Down girl.
“We all have to be good at something.” He shrugs, still grinning. His hair is standing up all over the place, and I would love to blame it on how he slept, but I know for a fact I did that. Oops. “There’s a phone charger in my truck you can use on our way back to the house. You can call her from there.”
We make quick work of loading everything into the bed of his truck, but then I can’t help but take a few moments to stand in the front doorway and stare at the empty house. I’m still completely in awe of Ryker and the fact he purchased my childhood home for us. My brain is already visualizing what our life is going to look like in this beautiful setting.
“I have a contractor coming over this week, so we can start our renovation plans.” Ryker swings a pair of keys around his finger as he walks toward me from the kitchen. “You can decorate however you want. My only request is no obnoxious colors on the walls.”
“Well, there goes my plan of having a sunshine yellow kitchen.” I pout. I can’t keep the smile off my face when I see how his face wrinkles at the idea, and I laugh. “I’m kidding. I’ve always been more into neutrals.”
“Another reason why you’re perfect for me.”
I’m walking on air as Ryker and I make our way hand in hand up to the front door of the Weylyn house. I’m laughing at something he said about Ransom when the door swings open and a panicked Remington comes flying out. I come to a screeching halt when I see her wide-eyed expression.
“What wrong?” I demand, “Is it Addison?”
“Why haven’t you been answering your phones?” she whispers, her tone harsh and urgent. “We’ve been trying to reach you through the pack link, too, but you were out of range. You guys need to leave. Now.”
“What? Why? What’s going on?” I look behind her into the house and don’t see anything.
“He’s here!” I’ve never seen Remington look scared before, but right now, her eyes are wide with fear, and I can hear her erratic heartbeat.
I raise my eyebrows in confusion. “Who—”
“Nicolai Volkov,” Remi says, cutting me off. “We’ve been buying you guys time, but you need to leave before he sees you.
A deep growl comes from Ryker’s chest, and I feel the anger radiating off of him. “I’m going to kill him,” he snarls, but Remi pushes him back when he makes a step toward the house.
“No, you can’t.” She shakes her head.
“Like hell, I can’t!” Ryker snaps. “Remington move! I’m going to rip his—”
“I’ve heard you were a charming individual,” a voice with an odd accent interrupts us from the doorway.
Our heads all snap up to look at the man who stands there in a sleek three-piece suit. Compared to the Weylyn men, he’s short and skinny. His graying blond hair is cropped close to his head, and his face is clean-shaven. His ice-blue eyes have a wicked gleam to them that set off alarm bells in my head.
“Grey. You look so much like your mother.” Nicolai’s evil gaze leers at me. “It’s a shame she didn’t get to see how beautiful you turned out to be.”
“You sick fucker,” Ryker spits at him as he moves to stand defensively in front of me.
“That temper…” Nicolai scolds. “What do you say we move this conversation off the front porch?” He turns to head back inside but pauses before entering the house. “As I’ve told the rest of your family, I have a couple dozen of my associates stationed around town. If you try to leave before I say you can, or if any harm comes to me, they have explicit orders to kill the humans that reside in this charming little town. “
Remi bounces on her heels as she watches him disappear into the house. “This is bad.”
We follow Remi inside, and Ryker stays in front of me as my protector, but also blocking my view from the threat that now sits at the head of the dining room table.
Elias sits calmly at the table as well, his hands folded politely in front of him. Margot is also there, but she looks a lot less calm. Her eyes are blazing with anger, something I’ve never seen on her. She’s usually so calm and happy, but now she looks like she wants to reach across the table and tear into Nicolai.
I note Nicolai’s teeth are oddly pointy-looking when he grins, and it makes my skin crawl when I feel his eyes on me. I refuse to allow him the privilege of seeing me scared. I stand straight and tall, and bravely meet his gaze.
“So strong…” he muses aloud as he tilts his head to the side. “Your mother was a strong wolf herself. That’s why I wanted her to be mine.”
“And we know how well that turned out for you,” Remi retorts from her spot next to Ryker.
“What’s the plan?” Remi asks through the pack link.
“I say we kill him,” Ryker responds. I look down at his hands and see his claws are out, his fingers twitching in anticipation of a fight.
“It’s not that easy,” Elias calmly answers. “He didn’t come here alone. He had two enforcers with him, but he ordered them to leave when we heard your car coming up the driveway. And there are human lives on the line.”
“My mate’s life is on the line,” Ryker argues. “She comes first.”
“I agree with Ryker,” Margot adds in. “We take him out, and then we send the pack out to protect the humans.”
“Where are Ransom and Ranger?” I question.
“They went with Sawyer to check out a possible rogue attack,” Remi explains. “They’re too far away for us to communicate with them through the pack link, and this asshole had his enforcers take our phones from us when he caught
