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“You will respect her,” Luke ground out, like the words were glass. “If she goes with you, you will respect her and protect her. Do you understand?”
Glen gurgled a “Yes,” and Luke let him go. I felt ridiculously amused by the display. Luke, standing up for me? Maybe I was dreaming. Maybe I’d been knocked out in the battle, and I was still in a coma, imagining the whole day.
“Wow, the pack protects its own. Calm down, baby Alpha. You and I both know I can take care of myself.”
Luke glanced at me, then glared at the floor. “The Mountain wolves have arrived. I need to meet with them, then we’re sending the Northerners back home immediately.”
“Immediately? Why?”
“I spoke to some unranked servants with good ears. There was a plot to assassinate Bradley tonight, even before the Alpha’s escape.”
Glen growled. “The coup wasn’t because of the Alpha’s defeat?”
“No,” Luke said bitterly. “It was already in place. They’d stockpiled human guns, but with silver bullets. A cleaner was taking out the trash in the armory area a few hours ago. The black wolf, Joaquin”—he shot a look at Glen, who nodded like they both knew who that was—“led him inside. There were enough guns and silver ammunition to kill every visiting wolf three times over.”
“What? Did you know of this, Luke?”
Luke’s jaw worked, like he was having trouble answering. “No. My fathe—Callaway had been funneling money to Van, who must have made the purchases. I saw money vanishing, but I assumed it was for more of the same crap as usual.”
“Who has the guns now?” I asked.
Luke snorted. “Well, that’s the interesting thing. Those particular weapons had all been ruined. Barrels bent, the silver ammunition melted down into a big metal puddle with some sort of fire.”
I whispered, “We would have seen a fire that could melt metal, Luke.”
“A magical fire,” Glen breathed. “You suspect Joaquin?”
My heart raced. I knew how to run from the Hunt, knew how to hide from wolves. But not from magic.
“We can’t find him to ask. And we’re not sure if we found all the weapons. We can’t keep all the Southern ranked shifters locked up forever; they’re half the pack.”
They were going to let the ranked shifters loose. “I need to go,” I gasped. “The Hunt.”
Luke grabbed my shoulders, holding me still. “Shh, it’s okay. I won’t let them hunt you. You have your knife, yes?” I nodded. “I’ll get you better weapons. Will that help?”
“You need to sneak weapons to all the unranked females,” I demanded. I was getting the hell out of here, but the girls who stayed would need them if they started the Hunt up again after I was gone.
Luke nodded. “I’m Acting Alpha, for now. I can change rules, even if I can’t enforce them with an Alpha command. I’ve already announced that unranked shifters can carry weapons, two apiece. The shifters from Mountain will help keep things under control.”
“But if Callaway’s commands still hold…”
“Yes. They aren’t strong enough to override that command.”
“Mops,” I said softly. “Mops, and steak knives, and gardening tools. Open the sheds and silverware drawers. And the fucking pantries. They’re all so starved, none of them could even…” My voice trailed off. It was not my problem. This wasn’t my pack anymore.
So why did it feel like I was abandoning them? Like I should stay?
Luke cleared his throat. “Would you give me a minute of your time, Flor? Alone.” Glen had already opened the door to his mom’s room and was getting her things packed. He nodded, his brow furrowing as he turned away.
“Sure.” I would listen to whatever Luke needed to say; I owed him that much for throwing me the mop. I followed him to the sitting room where we’d had dessert the night before.
Only the night before? It felt like years.
“Are you okay, Luke?” I asked, keeping my voice low. He frowned, confused. I gestured to his shirt.
“Ah. This.” He lifted the edge of the fabric, revealing rows of abs marred only by a wicked, long cut, just now scabbing over.
I had to fight not to apologize. “It’s gonna scar.”
