Chapter 4 - Jet

The compound was quiet. I hadn't left my study since the other night, and I knew Deacon was lying in the cave a few minutes" walk from the house.

He was being wrapped in shrouds, gentle hands cleaning off the signs of death, and this evening he'd be offered up in flame to the wolves that came before.

My heart was still beating somehow through all this.

I'd lost my best friend, my chief beta among the pack, and the man I'd grown up alongside. He'd been there for me since I was a child. He'd helped me to become the alpha I was.

And I'd left him alone when he died.

"I wasn't there. I was sitting in this damn office."

My hands flexed into claws, and I reached for the crystal glass, my whiskey long gone. I gripped and gripped the edges of the stupid fancy cup digging into my palm.

And then I chucked it into the fire.

The loud smack of the breaking glass rang out, bouncing off the wood walls of my study. I let out another roar—hardly my first in the past few hours—and it rocked the room to its foundations, disturbing the ancient books on their shelves.

No one. No one is left.

The pack remained, of course, but my parents, the only brother I'd known, and even that flimsy chance at happiness with a mate were all…

Just gone.

The pop of that fucking glass cracking a bit more echoed in the silent room. Smoke billowed slightly, and my stomach felt like a hollow pit.

Grayson had returned a few hours ago with his message successfully delivered to the Collins pack. They'd sent their own messenger not an hour ago, saying the alpha and his inner circle were on their way with their offering for retribution.

"Offering. Pfft. I expect Collins' blood for Edwards'. That fucking murderer's head is going to decorate a pike at the head of our territory."

Another pop of the fire, and I was about ready to douse the damn thing so I didn't have to listen to it whine.

Knock, knock, knock.

"What." The growl was thick in my voice.

Kaiden's words slipped through the door, along with his scent of apprehension and anger. "They're here."

Shooting up out of my chair, I hurried to the door, yanking it open, and stepped out into the hall. The house was quiet as I walked to the entry. Kaiden was tight on my heels, following in step with me as I stalked across the deep mahogany floor. Grayson fell into ranks alongside him from a door to the right, and then MacKenzie stepped in from yet another on the left.

With every step, each member of my pack came to the hall and followed after me. My entire family, what remained of them, standing at my back with the thunderous boom of their rage and grief flooding the compound to the rafters.

Stopping at the base of the stairs that went up to the second floor, I looked straight ahead at the double doors that led into my home.

"Show them in."

Grayson nodded, lowering his head, and then stepped up to the doors, pulling them wide.

Before me, looking pleasingly haggard from the trip here, stood Terrance Collins. Alpha of the Collins pack—a pack we all knew that he stole from its rightful leader by slaughtering him and any available heir.

Terrance was a foul wolf, his essence tainted by the stench of malicious greed and an obsession with power. Animals, true wolves, didn't hunt for sport or power or entertainment. Terrance did all three. He'd been excommunicated from several packs before staging a coup and wresting control of the pack he now claimed.

The Andrews. That was who the pack had been before, and I was confident that their departed alpha was rolling in his tomb at the sight of what his pack had become.

Growls hummed in the space behind me as Terrance stepped forward across the threshold. He was flanked by two of his pack, likely more of his betas, but I couldn't scent the wolf whose stench had covered Deacon's body.

"Where is the killer, Collins?"

Grayson stood at the other alpha's back, shutting the door behind him and taking up the space there. At my left, Kaiden's rumbling snarl increased, and I could sense MacKenzie doing the same a few paces back toward the stairs.

"Edwards," Terrance chewed out his words, grinding them between his clenched teeth, "I am horrified by the actions of my beta. He is being disciplined as we speak."

"He should be dead."

The gravelly voice of Leon snapped out across the room. I flicked my gaze to the young man, pushing through our alpha bond for him to back down. He lowered his head, stepping backward, but not without glaring at Terrance. I appreciated the wolf's fervor as much as this situation still called for diplomacy—at least for the time being.

Turning back toward Terrance, I leveled him with a cold stare. "My pack has a point, Collins. Why have you not presented your beta for sacrificial retribution? Do you, in fact, wish to go to war?"

Terrance visibly stiffened, his jaw muscles working as he kept himself from saying something he'd regret. His right-hand wolves grumbled quietly at his back, and he held up a hand, silencing them.

"Edwards." With his hand still outstretched, Terrance flicked his fingers forward, gesturing for one of his wolves to step forward. "We have come before you to offer your retribution. We do not wish to see war."

The wolf beneath him lowered himself to the ground. For a moment, I believed Terrance meant to offer his pathetic hide as payment. I'd claim his life if he'd really have it that way, but this sacrifice would be nothing to appease my pack. I wanted the killer in my hands.

But his man held up his arms, presenting an iron sigil. It was the depiction of an omega's crest of the birthing age. They were gifted to omegas by the alpha when they would be deemed fit for breeding. My mouth fell open as I recoiled back from the man.

"What's the meaning of this?"

The pack crowded closer to me, and Terrance rolled his lips between his teeth as his eyes fell to the floor.

"Edwards Alpha," he lowered his head, "I hope that you will find a suitable retribution in the payment of my omega. She is of breeding age, unmated, and I offered up the chance to birth more of my own pack with her to you."

What in the holy hells is this fucker thinking?

My mind reeled. Sacrificing a chance at continuing his pack was insanity. We all knew how our numbers were dwindling. The species-wide issues of birth and child loss were staggering, and here Terrance was offering up an omega capable of delivering a child instead of handing over the killer.

"You've come here after your fucking beta killed my own, and you're offering me a breeding omega. Why not provide the murderer for justice, Terrance?"

"I don't wish to see the wolf killed, Jet. He is young and foolish. His life shouldn't be ended if there is a way to absolve this without more bloodshed. The omega will be given to you freely and remain in your pack as its new member. We will sever our connection to her in favor of your own. A life, through the birth of a new wolf, for a life."

The pounding of my blood through my ears was deafening. This was unheard of. But…

Sacrificing a breeding partner—with the possibility of granting life—was indeed a hefty price. Terrance was willing to protect the life of the murderer, supposedly a young wolf, and give up a chance at creating a wolf for their pack. It would save countless wolf lives if I chose to avoid an all-out war. And the possibility of having another female among us was tempting—extremely fucking tempting.

"What say you, Alpha?"

Terrance raised his brows at me, and I looked over my shoulder at Kaiden, at the rest of my pack.

I couldn't lose more of them to a battle between packs. I couldn't lose them to more fucking violence and death and strife. Turning my back to Terrance momentarily, I pulled Kaiden and the other eldest wolves of the pack in for a huddle.

"This could save lives, Edwards pack. What are your thoughts?"

"It's not enough, Jet. Their beta should die for this." I was unsurprised to hear Leon say as much.

"I don't want us to lose more wolves," Kaiden spoke up. "Giving up an omega is a huge payment."

"My brother's right," Kenzie added, putting her hand on his arm. "She could provide children. That's…that's an opportunity we can't look past."

"I agree." Geo and Orion spoke next, the twins echoing Kenzie's sentiment simultaneously, as usual.

Several more among the pack gave an affirmative, while others agreed with Leon. It was an even split. This would come down to me, to my judgment as alpha.

Returning my attention to Terrance, I sucked in a breath as I straightened my shoulders. The dull gray of the Collins alpha's eyes was dark, a cloud hanging behind them that I couldn't place. It was a risk to take her on. The omega could very well be a Trojan Horse. Still…

"I want to see her. Bring the omega in."