8. Jace

Morning broke with a beautiful sunrise, but my heart was heavy. As nice as the day looked it would be, I couldn't be at ease. Too many stressful things were happening today. Kirsten, Harley, and Tinsley were still asleep, having been up until nearly three in the morning. When I'd finally come home just after midnight, they were still chatting and laughing. Kirsten's eyes had lit up when she saw me, and her warm smile had lifted my spirits. Maybe I hadn't screwed things up too much after all.

Now I sat, sipping coffee, waiting for the others to arrive. It was a big day. Reese was bringing the county coroner up, and Abigail, Langston, and Waylan would be joining us to discuss the shifter who'd attacked the house. After that, the surrounding alphas in the area would arrive. Today was the day I informed them that I was challenging Eren. I couldn't remember the last time I'd had my plate so full as alpha.

Abigail and Reese arrived first, pulling up my driveway. The coroner, Raymond Fowler, was in the backseat of Abigail's car. A few moments later, Waylan and Langston came trotting out of the forest, shifting into their human forms as they approached the house.

"Morning," I called as Abigail and Reese got out of the car.

"Hey," they said in unison.

From the rear, Raymond extricated himself and walked toward me. The man was human, but handled all deaths in both shifter and human communities in the county. He understood pack dynamics and the need for meetings like this.

"Hello, Jace," he said, shaking my hand.

"Raymond. Sorry this had to be so early, but I wanted to discuss it as soon as possible, and I've got a busy day."

He shrugged it off. "No problem. Just means I can get my day going a bit quicker. Who knows, I might punch out early, get in nine holes of golf this afternoon."

I smiled grimly at him. "Sounds better than how my day's gonna go."

We all took seats on the porch.

"How's it going with identifying the wolf?" I asked.

Raymond adjusted himself in the rocking chair and shook his head. "Langston helped me get the body back to the forensic center, and I did what I could, but there's been no luck. With him remaining in his wolf form after death, I can't identify anything." He gave me a pointed look. "You know as well as I do there's nothing about the wolf body we can use to make a connection."

"What about the nose?" Waylan asked. "Wolf and dog nose prints are as distinct as fingerprints in humans."

"Yes," Raymond said. "This is true, but there's no database with shifter nose prints like there is for fingerprints. Both humans and shifters have their prints logged, but nothing like that exists for nose prints. There was some legislation put forth a few years ago, but several shifter senators shot it down on the grounds that it infringed on their autonomy as creatures who stand outside the normal laws of physics. Plus, it is very rare for a shifter not to shift back to their human form after death. It's always been a non-issue.

"We could do a blood test," he suggested. "That could possibly give us a hit. Problem is the state has to run those, and they're always backed up on stuff like this. Could take weeks to get an ID, and that's if their DNA is logged in a system somewhere, which is not a guarantee."

"Damn," I hissed. "That's too long. In a month, this will all be over. Hopefully. Any other possibilities?"

"The markings and colorings don't ring a bell, either," Langston offered. "When I search that, too much comes up. Though, that's not surprising. Coloring and markings aren't as distinct as fingerprints. There could be dozens of shifters within a hundred miles who look similar."

"Maybe this is what Eren wanted?" Abigail suggested. "Maybe he sent the wolves here on, like, a suicide mission. If they succeed? Great. If not? Then we can't figure out who they are and he's still off the hook. No one can point to him being the culprit."

"But the wolf smelled of his pack," I said. "That alone would be enough for us to connect him to the attack."

"Not necessarily," Waylan said. "Just because he smelled like Eren's pack doesn't mean he belonged to Eren's pack."

"What do you mean? Was this guy a captive or something?"

"I'm not as well-versed in shifting as you all," Raymond said. "Could you capture someone and then force them to shift? Somehow make them stay like that until they go mad? And then, if they'd gone feral, how would you control them? Wouldn't they bolt into the wilderness as soon as you set them loose?"

I shared a look with the rest of my council, but none of us offered any information. How would Eren do that?

"Raymond, is there anything else about the body we should know?" I asked.

He shook his head and took his glasses off to wipe them. "Not really. I've informed the local police, as is procedure." He gave me a wry grin. "Though, as always, they consider this a shifter problem and want nothing to do with it."

"All right, then." I stood and shook his hand again. "Thanks for coming up. I hate that I dragged you out here for nothing."

"It's not a problem. Glad to help all I can."

"I'll give you a ride back," Abigail said, then turned to me. "How long before the other alphas arrive?"

I glanced at my phone for the time. "Probably a little less than an hour."

She nodded. "I'll be back in plenty of time. See you guys in a bit."

After they drove away, Reese glanced at me. "Do you think the others are going to be okay with the challenge?"

"They better be," Waylan said, then spat on the ground. "Especially when we tell them everything."

Tank circled the yard in his wolf form, skirting the edges of the forest, sniffing the ground as he went.

"How long has he been here?" Langston asked, nodding toward the other shifter.

"I think he's been on duty since yesterday. I tried to get him to go home and switch out, but he refused. Said he wants to make up for what happened during the attack."

Waylan snorted. "Yeah, sure. I've seen him sneaking glances at the sexy witch. That's why he's hanging around. He wants another look at her. Dude's got it bad."

I cocked an eyebrow at him. "Are you really the one to be making fun of someone for having the hots for one of Kirsten's friends?"

Abashed, Waylan looked away. "That's different," he muttered.

An hour later, there was a crowd in my living room—my council, Kirsten and her friends, Shayna and her mate Dustin, Ivy Shaw, and two other neighboring alphas.

"Can I ask why you've called us all here, Jace?" Ivy asked. "I really hope you aren't going to bitch and moan about the mating party being held in Eren's pack lands. If you're mad about it, you should have been on the call."

"No," I said, waving my hand in dismissal. "That's not what this is about. Though, it is about Eren."

"Let's hear it," Hollis Gurney, an alpha I rarely dealt with, said.

"It's a long story, so settle in," I said.

"Oh good, do we get snacks for story time?" Noah Carter, the alpha beside Ivy, said. His dark skin was crisscrossed with dozens of tattoos. His pack was small, but he and I had always gotten on well.

Ignoring him, I began my tale. Starting with Kirsten arriving in town, her meeting with Eren, then his stalker behavior. I also told them Kirsten was my fated mate, something they'd already heard through the rumor mill. When I informed them that I'd given Eren a clear warning to stay away from her, but he'd instead followed her to St. Louis, the room grew quiet and the other alphas looked concerned. When I finally got to the part about Kirsten's kidnapping, the concern turned to outright anger.

"Are you serious?" Ivy gasped.

"Hate to say it surprises me," Noah said, then shook his head. "But Eren has always been a little off-kilter. What did he want with you?" he asked, glancing at Kirsten.

She cleared her throat and tried her best to keep her eyes up. "Um, I'm pretty sure he wanted to force me to be his mate. To, ugh, to have his child so that his heir would be half witch."

I clenched my fists, rage and horror coursing through me. My inner wolf shuddered in revulsion, causing a deep, threatening growl to escape my throat. All I could do was imagine what I'd do to Eren once I got hold of that son of a bitch. He'd dare try to take my mate by force? The volatility within me was barely contained at the thought of it. I couldn't even form words, so I listened as the others spoke while I tried to express my sorrow to Kirsten with nothing more than my eyes.

Hollis grunted. "Son of a bitch. He was gonna force himself on you?"

Kirsten nodded. "He tried, but I made him regret it."

"I don't think I need to hear anymore," Dustin said. "You want to officially challenge Eren? That's why we're all here, isn't it?"

"I do," I said with a nod, finally finding my voice and shoving the rage boiling within me down deep. "I wanted to inform all of you."

"There's nothing that prevents it. I agree," Ivy said. "And off the record, I hope you fuck his ass up. I've never liked that little shit."

"He's lost his mind," Noah added, "if he thinks he can get away with something like this and not answer for it."

Everyone around the room nodded with approval, and after a quick vote, I was given the blessing to pursue my challenge of Eren.

"Speaking about losing his mind," I said. "There's something else we need to talk about. Something that might actually be worse."

"Oh, shit," Hollis muttered. "Worse than kidnapping and sexual assault? I need a drink."

"Two days ago, two wolves made an attack on my house. I'm certain Eren sent them to take Kirsten back."

A murmur of unease rattled through the alphas.

"He attacked your house? On your property?" Ivy asked, incredulous.

"It's worse than that," I said. "One of my betas killed one of them. The other ran off. The dead wolf didn't shift back to his human form, though. Reese here—" I gestured to the other man—"inspected the body and determined that he was, in fact, feral. The body stank of Eren's pack. He's somehow managed to get feral wolves to attack us, perhaps training them in some way? I don't know."

"God," Noah hissed. "He really has gone off the deep end. But how the hell could he get feral wolves? Did he hunt them down or something?"

"We think he may have made them feral," I said. "At first, I thought it was magic, but that seems unlikely. The other option is that he's somehow forcing shifters to go feral."

Shayna let out a disgusted, humorless laugh. "That fucking guy. I'd cut his balls off myself if he was here with us."

"Wait in line," Kirsten said. "I've got dibs."

"This needs to be settled soon," Dustin said. "I'll go ahead and have my pack host the mating party this year. We did it last year, and the location is still good for it. Any objections?"

Everyone nodded. No one seemed upset.

"I'll take a few of my betas up to Eren's place to inform him that we've all agreed with Jace's challenge," Dustin added.

"Can we get back to this dead shifter, though?" Hollis asked. "Is there no way to find out who they are?"

"We've tried," I replied. "The county coroner stopped by, and he's done everything he can. Best we can do is hope for a DNA test, but that will take weeks."

Shayna cleared her throat and leaned forward. "It sounds morbid, but have you thought of taking photos of the body? Dispersing them to see if anyone recognizes the—"

"Stop! I said stop, goddamn it!" Tank's booming scream outside had us all flinching and turning to the front door.

"What the hell?" I stood up.

Tank shouted again, closer to the door. "Not one more step! Not one more!"

The others rose and followed me as I rushed toward the door. Kirsten, Harley, and Tinsley followed at the back of the group.

"Waylan, Langston, watch out for Kirsten and her friends," I ordered, taking the doorknob in my hand, and the two men moved back to the women.

I turned the knob, jerked the door open, and hurried outside. I was at the base of the steps before the scene before me really sank in. My jaw dropped in shock and horror.

Tank was on his knees, struggling with a shifter. It was a boy, but what I saw made my stomach turn. He wasn't fully shifted. One arm and his lower body were that of a wolf, but the torso, other arm, and face were human. The boy was thrashing in Tank's arms, tears streaming down his face, and he looked like he was in agony.

"Help me," the boy sobbed. He couldn't be older than eleven. "Please help me." He dissolved into wracking sobs.

Tank turned and looked at me hopelessly. "He came out of the woods. I thought it was another attack, but then he tried to shift and this happened."

"Oh my god," Kirsten gasped. Before I could stop her, she pushed past all of us and fell to her knees next to the boy.

I reached to pull her away, but cool fingers on my arm stopped me. Turning, I found Tinsley shaking her head slowly. "Let her. See what she can do."

Gritting my teeth, I knelt beside her, letting Kirsten inspect the boy.

"What happened, sweetheart?" Kirsten asked, her voice gentle and calm.

The boy's eyes rolled wildly with panic. He was nearly mad with pain. "It hurts," he whimpered.

My blood boiled. A child? Eren had done this to a child? The boy was not from any of our packs—he had the scent of Scottsdale on him. It seemed that as soon as I thought my hatred of Eren couldn't get any worse, he outdid himself.

Kirsten cupped the boy's cheek. "Calm down. Take a breath."

I could sense and even smell the magic wafting off her, oozing across the child's face. The boy stopped struggling, his eyes blinking as the panic faded. A few moments later, he finally managed to fully shift into his human form and sagged into Tank's arms.

"Can you tell me your name?" Kirsten asked.

The boy's pale face was covered in a sheen of sweat, and he swallowed hard. "Morgan. My name's Morgan." His face crumpled, and his lower lip quivered. "Please help me. I'm never gonna see my brother again. Please."

Kirsten ran a hand over his face, brushing his hair away from his face. "Who is your brother? Where is he, and why won't you see him again?"

"It's Mister Eren. He took us. Locked us away, and… and…" More tears pooled in his eyes and slipped down his cheeks. "He hurts us," Morgan whispered, obviously terrified. "He hurts us bad. Locks us up in cages, forces us to shift. I watched it happen with Alex and some other boys first. He hurt them, and once they shifted, he trained them all. Like dogs."

He devolved into sobs. Tank, looking out of his depth, rocked the boy back and forth.

"That motherfucker!" Noah cursed, pacing back and forth. "I can't believe this shit."

"Children?" Dustin asked, gaping at the others. "Eren is torturing kids?"

"Everyone, shut up," Kirsten commanded. Turning back to Morgan, she asked, "Who is Alex? Is that your brother?"

Morgan nodded. "Yeah. He was one of the first ones they changed. Alex was the first one Mister Eren fully trained after going feral, him and another boy. I never heard his name, though. They left the other day to do something important for Mister Eren. Alex came back, but the other one didn't. He—" Morgan's eyes grew dark, and the terror I saw in them made me want to go tear Eren's throat out. "He was punished. Bad. I… I don't know how he survived. I think Mister Eren tried to kill him because they didn't do what he wanted them to. He's still there, though. Alex is still there."

I spun and looked at the group. Behind the disgust and rage in their eyes, something new appeared. Horror. It dawned slowly on them all. A child was dead. All because of Eren.

An overwhelming need to vomit came over me. We hadn't exactly been tender with the body, had assumed he was some asshole sent by Eren to hurt or take Kirsten. The wolf had looked young, sure, but I'd thought he was in his early years, maybe twenty or twenty-five years old. Never in a million years had I thought it was a child. I think I even kicked the body after dumping it in the woods.

Shame washed across me as the realization sank in that it had only been a boy. A child Eren had tortured and twisted. My eyes burned with tears.

"Alex survived, but a bunch of others didn't," Morgan said, his own tears gleaming on his face.

"Other kids didn't make it?" Kirsten asked as gently as she could.

"Yeah, there were others. Boys who didn't survive the training. That's what he calls it. Training."

Shayna knelt down on one knee, looking like she might pass out. "Oh my god."

"I ran," Morgan said. "I ran away this morning. One of his guys left my cage open, and I ran."

"A cage?" Kirsten asked. Her calm and cool demeanor had been fading with every word the boy spoke, but now the final vestiges tore away. "He kept you locked in cages? He tortured and killed children? Babies?"

A sudden wave of magic radiated from her, making me gasp. The others behind me all cursed and called out in surprise, feeling the same surge of power. Kirsten was pissed, more so than I'd ever seen. It was a rage so all-consuming that I thought she might literally burst into magical flame. The magic washing across me and the other shifters popped and cracked like static electricity.

"Calm, Kirsten," Tinsley warned. "Remain calm."

Kirsten's face twisted in anger, and tears shone in her eyes as she turned to look at her friend. "Are you hearing this? How can I stay calm?"

"You must," Tinsley said. "To master your powers, you must also master your emotions. Remember that. The boy can sense it. Look."

She was right. Morgan was writhing under her pulse of magic. Tank winced but kept rocking the boy gently.

Kirsten took a deep, steadying breath. A moment later, the magic faded.

"I'm sorry about that, Morgan. It'll stop. Can you tell me more? What about your parents? Where are they?"

"Gone," he said with a hitch in his chest. "They died. My big brother was taking care of me, but he was only seventeen. He was working as a painter. He painted houses. He worked for a guy who knew Eren. A big guy with a weird name. Poli, I think?"

A trembling hiss of breath escaped my chest. It kept circling back to Eren. Harley and Tinsley stepped forward.

"Come on, Tank," Harley said. She looked shaken, but I had to give her props for not freaking out. She was human, after all. "Let's get Morgan inside. He needs a real bed." She smiled at the boy. "Morgan, do you like ice cream? We have loads. Would you like some?"

The boy didn't return her smile, but he nodded. "Yeah. That would be good. I haven't eaten in a couple days."

"Jesus Christ," Hollis said with a bitter chuckle. "He's fucking starving them, too? I want that piece of shit. Roasted alive, preferably, so I can hear his ass scream."

Tank carried Morgan inside, and Kirsten and her friends followed after them.

"What do we do now?" Abigail asked. She looked as sick as I felt. "Do we go to the police?"

"Won't do much," Langston said. "You know how it is. A shifter problem is a shifter problem."

"Well, yeah, but there are other avenues," she said. "There is a shifter division in the FBI. We could call them. This is beyond a simple challenge. He's kidnapping, torturing, and killing kids, Langston."

"True," Reese said, "but that division is small, and they are spread across the entire country. You know as much as I do that shifters are too proud to call on them, so there aren't many agents. Who knows how soon they could get here? If they'd even come. Most of this stuff is usually handled internally, and…" The young doctor looked at me. "I trust Jace to handle this better than anyone else."

My phone buzzed in my pocket, and I ignored it. "I appreciate that, Reese. I really do, but—"

"Jace?" Waylan said.

The tension in his voice had me whipping my head around. "What's wrong?"

He looked at his own phone, his face red with anger. "Eren says to answer your phone."

My pocket buzzed again. Son of a bitch.

"He just texted me," Waylan muttered.

I nearly tore my pocket as I yanked my phone out. "You piece of shit," I hissed when I answered. "You've got a lot of nerve calling me right now."

"Now, now, Jace, that's no way to answer the phone. Didn't your parents teach you proper etiquette? Oh, wait." He laughed. "That's right. They got splattered on the highway back in the day. What am I thinking?"

The anger within me was like lava, ready to explode. A Vesuvius of rage unlike anything I'd experienced thus far.

"I called because, based on what some of my trackers are telling me, you might have something that doesn't belong to you. I need it back."

I snorted a laugh. "If you're talking about the kid you nearly tortured into a feral, then you're out of luck. You can have him back over my dead fucking body."

A long pause came next. I could hear Eren breathing in short, angry hisses. The others stood around me, each looking as anxious as the other.

Finally, with barely concealed irritation, he spoke again. "Jace, you and I both know kids have active imaginations. You can't believe a word that they say. Young Morgan is simply upset that his mother made him do his chores. He threw a tantrum, and she called me to come speak with him. I'm the alpha, so she thought my words would sink in." Eren gave a weary and obviously fake sigh of sadness. "But the boy did not want to listen. He took off into the woods. Running away, I'm sure. Whatever he's told you, well, you can take it all with a grain of salt."

"Then why the fuck couldn't he shift back to his human form, huh? Why was it like he'd been abused nearly to the point of madness? I know what you're doing, motherfucker," I hissed, gripping the phone tight enough to make my knuckles crack. "I know what you're doing, and I'm going to make you pay for it. Understand?"

Eren sighed again, this time like he was bored. "Fine. Be that way. Though, I have to say, good luck proving anything." He laughed at me, actually laughed like it was funny. "And you can keep the little shithead. There's plenty more kids where he came from."

Before I could respond, Eren hung up.

I stared at my phone, seething with rage. Nausea swept through me, pushing me to the verge of being sick. I looked up at the others, and I could see the same looks of desperate hatred in their eyes.

"We've got to deal with this prick," I grumbled. "And soon. Before he hurts more people than he already has."