making the hairs stand up on Willow's entire body. She considered shifting, biting, and running, but the terror in her heart held her back from it.
“Where are we?” Willow asked, playing dumb. She hoped it would earn her some time, and she was right.
“This,” James said, pushing her into the middle of the floor of a sitting room, her face slapping down against the cold wood. “This is your inheritance from people who never knew you existed, all because of a dumb birth mark,” he explained, motioning around. “Legally, it was bequeathed to many members of the pack, but that's just to hold it until a blood Alpha shows up,” he explained, looking disgusted. “Alphas who are leaders because of what's in their family's history instead of what they're actually capable of,” he continued. “You're the worst of them!” Keech exclaimed, turning on her. “You come here, snooping around in things that aren't your business, drawing attention to things that belong to the pack and you don't understand…and then end up being a shifter,” he said angrily. “You know nothing of us as people, of our lives and traditions, of our values–”
“I'm one of you, too, though. So these are mine to know as well. I want to know all of that,” Willow shook her head. Keech scowled at her.
“You're not even entirely a shifter,” he spat the words out at her like acid. He took a deep breath, and his facial features smoothed into almost a smile. It was so wrong on his face in that moment. It was worse than his scowl.
He leaned down to Willow's eye level. “I'm going to set you up for all of this,” he said keenly, conspiratorially. “I'm going to let the town believe you're the one who's been killing off the Alphas, that you've eaten them or something. It's something the Lycaon line would do, after all,” he quipped. “I'll say that you confessed this to me, thinking I'd support you, and when I didn't, you attacked and I drew my gun,” he grinned. “You'll be dead, I'll be free of any suspicion, and the pack will be free of freeloaders like you,” he spat out. “My family has lived in this damned town since it was started a hundred fifty years ago. Literally built it with their own hands. Why the hell should a stranger be in charge of that?” he asked angrily.
“I shouldn't,” Willow agreed completely and utterly. “I shouldn't be, at all. I've been telling Carter that since I found out,” she added quickly. “I am just a journalist, a crap writer for a company that doesn't appreciate me. I can think of so many other people more deserving than me,” she admitted. She'd say anything to stay alive. It was just luck that she felt what was saying was true.
“You are the worst,” he growled out, she didn't seem to be helping herself here. “Completely denying the people who accepted you in like they did. They were going to help you settle, and you have no loyalty to them? Some bloodline,” he said angrily. Pulling out a large knife, he sat in front of her and stared her down, his eyes looked like they could see every flaw in the universe in her.
“Please, don't kill me,” she asked softly, she wasn't above begging.
She just needed to get out.
Keech's phone buzzed, and he pulled it out of his pocket and stared down at it.
“Hmm, looks like your confidant has noticed you're gone,” he said, turning his phone to her.
“Hey, Willow is missing. Can you help?” the text read, Carter's name as the contact.
He'd noticed.
It had only been a couple hours, and he'd noticed.
Her heart was pounding in her ears.
'Please, please, come here to me,' she thought at his contact name, trying to will him to know. She didn't want in him in harm's way, but she was sure Keech wouldn't try anything if his childhood best friend was there for it.
They sat there in silence for a couple minutes. He didn't look like he was any closer to reaching to the knife and stabbing her.
“What do you want from me? I can leave if you want,” she said earnestly. “Let me leave town. I'll do it with nobody knowing, without a word,” she swore, knowing in her heart it wouldn't work.
“I want the thing that makes you so special,” he shrugged, turning over the knife.
“My blood?” she asked, horrified. Suddenly, she couldn't entirely remember if it was werewolves or vampires who drank blood. Was it both?
“No, don't be stupid. You wouldn't be recognizable without that damn star on your neck when you're a wolf. I want to carve it out of your back and keep it,” he said. Willow's blood felt like ice. “I already have a little collection of them. I want to show that anybody can have a star pelt. Hell, I own eight. Doesn't mean that you'd be a good leader,” he explained easily. “I'm waiting for you to shift,” he continued.
“And if I never change?” she asked, her heart racing.
“I'll start breaking bones,” he shrugged. “Every ten minutes, another finger. Your body will panic at the adrenaline and automatically change, regardless of whether or not you want to,” Willow needed to get out – fast. “I can't just break them all at once. If you go into shock you won't be able to shift,” he remorsed.
Willow had never been so scared in her life.
Chapter 24
Carter tried the front door. It was locked.
Surprised, he pulled out his keys, and that's when he smelled her.
A scream erupted from the house – Willow's scream – and Carter's body flooded with adrenaline. He didn't have time for keys. Stepping back, keeping one foot flat and sturdy on the ground, he kicked forward, hard and flat against the door, near the handle. The door busted off its lock, and he barged in.
She was in pain.
He could smell it, could smell her tears.
Carter let his body lead him through the house, let his instinct take over.
“Who's there?” James's voice called out.
Oh, fuck. It was James.
Carter felt dizzy with the realization. Anger and sadness tinged every thought.
Of course, it was James.
He was always a show boater, always tried to make everyone know what a good Alpha he'd make. He worked hard to keep his image up. He had a position of power in the town, had the trust of the Alphas, had the respect of the town.
It would have been so easy to steal away the Alpha one by one.
The betrayal was real, and it cut deep.
“JAMES,” he bellowed out, following the whimpering noises he knew were Willow's.
He burst into the living room, sickened with what he saw. Willow had her hand held close to her chest. She looked like she was in intense pain. A click caught Carter's attention, and he looked over to his right. James, his friend since birth, had a gun trained right toward Carter's face.
“James,” Carter said more softly this time, the hurt in full force.
He'd trusted him more than anyone.
James had been at Carter's side when his mother passed in the hospital.
They'd been close their entire lives.
Now this.
“All of them…were you?” Carter asked, not flinching at the gun pointed right at him.
“Yes,” James replied simply.
“You love the pack, though
. Why would you hurt them like this?”
“I did it because I love the pack. I want it to be better than to grovel to unnecessary people,” he said, motioning to Willow with his gun.
“James, we can work through this. Please, don't hurt her,” Carter said softly. “I'll help her leave town, she's not a good leader for the pack, it's true, but don't do this,” he continued, edging toward James.
“I've already let one go before. I'm not doing it again,” James shook his head. “She'll try to contact the pack or come back for you,” he added. “Don't think I don't know what you're doing, grappling for a seat at the top like you always have.” James frowned at Carter, and Carter's chest hurt.
Did James ever even see him as a friend?
Was this all a one-sided friendship?
“I've never grappled for the top. Richard and I were chosen for this role by the pack when we turned eighteen. We didn't ask for any of this,” James shook his head.
Another realization struck him, breaking through him like a rock through a glass window.
“Did you kill Richard?” he asked, his voice steady and grave.
A grin slipped across James' face. “I knew that you were letting him take over the shift. He was always slower than you, so I saw it as an easy opportunity,” he shrugged. “He took three bullets before I could finally get him down, over by the old lodge on the south side of town,” he continued.
All friendship, all kinship, was done.
Carter's blood boiled. He wanted to tear him open, would happily take a bullet to take down the man who had killed his brother and ruined his life.
Movement in the corner of his eye caught his attention.
James was standing between Carter and Willow, and she was slowly standing up.
Carter didn't look at her full on, didn't want to risk James seeing what she was doing.
“Don't look at me with those smiling fucking eyes, you bastard,” Carter spit out. He knew this would incense James into staring harder at him.
He needed to talk.
Needed to keep James' eyes and ears on him.
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