Chapter Twelve

~ Donovan ~

I inhaled the scent of woodsmoke and autumn leaves through the open window of the SUV. My skin tingled with the urge to shift, to run, to shred skin and muscle and bone. To tear until blood soaked the ground and my enemy was no more. Anthony touched my shoulder as if he felt what went through my head. He probably did. We’d always been attuned to each other. I’d felt it the first moment I’d met him. Hell, I’d joined the James Pack with him. I would have walked away and remained a nomad with him, as well. He was the brother I’d never had. Since day one, we’d been in sync.

“You good?” he murmured and kept his gaze locked on mine even after I nodded. Yeah, Anthony could read me better than anyone.

We were waiting for word from Nico. He’d reached out long enough to warn us to stay put a little longer while he took care of something. The call had dropped before he could say more. So, we waited. Priority one was assessing who was at the farmhouse and making sure they didn’t leave. If Claire Richards was with them, we needed to protect her and try to get her out as unharmed as possible.

“This waiting is driving me insane,” I murmured back. I needed to do something other than sit and wait.

“If we go in too soon—”

“We’ll risk Emma’s mom. I know that.” I couldn’t curb the growl that spilled from my throat. “I want every single motherfucker who laid a hand on our mate. Every single one of them.”

I still saw the bruises and cuts that had been painted over her body. The broken ribs her wolf had been too weak to heal during the time it had taken for Wallace to get her to us. They’d hurt her. Her own father. The man who should have protected her. The one who should have loved her. Hell, I had loved her in one moment. How could he choose not to? How could anyone be near her and not love and protect her?

“No sign of Claire in the house,” West said as he walked over to the open window on Anthony’s side. “Your alpha is speaking with Nico again now. I said I’d come let you know before I join Rowan and the others.”

“Shit!” I muttered. “Is Clayton there?”

“Yes, along with about a dozen other wolves. The missing brother isn’t among them, either,” West told us.

“Damn it,” Anthony snarled, shoving open his door as West stepped back. “Let’s go.”

“I’ll see you guys out there,” West said then disappeared into the surrounding trees.

“What’s the plan?” I asked as soon as we walked up to join Bas, Cyan, and the others. Bas held up a finger, still on the phone, but Cyan answered.

“We’re going in. Nico found Claire. He’s got a couple of wolves bringing her to Bas’ place.”

“Now?” I demanded, and Cyan nodded.

“I’m calling Emma,” Anthony said and stepped away.

“Claire’s okay?” I asked Cyan while keeping an eye on Anthony.

“Nico only said he’d found her and was having her extracted. He didn’t request medical to meet her at the house, and he would have since he’s had thorough medical training.”

“Okay, good. That means we can kill these bastards.” And I was more than ready. Especially for Clayton Richards.

“I’m asking you to let me deal with Clayton,” Cyan said. “I know you want to avenge Emma, but…” He paused, shaking his head. “He killed my father. Robbed me of the childhood I should have had.”

“Emma’s ecstatic,” Anthony said as he rejoined us. “She says to stay safe and hurry back.” His gaze bounced between Cyan and me.

“Richards is Cyan’s,” I said. “But the rest of the fuckers are fair game.”

“As long as I’m spilling blood,” Anthony said. “Let’s show these fuckers who they messed with.”

Now that the time was here, I was ready to shift and go in. I was already slipping off my shirt while we waited for Bas. My skin rippled with the urge to trade skin for fur. Hell, I wanted to throw back my head and howl at the sky. To let the world know I was on the hunt and would settle for nothing less than blood.

We all turned as Bas hung up his phone and tossed it in the vehicle. Everyone gathered around.

“Nico located and extracted Claire Richards. She’s on her way to our house now. Claire wasn’t the only one he found. Or more accurately, Sam Richards found Nico. Nico will explain it all to us later. For now, we’re going in. Anthony, you’re with me. Donovan. On Cyan. Simon’s with us. The five of us will draw them out from the front. The rest, along with the Rigton wolves, will get those who try to sneak out and box us in. Cyan takes the lead on this one. He’s the one Richards is after. Understood?”

Anthony and I both nodded.

“Shift and move out,” Bas ordered.

Paws hit earth as we gave our wolves rein. Howls split the air. No need to stay silent now. We wanted them to know we were coming. Rowan and his group were already in place, and we were coming right for the front fucking door. Richards and his men were on the porch, waiting for us.

“Well, well, well. Looks like the trash brought itself to be taken out.” Richards laughed and those with him joined in. Until we shifted to human form in front of them.

“What the fuck?” someone murmured.

“That’s Bastion James,” another whispered.

Maybe not all of them had known what pack Cyan was in? Richards might not have shared the information, but it wasn’t as if Cyan had hidden where he was. He was our pack beta.

“Who fucking cares?” Richards called. “They’re all dead men walking.”

Cyan laughed. “What’s a matter, Clayton? Didn’t tell your boys exactly who you were going after?”

“They know who we’re here for, welp. A bastard wolf who snuck away before his daddy’s body was even cold.”

“Snuck away?” Cyan shook his head. “Is that what you’d have them believe? How does a young boy sneak away? You wanted me out of the way, so you could fuck my mother without a visual reminder of the man who came before you.”

“I mated the goddamn bitch!” Clayton roared. “More than your father did.” He snickered. “More than he had time to do.”

I noticed several wolves edging back. Cyan had nailed that one. Not all the wolves with Richards knew Cyan was part of the James Pack.

“What the hell does that mean?” Cyan asked.

“Send the rest of them away,” Clayton ordered as if he were the one calling the shots. “This has nothing to do with them.”

“Threaten my beta and you threaten me,” Bastion corrected.

“Fuck.”

I wasn’t sure which of Clayton’s wolves had spoken, but several seemed to agree with that summation. Slowly, the males on the porch sorted themselves for us. The ones who were pack, but not aware of everything, were sliding back from those who’d obviously been promised something from Clayton Richards. Maybe, some type of hierarchy position in the pack? Promises he didn’t plan to keep. I had no doubt of that.

“Nice call sending Emma here,” Cyan said.

“I’ll be taking her back with me. That virgin pussy will connect me with another pack. Until I absorb them.” He snickered again, and I marked every one of the motherfuckers who laughed with him, even as I growled.

“Too late,” Anthony snarled.

Clayton only laughed. “Even I know the James Pack doesn’t assault women.”

“No, but we don’t get between mates,” Bastion said, and it was like dropping a bomb. Richards’ face went red with rage.

“You?” he snarled at Anthony.

“Me,” I called, drawing his attention my way, letting him see the rage lurking inside me.

“Both of us,” Anthony shared.

“If I’d known she was a slut, I would have allowed those loyal to me to have her.” The words were as hard and mean as Richards was.

“We can still enjoy her,” one of the men beside him said with a sneer.

I almost lost control then. Almost went for throats. Until I caught the shake of Cyan’s head. He wanted us to hold off for some reason. Anthony didn’t catch the signal.

“I’m going to rip your throat out.” He stared coldly at the male who’d spoken then included those with him. “I’m going to gut every single one of you and leave you where you drop.”

Clayton Richards laughed. “No, you won’t. Do you want to know how I know you won’t?”

No one said anything, but Richards didn’t keep us in suspense.

“Because if anything happens to me, his bitch of a mother will die.” He nodded toward Cyan.

“She stopped being my mother the day she chose you,” Cyan snarled.

“She did choose me. Me. Not your father. Not you.” Richards couldn’t hold Cyan’s gaze as he said that.

“Hard to choose a dead man,” Cyan said with a shrug as if discussing his father’s murder and mother’s abandonment was nothing. I knew better, though. I saw the tensing of his neck, the flex of his fingers, though his expression never changed.

“She matters to you. You think you can lie to me? I know she looked out for you. Had people helping her, like fucking Wallace. A worthless wolf. Made her watch while I beat him. While I dismembered him.”

He’d killed Wallace then. Not that I cared. He’d dumped Emma and fled with no explanation. He should have stayed with her. Should have reached out when he was on the way. Of course, it was possible Richards was lying.

“Who cares?” Cyan shrugged. “Not me. I left behind you and her and the rest of the pack a long time ago.”

“Bullshit,” Richards said. “I know you want this pack. You think you have a claim on it, just because your father was alpha before me.”

“Do they all know how you stabbed him in the back? How you smiled and embraced him before you sank in the knife?” Cyan asked.

More rustling among Richards pack.

“Did they all stand with you when you killed Jonathan?” Bastion asked. “A brother. A son. Hurting your wife and daughter. That’s real alpha of you.”

A phone rang. No one answered. It started up again immediately. Then again.

Cyan smiled. “I’d get that if I were you.”

Clayton jerked the phone to his ear. “What? Gone? What the fuck do you mean?”

“He means they’re gone,” Nico Volkov said as he strolled up, black military-grade clothes, blending into the darkness around us. “I appreciated your earlier hospitality. Appreciated the answers even more.”

“You son-of-a-bitch!” Clayton roared, throwing his phone.

Nico gave a negligent shrug. “Claire Richards send her regards. I believe she said you could rot in hell. Is that what you heard?”

He turned and glanced toward another male who stepped out to join him. With one look, I knew he was Emma’s missing brother. He looked rough. Wherever he’d been, he hadn’t made it out unscathed.

“You.” Clayton Richards gave his surviving son a cold, hard look. “You should be dead.”

“Sorry to disappoint,” Sam said. “Then again, that was all I really did, wasn’t it?”

“You’ll pay for this, Volkov. This wasn’t your fight. All you had to do was walk away.”

“You forgot one thing, Richards.” Nico’s gaze was filled with controlled rage. He looked mean and dangerous. “I was never your friend. I was Jonathan’s.”

“I’ll kill you all. All of you!” With that, Clayton Richards shifted.

“Richards is mine,” Cyan snarled. “I want him alive.”

He shifted midleap, racing to meet the other wolf as he flew off the porch. Anthony and I were close behind, shifting back into our wolves and going after the ones who’d wanted to share Emma. Roars filled the air as fur and muscle were shredded under the rip of brutal claws. I tasted blood and kept biting, using my jaws to tear chunks of skin and muscle free. I ripped the throat out of the next wolf and moved on to a third. I was heading for another when Anthony cut me off.

Listen! His voice was loud in my head.

“Circle up!” Bas yelled, and I shook my head before shifting back. I noted several of the wolves who’d been with Richards lay motionless around us and knew I’d taken the lives of more than a few. Blood coated me from the fighting.

A circle had formed, made up of Rowan and the Rigton wolves, Nico and a few of the wolves that seemed to move in and out of his life, depending on what he was doing. Sam was with him, and so were the rest of the James Pack wolves who’d come with us. Cyan circled a wounded Clayton Richards. Anthony and I joined the perimeter of the circle.

“This ends here and now,” Cyan said, and I noted a few of the wolves who’d been with Richards were still alive. They’d been forced to their knees to watch their alpha’s execution.

Clayton Richards was back in his human form, but he wasn’t moving. He was on his back, bleeding from multiple wounds. Unfortunately, none of them had been to his neck and his guts were still inside his skin when I wanted them falling out to litter the ground.

“Your pack is no more.” Cyan flicked his glance to Sam, who merely nodded.

“He was going to mate her.” We all stilled as Richards rose slowly to his feet while he spoke. “Cooper.”

“What?” Cyan demanded.

Richards tried to laugh and ended up coughing up blood. “Your father. He was going to mate your mother. Had a whole thing planned. I congratulated him. Hugged him and promised to be there, to help, to watch over you, and drove my knife into his heart. Watched him bleed out then took his life the way he took mine.”

“How the hell did he take your life?” Cyan yelled.

“I should have been alpha. I just had to wait for him to be stupid enough to get himself killed with that self-righteous nature of his. Always playing the hero. Then she came along. She should have died giving birth to you, but no. She had the fucking brat who’d take everything from me.” He paused to spit blood at Cyan’s feet. “So I took it.” He pounded his chest. “Me! Fucker never suspected a thing. Hugged me while I killed him. Died while I took your mother and showed her what a true male was capable of.”

“Fuck,” Nico muttered, locking his hand around Sam’s elbow to hold him in place.

“I was going to kill you. Sure, I told your mother she could send you away, but I was always going to kill you.”

“Fucked that up, didn’t you,” Cyan taunted.

“I’m the winner here. I took his mate and made her mine. Made her give me three children.”

“And you tried to kill all of us.” Sam shrugged off Nico’s hold and stepped in to stand beside Cyan. Half-brothers whose fathers were brothers. They looked so much alike with the same height and coloring. I wondered if Sam would have the same striking green eyes as Emma and Cyan. If their mother did.

“You should have died—”

It happened so quickly there was no time to stop it. One moment, Sam stood beside Cyan. The next, his claws were buried deep in his father’s neck. Clayton punched his claws into Sam’s upper arm, trying to shake loose his youngest son’s grip. It didn’t work. Sam’s claws only sank deeper.

“You should die,” Sam said, then he tore his grip free, ripping out his father’s throat. “You should die.” He kept repeating those words as Clayton Richards fell, his sightless eyes wide open.

Cyan put his hand over Sam’s shoulder, stemming the blood flow there. “I’ve got you.”

Rowan stepped forward. “We’ll take care of clean up.”

Bas nodded and glanced over at Anthony and me. “Let’s go home to our mates.”

The threat to Emma was gone. For the first time since we’d met her, I felt as if I could breathe. I met Anthony’s gaze, saw the relief in his eyes, too.

“Let’s get our mate.”