Page 3 of Rot In Knotty Pieces

Mark mutters, and then I hear horrible feedback.

“Dearest Pack Assholes. Rise and shine, I have a gift for you.”

Through the phone, I can hear the sounds of them grumbling, moving, shifting. I try to steel myself, but tears burn in my eyes. The bond tightens painfully. I miss them. So much more than I thought was possible.

“Alphas?”

There’s a deadly silence.

“Daega?” Blaze whispers. “Baby, where are you? I’m coming.”

“No.”

“What? What do you mean, no?” Rolly snarls.

“You can’t. Not yet,” I say. I’m fighting hard not to cry. “Just…it’s not safe.”

“If you’re in trouble, we can handle it-”

“No, it’s not safe for her.”

There’s a stillness in the silence that means they understand the threat and are listening.

“We’ll take care of it-”

“King,” I say, and there’s so much emotion in my voice I have to stop. “Wait. Just wait for us.”

“We can’t do that, Daega,” Sage says in a dark voice.

“Stop threatening my family,” I say in a firm command. “Stop trying to find us. Just wait. We’re coming back. But you can’t hurt Mark or my family, including the dogs. If you do, I won’t be able to forgive you.”

“When?”

I open my mouth, but I have no answer. What if we can never go back? What if it’s just the three of us forever?

The sound cuts off.

“Mark!” I say frantically.

“Looks like they cut the feed. Angry little alphas. I think they are hunting. Bye bye alphas!”

I groan. “I think I made it worse.”

“No, you probably saved their lives. They know that you three are alive and hiding. Now, they’ll probably stop reacting and start actively hunting. Which means that they’ll leave the rest of us alone.”

I stand there silently, listening to the drumming of the rain.

“Pix, are you okay?”

I let out an explosive, sobbing laugh. “Not even close. I’ve never seen anything like it. There’s nothing I can do. I don’t know how to fix it. I can’t kill anything to fix it. All I can do is be there and just smile when I want to scream.”

“Merle?”

“She’s still gone. They are all gone.”

I break down, crouching on the side of the road in the rain and sobbing to my best friend. Crying for all of us.

“Pix,” Mark whispers. “What can I do?”