I sighed and glanced at Kenna. “I can get us a meeting with a human girl, the daughter of the man who attacked us.”
“What are you talking about?” Rush questioned, his face becoming firm, voice becoming louder.
“I know the man’s daughter; her name is Hazel.”
“Sloane, how the hell do you know her?” There was a roughness in his voice, and I fought the urge to look away from Kenna and to him.
“I met her in town,” I said softly, interrupting him when he began growling. “I had to go into a store, she was kind. Nothing happened, Rush.”
“Where does she live?” he ground out between clenched teeth.
“I’m not telling you until you promise me nothing will happen to her or her family,” I told him firmly.
“Have you forgotten?” he spat, grabbing the top of my shirt and pulling it up a few inches to expose the thick scar below my ribcage. “Sloane, tell me.”
“No.” I pulled my shirt out of his hand and placed it back where it was around my stomach.
“Tell me,” he demanded, his Alpha tone sinking into his voice. I shuddered at the urge to obey him.
“No, Rush, you can’t. It isn’t safe, they’ll hurt you, they have guns,” I whimpered under his intense gaze.
“You’ve been there?”
I shivered, unable to speak.
“Rush, please,” I begged, putting a hand to my chest to still my pounding heart. He stood up, gripping his hair painfully between his hands. He continued to pace in front of Kenna and Beckett, who were frozen with the same naïve shock I was in. Rush’s head only looked up after the front door opened.
I didn’t dare look at who it was when he growled, mouth open.
“What are you doing here? You’re not supposed to be here,” he spat.
“Rush,” Cordelia pleaded softly. “Please listen to me. I need to tell you something.”
“Then speak!” he barked.
“The border guards have been trying to get in contact with you for twenty minutes. There’s a group of humans at our borders, about a hundred of them. They’re holding the guard’s hostage; they’ve got four of them with guns pointed at their heads.”
Evil Has a Name
“What sector?” Kenna screeched hoarsely.
“Kenna?” Jonah murmured as he entered the room again.
“Tell me what sector?” she screamed again.
“East 1,” Cordelia bowed her head. Kenna jumped over the couch in one long movement and was running in wolf form out the front door. Rush ran after her, brushing roughly past his mother, who stayed looking at the ground.
“Get out,” I told her as I passed her, following Rush, Beckett, and Jonah as they chased after Kenna.
Rush had given her an Alpha order to stop and shift back. Beckett stripped his blue shirt off his body and handed it to Kenna as her small frame collapsed on the ground. She whimpered and stared off into the woods where the East sector was.
“Kenna, what are you doing?” I asked frantically, helping her button the shirt around her body.
“My father and brother have been volunteering their free time as Border Guards since the hunter attacks. My father is in the East sector today.” Her brown skin became flooded with tones of red and pink.
Rush began stalking into the woods, Beckett and Jonah following. I noticed another group of wolves running towards them from the woods in the west, a group of pack Warriors who were notified of the situation.
“Rush,” I called, running after his long strides. “What are you going to do?”
“What do you think, Sloane?”
I stopped running and fell back a few steps where Kenna was anxiously striding.
The packhouse was situated to the East on the pack grounds, so the border sat relatively close to the house. It was a short walk, and as we got closer, the humans came into focus. Cordelia was underestimating the number; there were more than a hundred humans, dressed from the top down in black, hands filled with guns, crossbows, and knives.
The knives wouldn’t be useful unless we were closer to them, and if we got close enough, the humans wouldn’t survive with a knife to defend themselves. The guns and crossbows, on the other hand, were very potent. Although our wounds started to heal faster than humans, there was no way for our bodies to recover from fatal injuries.
Kenna froze after seeing her father on his knees, head bent in a row with the three other Border Guards. There were four humans, men, holding long guns to the backs of their heads, and four other humans with weapons drawn on them for extra protection.
Hazel’s father stepped forward in the middle of the four men. He smiled confidently and allowed the gun strapped to his back to settle away from his hands.
“Ah, and he brought friends this time,” he said, noting the group that was surrounding Rush.
“What do you want?” Rush asked.
“Not even a hello,” Hazel’s father noted sadly. “Straight to business, I see. That’s fine, I can appreciate a man who doesn’t have time for small talk. Your wolves have been creating some trouble around our parts of town.”
“Would you care to explain?” Rush asked calmly, behind his back, his muscles clenched, and I stopped my arm from reaching out and stroking his skin.
“Our children are scared to go outside,” he said, eyebrows raised like he was surprised. “You’ve been coming into town, into our parts, and that can’t happen anymore.”
“Your children being afraid is not a fault on us,” Rush snarled. “It’s you who has told them we are monsters, human.”
“Call me Harrison, please,” he grunted, peering past Rush. “And this little one.” His finger pointed at me. “You were with my daughter last week, weren’t you?”
I didn’t say anything, just stared blankly at him.
“You need to stay away from us,” Harrison warned, stepping back between the men.
“The same goes for you.” Rush stepped forward.
