by Rosko, Mandy
Dennis growled. "Yes, good job, you idiot. The sister you raised is in danger, and you choose now to rub it in my face that you've got my son."
"Yeah, I do. I could kill that little fucker, and you're still going to do everything in your power to bring her back to me, aren't you?"
Dennis nearly shattered the phone in his hand. "I won't kill her, you're right. I won't let anyone touch a hair on her pretty little head if she doesn't want it, but I promise you this, if my son is hurt, badly or otherwise, I will find a way to kill you for it. If you kill my son, then I won't bother trying to bring her back. I'll take her, and we'll have a nice long trip up to Canada. That sound all right with you? Might not even come back."
The growl Garret let out was almost worth it, if time wasn't so scarce.
"Put my son on the phone right now. I want to hear his voice before I start driving again. Someone's watching me."
"Fine, just get back on the road and head on into my territory. I'll be there with Jax and Dane to keep the way clear for you."
"Sure thing. Just as soon as I hear Derek tell me you didn't break anything."
Another deep growl, but then there was nothing else as Dennis heard the distinct sounds of the other male stalking through his home.
All sorts of things ran through Dennis' head.
Garret could be keeping Derek anywhere. He could have dug a pit and thrown Derek into it for all he knew.
Was he cold? Was he hurt? Scared? Derek was stubborn. If he was any of those things, he wouldn't want to admit it, but Dennis had always been able to tell. He wasn't the best father in the world. He wasn't even a very good one. That didn't mean he wanted Garret breaking his fingers one at a time for information Derek didn't have.
Dennis rubbed the back of his neck. The building tension was too much as he waited for Garret to confirm his only child was all right. He opened the driver's side door of the truck, getting in when he could finally smell Carl and Wallace out there. They would realize they'd fucked up soon enough and start gunning for him. What were they waiting for?
"Can we go now?" Anna whispered. She stared at her knees, knowing that if anyone happened to be watching them through the glass, her expression would only give away they knew something was up.
Dennis shook his head. There was no way he was going to be able to gun it out of there and pay attention to the phone at the same time. The desperation to hear his boy was overcoming his natural instinct to protect his mate, and he was starting to think that hanging up and putting his foot to the gas pedal was the smarter choice.
But Derek...
Dennis tensed, sitting a little straighter in his seat when he heard Garret's enraged roar.
Anna heard it, too. She looked at the phone and at Dennis. "What's happening? Garret?"
Something crashed, and Dennis wanted to reach through the phone, grab the other man, and start shaking him.
"What the fuck are you doing? What's going on? Garret?"
Was Derek fighting? Had he tried to jump the alpha? Oh fuck, Derek would try something like that, but he wouldn't stand a chance in a fight.
There was no way Garret would hold back if he thought he was being attacked by the son of his worst enemy.
"Garret! Don't you fucking touch him! You hurt him, and I will kill you! You hear me? Garret!"
"Dennis!"
Dennis barely pulled his attention away from the phone in time to see what Anna was looking at.
Then he did, and he punched the steering wheel hard enough to leave a dent in it.
Wallace and Carl stood right in front of the truck, in their half wolf, half man forms.
Dennis had enough of this shit.
He tossed the phone back to Anna and got out of the truck.
"Drive away if you have to."
"Are you crazy?"
He was crazy fucking angry was what he was. He marched to the two wolves, feeling his own inner wolf coming out, and it wasn't there to play.
"You! Both of you! Get the fuck out of my way right now!"
Both wolves cowered a little, then they looked at each other, as though remembering that Dennis was no longer their alpha.
They straightened and showed their teeth, their fingers clenching, claws coming becoming longer and sharper.
13
They wanted a fight, and they were going to get one.
Dennis rolled his shoulders, feeling the bones popping and aligning themselves into different shapes and positions. Some of them just got a little bigger as his height increased from over six feet to a little over seven.
In this form, he towered over the two shifters in front of him, but two against one was never a good ratio. Even when he was bigger than his two attackers.
All he had to do was convince them to back off. He could still do a good amount of damage; he still had a chance at winning the fight, and they knew it.
"You both want to rethink this right about now?"
They looked at each other. Wallace answered. He didn't look so hot since the last time Dennis had seen him.
"We want what you promised."
"We're not going to get it." If he made it out as though he was still on their side, as though he was still thinking about their best interests, the best interests for the pack as a whole, then he might be able to convince them to fuck off.
Carl growled at him. "You left us. You took our only advantage and left us."
Dennis growled back at the man. "Don't give me that shit." His tail thrashed around behind him. "I saw what you were all doing. I sensed it in the air. All of you! You were going to hurt her. You were all thinking it!"
"We weren't going to do anything! Laurence was just getting impatient. He wanted to know why you were taking so long, and we happened to agree."
Dennis clenched his hand. He sliced at his palm with his own claws, but he barely felt anything other than the warmth of the blood pooling into his hand.
"You'll not touch her. I'm giving her back to Garret."
"We know," Wallace said, his voice deep, his own tail thrashing around behind him. "You're not going to do that. We need her. We're starving! We need a new place to live."
"So go and find one! You're not fucking this up for me! Garret has my boy!"
"He's a man. He can handle the consequences of getting caught. That's what you always said about us."
As if this idiot thought Dennis gave a shit about anyone else in the pack to the extent that he did his own child. He roared, rushing at the two men, his claws out, teeth ready to catch onto their throats.
With a swiftness he didn't expect, Wallace neatly ducked out of the way of Dennis' punch before lunging back up. He didn't punch Dennis in the stomach. He did sink his claws into him, though.
Dennis groaned, gritting his teeth, hardly able to catch a breath when Wallace dug them deeper and clenched his fingers. As though he was getting ready to tear out a chunk of him.
"You're not our alpha anymore," Wallace growled.
Something flew at Carl just as the other shifter stepped forward, as though to join in on the fun. He didn't get the chance when something slammed into his face, yanking him off his feet and forcing him onto the pavement of the road.
"What the fuck?" Wallace took his eyes off Dennis for just a second, but it was long enough that Dennis was able to punch Wallace in the throat.
Even with the protective layer of fur, the force of the strike was more than enough to throw Wallace off him.
His claws slipped from Dennis' belly. Dennis released the breath he'd held when his gut had been grabbed. He put a hand over his stomach and did a quick check while Wallace choked and grabbed at his throat.
Not too much blood. Dennis looked to see what had Carl in a snit when...
Holy shit.
He ran for the other shifter, realizing who he was tousling with.
He should have known.
Anna. She was in her pure wolf form. She was a beautiful wolf, sleek and white.
And currently h
olding onto Carl's face with her teeth as though she was taking down prey.
Or as though he would sink his teeth into her if she released his muzzle.
Which didn't stop Carl's hands from slashing into her side. Red began to seep through her perfect white fur.
Dennis roared and lunged.
He couldn't just grab for the man without hurting Anna, but he could grab that prick's fingers and bend them backwards hard until he heard the snapping sound of his fingers.
Fingers and claws that were covered in blood before Dennis broke his fingers.
Carl threw his head back and howled a terrible noise even by Dennis' standards, and then the creature thrashed in his arms.
Anna dropped from his face to the ground.
She looked so lifeless like that it drove something home for Dennis. Something wild and savage that wanted to kill this prick for daring to put his claws inside Anna's flesh.
He would have ripped the creature's fingers off if he could have, but Carl pulled away from him, holding his hands close to his furry chest, as though that would undo the damage Dennis had done to him.
It wouldn't. While he was distracted with his own pain, Dennis lunged at him, slamming his clawed hand down and across his face. Carl yowled again like a dying cat, but Dennis didn't let up.
He approached the creature even as Carl continued to back away, as though only now seeing the error of not stepping back when he had the chance.
And the fear in his eyes fed into the rage of Dennis' inner wolf. He wanted to kill him, to spill his blood and drink it while the idiot was still alive so he could experience that horror before he died.
"Stay away from me!"
Dennis didn't. He reached for Carl's face, intent on putting his claws through his eyes when the air changed and shifted behind him.
He turned just as Anna bit down on Wallace's tail. The creature flailed and swatted at her, but she stayed a decent distance from him as she held on tight with her teeth.
That was his girl. Dennis was beyond proud of her.
Carl apparently decided he'd had enough as he turned and made a run for it before Dennis could destroy him.
Fine with him. It let him put more of his attention onto Wallace.
He grabbed the back of the shifter's neck, digging his claws in deep through the fur and skin.
Wallace froze, feeling the claws, sensing the threat. He stopped fighting with Anna, and maybe she realized there was no longer reason to hold him back.
Her teeth left Wallace’s tail, her lips bloody from hanging on so tight.
She looked up at Dennis, lowered her gaze, and then backed away as he growled.
Not at her, but any omega, even a mate, would sense the danger of the wolf and not want to get too close.
Dennis yanked Wallace back hard, growling into the shifter’s pointed ear. “You tell Laurence that if he wants to fight me, he does it on my terms. He is my second in command. He does not hunt me or my mate. I will come hunting for him he wants, and if he sends anyone else from the pack to come for Anna, then what I did to Carl will look like a God damned ice cream picnic, you got me?”
He clenched his claws a little tighter into the flesh at the back of Wallace’s neck just to make sure the prick knew he wasn’t fucking around, and only then did Dennis release him.
He made sure to turn away from Anna, so he was now between his mate and one of the creatures that wished to do her harm, but he did release the man.
Maybe Dennis had a little more honor in him than he thought. Maybe Wallace was just a lucky fuck that Dennis didn’t want to slit him from navel to snout in front of his woman.
“Get the hell out of here.”
Wallace stumbled a little as he was turned away, but he did move, getting on all fours and running back into the darkness, following the trail of blood that belonged to Carl.
If Dennis ever saw them again, he might just kill them.
When he got Derek back, he was going to have to make sure his boy knew not to go back to that pack. After what Dennis had done, there was no way in hell his son would be welcome anywhere near them.
They might even try hunting him.
Dennis clenched his teeth. So much to think about, to worry about.
For now, he had to make Anna his sole concern. She was at least in front of him.
“Anna?”
He turned to look down at her just as she made the shift back into her human shape.
She looked at him, her chest heaving, cheeks bright pink from the exertion. There was still blood on her sides, but she hardly looked as though she was going to drop dead at any moment.
Which didn't matter to the wolf inside Dennis' head. He could only see the blood. He could smell it, her blood, outside her body, which was where it should not be.
He grabbed her shoulders. "Say something to me."
She blinked, swaying on her feet. "That... that was crazy."
Dennis couldn't breathe for a long second, and then he pulled her to him. He held on tight, his fingers pushing through her hair. He felt her body heat, the sound of her beating heart pulsing against her ribs. Against him.
That sound was strong, healthy. That sound proved she was alive, that he didn't have to worry about her fading away before his very eyes.
"I thought he was going to kill you. Jesus Christ, you weren't moving."
That was the worst part, even thinking about the way she'd been lying on the ground, motionless, made everything in his chest clench painfully tight.
Anna held him back. "I just thought that if I didn't move, he'd think I wasn't a threat. I figured he would go back for you."
That was true, that had been the case, but that didn't change the fact that Dennis couldn't stop himself from trembling. He'd thought she was dying. That had been one of the worst feelings he'd ever had in his life.
"Don't ever do that again." Dennis pulled back, reminded that the bleeding was still very much real. "Christ, we need to get you to a doctor."
"I can handle it. Katie can take care of me when we get home."
Dennis didn't want to take her home. He wanted to get her to a professional right now, not someone who was just a little knowledgeable in First Aid.
The long-sounding howl in the distance pulled that idea right out of his head. He and Anna both glanced up. Anna groaned, pressing her forehead against his chest. "I really want to go home, Dennis."
Dennis pet her hair, clenching his teeth. "I'll take you home. Your brother is going to meet us on the road. If Laurence gets in the way again, I'll run that fucker over."
"Won't he stop the truck?"
"If he does, you get out and run. I'll hold him back. Your brother will find you and pick you up."
He inhaled a deep breath. "If I don't make it back with you, you make sure Garret keeps his promise."
He felt Anna tense in his arms, but he didn't let himself dwell on how much this was going to hurt her as he led her back to the truck.
"I'm serious, baby. I don't trust your brother, but I trust you. You promise me that he will let Derek go when you get back, and make sure Derek knows to stay away from our old place. He needs to know that he's not welcome with Laurence anymore. You got it?"
He helped her back into the driver's side of the truck. Anna groaned a little, clutching at her side as she sat back in her seat. Dennis winced for her, wishing he could take her pain.
Still, she smiled at him. It didn't look entirely forced either. "I promise. Maybe, if he wants, he can stick around and wait for you. Might be safer with us with your old pack running around out there."
Dennis thought that was incredibly generous and just as unlikely to happen.
"Yeah, maybe," he said, heading to the other side of the truck.
He knew his son. Unless there was a great reason for him to stick around, he wouldn't, and Dennis doubted the word of Anna would be enough to make Derek think it was a good idea to stick around with the people who had imprisoned and tortured him.
Dennis started the truck. He would deal with Derek later. One thing at a time. Anna was the one in front of him, the one bleeding. He needed to see her. If she made it home safely, then Derek had a chance.
14
Derek could still hear the roars of the alpha behind him as he flew into the woods. He passed by a couple of betas and omegas on his way out, eating and chatting beneath the garden lights of their yards.
Maybe they didn't chase after him because they had their own shit to worry about. Maybe it shocked them to see some random guy who wasn't part of their pack running like a bat out of hell through their territory.
The blood probably didn't let it make sense to them either.
Derek still couldn't believe he got such a good hit on the alpha. That man was going to murder him if he caught him. Which was why Derek pumped his arms and legs until he couldn't feel them anymore. He didn't bother with shifting because he didn't want to waste the two seconds it would take him to do it, not to mention the slow down it could cause him, and then trying to get back to full speed again.
Screw that noise. He was just going to go and hope that, at some point, Garret and his cronies would get sick of chasing him down and fast.
He just wanted to put as much distance between him and those freaks as he could.
Once he got home, everything would be all right. He'd be fine.
"Wait!"
Something snapped inside him. Derek fumbled over his feet, nearly face planting on the ground, but he picked himself up and kept right on going.
No. He wasn't going to stop. He wasn't that stupid, and he wasn't going to stick around here and die just because that guy thought Derek owed him any favors.
"Derek! Stop!"
Was he still chasing him? That was kind of impressive, considering his leg was still in that cast. He definitely wasn’t doing himself any favors.
Derek did something stupid. He looked back.
Yeah, there he was. Joey was actually chasing him down. The guy was in his wolf shape, but the shape between wolf and man. He wasn't as big as Garret was, obviously. Joey was no alpha, but the fact that he could change into that shape at all and with the cast still on…