CHAPTER ELEVEN

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Grief was such a complicated package of emotions. Anger, hopelessness, disbelief, regret, fear, guilt, loneliness—it all flowed from the people around Ally and battered at her, giving her a sharp, pounding headache.

Watching as the coffins were lowered into the ground, she stood beside Derren while Nick and Roni flanked them. Despite the dangers that came with leaving pack territory, Nick and Roni had both been adamant that they would be present at the funeral with Derren. Apparently, they were the only two people in the pack other than Ally who knew everything that had happened to him. Bracken and Marcus had also come along, but remained outside the border of the territory. In case Nick’s SUV was targeted, he’d ordered the enforcers to follow in a separate vehicle. It was a good thing, since Marcus had refused to let Roni leave pack territory without him anyway.

Shocked, nervous, and fearful, Derren’s old Alphas had tried turning him away when he appeared on their territory. But when Nick had pointed out that he could—and absolutely would—make life difficult for them if they didn’t grant Derren the simple right to be present at his own parents’ funeral, the Alphas had folded. Nobody with a brain wanted Nick Axton as an enemy.

Since they had arrived, Derren had avoided touching Ally, as if worried that his emotions would bleed into her and increase the pain she was already feeling. While she was grateful, she also wanted to touch him and soothe him—especially since his old pack was behaving atrociously.

The adults kept their pups shielded, hiding Derren from their view . . . like he was a sick predator, and the mere sight of him would traumatize the kids. Their suspiciousness, disgust, and fear felt like acid on her tongue. It was pathetic, unfair, and maddening.

There was only one adult who had made proper eye contact with Derren: a petite female with eyes and hair as dark as his. Ally guessed it was his sister. Whenever her mate caught her casting glances at Derren, the guy would nudge her with his elbow; she would then instantly lower her gaze. No, Ally didn’t like him at all.

She didn’t like any of them, and she didn’t like them being near Derren. He’d been through enough. Had been unjustly punished for something he hadn’t done, had spent most of his youth in juvie, and had suffered greatly in that fucked-up place. And these people—who had let down a fourteen-year-old boy so badly, who could have prevented all of it if they had just been willing to listen to his account—thought it was okay to treat him this way? Nu-uh.

Her heart had ached for him the night before when she’d seen just how shocked he was that she believed he was innocent. The extent of the damage and pain his old pack’s betrayal had caused him had become extremely clear to her. Even if she didn’t know him well enough to know he wasn’t capable of harming a female that way, she only had to consider that Derren wasn’t a guy who made excuses for himself. Like Ally, he believed in owning his shit, in taking responsibility for his actions.

If he said he didn’t do it, she believed him.

As the service ended, the crowd began to disperse. The grievers all gave Derren plenty of space as they passed—their eyes wide with fright and their mouths flat with distaste. A growl seeped out of Ally before she could stop it, making a few of them jump. Ha.

“It’s okay,” Derren told her, his voice low.

Ally looked at him. “No, actually, it’s not.”

Okay, no, it wasn’t. Derren loathed that he’d been branded a rapist—a creature that should be fucking killed on sight. Roni had almost been raped as a teenager, and the shifters here had lumped Derren in the same category as the fuckers who had attacked her. But he refused to get worked up about it right now; he had enough shit going on in his head. “Had you expected anything different?” He hadn’t.

“I’d hoped that maybe they’d developed a bit of sense at some point in the last decade and a half.”

Derren forced himself to resist the urge to touch her, not wanting to worsen her pain. “To admit that they were wrong, even to admit it to themselves, would mean accepting they’re exactly what you called them on the way here this morning—‘ignorant, easily led, thoughtless bastards.’ No one would want that title.” She just humphed, which pulled a weak smile from him. “Snippier than usual this morning, aren’t you?”

Yeah, as it happened, she was. In truth, Ally was feeling a little off-balance today. As usual, she had woken up wrapped in strong arms. What wasn’t at all usual, however, was that she’d woken up in her bed. Yep, she’d spent the whole night in bed. That hadn’t happened since . . . well, since before her childhood pack was slain. She didn’t know what that meant. Did it even mean anything? Was she overthinking it? Probably.

Nick, looking as pissed with these wolves as Ally was, turned to Derren. “Ready to go?”

Derren nodded. He’d paid his respects to the parents he’d once had as a kid. There was no longer any reason to—

“Shit, what the fuck does this asshole want?”

Roni’s words had Derren tracking her gaze to find a stout, elderly male shifter pausing a short distance away. Derren realized it was an old friend of his father’s.

“You shouldn’t have come,” the man stated firmly.

Ally waved a hand. “Yeah, yeah, keep walking.” The aging shifter blinked at her, clearly surprised. “You get to feel how you feel. You don’t get to offload those feelings on other people.” She ushered him away with her hands. “Shoo.” The male actually did.

Unable to help it, Derren pressed a kiss to her temple. “Thanks, baby.”

“Here we go again,” grumbled Roni.

Another shifter stopped close to them. It was a female this time, and Derren easily recognized her. He nodded stiffly. “Roxanne.”

“Derren.” She cleared her throat, and a brief smile flickered on her face. “A lot taller than when I last saw you.” Seeing that her mate was fast approaching, she quickly continued. “Mom and Dad . . . they had a will and—”

“I don’t want anything from them, Roxanne.” Derren didn’t speak with bitterness or anger. He was simply stating a fact. “I just came here to pay my respects.”

Her mate placed a hand on her shoulder. “Honey, it’s time we left.”

Roxanne bowed her head. “Yes, Warren.”

Warren eyed Derren suspiciously. “I’ve heard a lot about you.”

Derren would bet he had.

“I don’t know how you heard about your parents’ death or the funeral”—so Roxanne had gone against the crowd for once in her life—“but you had no right to come here.”

Derren tilted his head, his tone steady and calm. “What makes you think your opinion has any relevance whatsoever to me?”

“It is kind of odd that he expects you to care,” agreed Roni.

“They were my parents,” Derren said to Warren. “I have every right to attend their funeral. The fact that you’re shitting all over this day by causing a fuss at their graveside . . . Not sure they would thank you for that.”

Roxanne tugged on her mate’s arm. “We should leave.”

Warren sneered at Derren. “Do these wolves here with you know what you did?”

Ally spoke up. “Know that he was prosecuted for a crime he didn’t commit? Yes, we do.” She gave him a bright smile. “So you can run right along.”

Warren narrowed his eyes at her. “Blind faith can be a dangerous thing.”

“Yeah, I know.” Ally shot Roxanne a meaningful look, and she actually flushed. Apparently the female did in fact wonder if she’d done wrong by her brother. “Wondering” wasn’t enough, in Ally’s book. Roxanne should have acted on that sliver of doubt. He was her baby brother, for God’s sake.

“Let’s just leave,” Roxanne told her mate.

“Yes, let’s.” Warren straightened his shoulders. “I have no wish to be in the presence of these people.”

Ally smiled at him again. “How awesome for you. Bye now.”

Warren looked to the two bulky, blank-faced wolves that the Alphas had assigned to “escort” Derren. Translation: they were there to watch him closely. “Escort them off our territory.” The wolves didn’t appear impressed to be receiving an order from a male who was barely dominant and, as such, had no authority over them. They dismissed him with a look.

Derren was more than happy to leave. “Let’s get out of here.” He took Ally’s hand in his as they all made their way to the SUV that was waiting outside the pack’s territory. He paid close attention to their “escorts.” One walked in front of them while the other walked behind them.

There were also other wolves—who apparently thought he wouldn’t sense them—padding through the forest to their right and keeping pace with them. Noting that Nick, Roni, and Ally occasionally flicked their gaze in the direction of the forest, Derren knew his pack mates had also sensed them.

When he finally crossed the border, Derren’s wolf stopped prowling in apprehension—though he remained watchful and on guard.

“What a pack of utter assholes,” remarked Roni. “You know, Derren, if your sister hadn’t been so disloyal to you, I’d feel sorry for her for having that pompous bastard as her—”

The breath left Ally’s lungs as Derren’s body crashed into her, and she hit the ground hard behind the SUV as he yelled, “Down!”

There was swearing, grunting, loud snaps cracking the air, and the sound of tires screeching away. It took her a few seconds to process what had happened. Someone had fucking shot at them.

“Ally, are you all right?” Derren asked, frantic as he searched her body for injuries.

“Yes, but you’re not.” Dread filled the pit of Ally’s stomach as a red stain began to bloom over the shoulder of his shirt.

“We need to get in the SUV now.” He pulled her to her feet as he looked at Nick and a hobbling Roni. Yes, Derren’s first concern should have been for his Alpha. But when he’d caught a glint of silver hanging out of the passenger window of a black van, his primal instincts had urged him to protect Ally.

Nick carefully placed a cursing Roni into the rear of the SUV. “She took a bullet to the thigh.”

“It went straight through, I’ll be fine.” But there was pain in Roni’s voice.

Derren held the rear door open for Ally. “Get in, baby.”

She didn’t; her eyes were on the red stain that had spread way too far for her peace of mind. “Derren, let me see.”

“Help Roni first.” Derren practically shoved her inside before hopping into the passenger seat. Immediately, Nick sped off.

Roni jerked in her seat and then cradled her leg. “Motherfucker! Jaime’s right. Getting shot isn’t fun.”

That did sound like something Jaime would say. Ally laid her hands near the wound. “It’s okay. Just be still.”

“You didn’t foresee this?” Nick’s voice was like a whip.

Without moving her gaze from Roni’s injury, Ally told him, “Seers don’t see everything. That’s not how it works.”

“Nick, lay off,” Derren ground out before swerving to face her. “Baby, it’s not your fault.” He knew she’d feel guilty.

“We’ve grown complacent because of Ally’s visions,” said Roni as the wound finally closed over. She gave Ally a nod of thanks. “You’re handy to have around.” At that moment, Roni’s cell phone rang. Marcus’s frantic voice made her wince. “I’m fine. Really. Ally healed me, I’m fine. Just get the fuckers for me.” With that, she hung up.

“Are Bracken and Marcus following the van?” Ally asked.

“Yes.” Roni returned her cell to her pocket. “They’d better catch the bastards.”

Derren snorted. “Marcus is driving. He just watched his mate get shot, so, yeah, he’ll catch them.”

Ally leaned forward in her seat. Derren caught her hand before she could touch him.

“No, baby, you can’t heal me yet.”

Her wolf growled. “Why?”

“The bullet isn’t out.”

“Fuck,” Ally snapped. The skin was probably already beginning to heal over it.

“I’ll dig it out when we get back,” growled Nick, enraged.

When they got back to the main lodge, Nick did exactly that using a sterilized pair of tweezers, and, although Derren hadn’t made a single sound, Ally knew he was in agony. After healing him, she cleaned him up, and he put on one of Nick’s shirts—refusing point-blank to have a shower until he’d seen the trigger-happy bastards that Marcus and Bracken did in fact capture.

“I’ll be back soon.” Derren gave a pale Ally, who was nibbling on a sandwich that Kathy had made her, a quick kiss. “Eat all of it.” She’d used up more energy than he was comfortable with. He turned to Shaya, who apparently read his mind.

“I’ll take care of her,” vowed his Alpha female.

Satisfied, Derren accompanied Nick and Eli to the toolshed where their captives were being held. The small building wasn’t far from the main lodge.

Bracken and Marcus met them outside. Marcus, his eyes repeatedly flashing wolf, looked ready to explode with rage. It was understandable.

“We have a problem.” Bracken’s scowl was dark with anger. “They’re speaking in Russian.”

Nick frowned. “Russian?”

“At first I thought they were American but communicating in a different language to throw us off. But we checked their IDs. They’re polar bear shifters from Moscow.”

“They have to speak at least a little English,” said Eli.

“I would think so,” agreed Bracken. “They’re acting like they don’t understand us, but my guess is they’re playing dumb.”

“They’re chatting plenty in Russian to each other,” interjected Marcus, his voice barely human, “but I don’t know what the fuck they’re saying.”

“That’s all right.” Nick straightened his shoulders. “Once we’ve had a little quality time with them, they’ll speak plenty of English.”

“These guys don’t look like the type to easily give up information,” said Bracken. “Both of them are covered in enough scars to suggest they’ve been captives before. And polar bears are tough, tenacious fuckers.” Which meant that Bracken was right: they did indeed have a problem.

As something suddenly occurred to Derren, he said, “Hang on a second.” He returned to the main lodge, finding Ally still picking at her sandwich like a bird. “Baby, you speak Russian, right?” He recalled her telling him how her foster uncles had taught her several languages.

Her brows drew together. “Yeah.”

“Come with me.” Keeping her hand in his and ignoring her questions, Derren guided her to the toolshed.

Roni had joined the others outside the small building, trying desperately to calm her pacing mate.

When Marcus’s manic gaze locked on Ally, he nodded at her. “Thank you for healing Roni. Again.”

Ally gave him a half smile before turning to Derren. “Okay, why am I here?”

“The captives are Russian,” Derren replied. “We need you to translate for us. I’d rather you weren’t here to see this—interrogations aren’t pretty. But they might be able to tell us who put out the hit on us, and we need to know.”

Eli looked at Ally curiously. “You speak Russian?”

“She speaks five languages,” Derren told him, proud. “And that’s not including English.”

Bracken’s brows flew up. “Impressive.”

“Let’s get started.” Nick went to move but stopped as Derren spoke.

“Wait, I have an idea.” Once Nick heard and approved the idea, the Alpha led all six of them inside the shed. Derren guessed that Roni was only there to keep Marcus from slitting the polar bears’ throats before Nick was done questioning them.

Ally studied the heavily built shifters, who were each secured to a chair. They appeared bored as opposed to afraid, but their unease gave her pins and needles in her fingers.

Bracken broke the silence, pointing to the one on the left. “That over there is Andrei. Next to him is Misha.”

With a predator’s grace, Nick slowly walked to stand directly in front of them. “I don’t think I need to introduce myself.” The bears just stared at him. “As you can imagine, I have a simple question for you. Why did you shoot at us?”

Neither answered; both looked confused, as if unable to understand Nick. But Ally sensed no such confusion from them at all.

“I’ll ask one more time,” rumbled Nick. “Why did you shoot at us?”

Andrei flicked a look at Misha and said in Russian, “It would seem he doesn’t know about the hit.”

Amusement briefly glinted in Misha’s eyes. He replied in Russian, “The Alpha’s not so smart after all.”

Nick growled, his voice a crack of thunder. “I know you speak English, so don’t fuck with me. Answer my question.”

“And I suppose he’ll kill us if we don’t.”Andrei oozed exasperation. “Does he think we’d be stupid enough to believe that he’ll let us live if we talk?”

Misha shrugged one shoulder very slightly. “We can handle whatever he does to us. Not like we haven’t been sliced before.”

Nick began to very slowly pace in front of them. “Did you ever hear of a form of torture called ‘The Water Cure’?”

Andrei’s exasperation increased. “How can a cure be torture? This shifter makes no sense to me.”

Misha briefly glanced at his friend.“Like I said, he’s not smart.”

His tone that of a professor, Nick elaborated. “The torturers would secure their captive’s nose and then stick a tube down their throat. Then the torturers would pour either vomit or piss down the tube. Their captive wouldn’t be able to hold their breath for long, so they’d have to ingest what was in the tube.”

Ally almost smiled as both Misha and Andrei tensed.

Nick continued. “The torturers would do it over and over, only stopping when the captive was full. Like that’s not bad enough, the torturers would then use a stick to hit the captive’s stomach until he vomited. Worse, the torturers would then do it again. And again. And again.”

Andrei’s mouth twisted. His exasperation was replaced by apprehension. His eyes momentarily slid to Misha as he said—still speaking in Russian, “I must admit, I have not heard of that.”

Nick smiled at the polar bears. “Merciless, right? But then—as I’m sure you’ve heard—so am I, especially when my pack’s safety is threatened. You shot my sister and my Beta. For that alone, you will die here today. It can happen in two ways. You can tell us what we want to know, and I’ll hand your punishment over to one of my enforcers. As you can see, he’s raring to fucking destroy you since you shot his mate. He’ll make it quick.”

Andrei and Misha cast Marcus a wary glance.

“But if you don’t answer our questions, I’ll deal with your punishment. And I will keep hurting you over and over again. Don’t doubt that for a second. And in the end, you’d eventually tell me what I want to know anyway. In my opinion, it makes sense to just get it out of the way and die quickly. But, of course, the choice is yours. To tell you the truth, I’m more eager to make you suffer than to get answers straightaway.”

Andrei looked at Misha. “Do you think he’s bluffing?”

“I think he’d do it and enjoy it.”Misha didn’t look nervous, but his unease chafed Ally’s skin.

“I suppose the question you have to ask yourselves is this,” began Nick. “Is the person who put out the hit on us worth the torture?”

Misha stiffened. “He knows about the hit.”

Andrei eyed Nick warily. “Not so stupid after all. How unfortunate.”

Nick danced his gaze from one to the other. “All we want is his name.”

“Sadly for the Alpha,”said Misha, “we plan to escape and kill them all. Do you still have the knife in your boot?”

“No, the rabid-looking one took it.”Andrei shot a glare at Marcus, who did in fact look a little rabid at that moment.

Misha didn’t seem fazed. “No matter, Andrei. We have other ways.”

After a long moment of silence, when it was clear that the bears intended to keep up the “we don’t understand English” pretense, Nick inclined his head. “All right. If that’s how you want to play it. Can’t say I’m all that disappointed.”

“Maybe they really don’t understand English,” suggested Eli, though Ally was pretty sure he didn’t believe that.

Bracken nodded. “Only someone amazingly dense would choose the water cure over a swift death.”

Derren sidled up to Nick. “You know, we could always contact Maxim Barinov and ask if he’s heard of these guys.” Maxim was a Russian polar bear they’d met in juvie.

Misha’s eyes widened. “They know The Sniper.”

Derren continued speaking to Nick. “I talked to him a few days ago. He said he’d try to find out who sent out the hit. Bet he’ll be pissed when he finds out two of his own kind tried to cash in on it.” As Derren had hoped, the Russians looked suitably afraid. Maxim’s reputation as a professional sniper and all-around unforgiving bastard was well known.

“Yeah,” agreed Nick. “Wouldn’t surprise me if he came here to join in on the fun.”

Wincing, Derren said, “He can be a sick bastard when it comes to torture.”

“Maybe we should give them what they want,”Andrei quickly proposed to his friend. “I would rather die at their hands than face Maxim Barinov. He would threaten to go after ourfamilies. And, truth be told, I would rather avoid The Water Cure. Something tells me that if the Alpha gets started, he will not stop whether we give him a name or not. Look at the bloodlust in his eyes.”

“But if we give them a name, they will find a way to cancel out the hit,”Misha pointed out. “Then no one will avenge our deaths.”

“That is true. We could give them a false name,”suggested Andrei. “A masculine name. Maybe someone who we’d like to see dead. These wolves would easily buy the lie, as they would never imagine a woman is responsible. I was surprised myself—until I heard it was a Seer. They can be vengeful creatures. We’ll tell them it was the Russian polar who—”

That was all Ally needed to hear. “It’s a woman. She’s a Seer.”

Roni blinked. “A Seer?”

Ally nodded. “They didn’t say her name; they intended to give you a false name—pin it all on some guy they hate.”

Andrei and Misha gaped at Ally, who shrugged at them and said, “What, you think you’re the only ones who speak other languages?”

“You tricked us,” accused Misha, switching to English, looking weirdly impressed.

Yes, they had been tricked. Derren had suggested not revealing that Ally could speak Russian; to let them think they could speak freely to each other because no one understood them. “Not so smart, are you?” she asked them in English, paraphrasing their remarks about Nick. They narrowed their eyes.

“Roni, get me the tubes,” ordered Nick. Roni obligingly retrieved two tubes from a tool bench. Ally had no idea if they were props or if Nick truly intended to use them. Given that she wasn’t sure if Nick was totally sane, and his sister had just been shot, it was possible that it was the latter.

Misha and Andrei both stiffened.

Nick glared at them. “I warned you that if I didn’t get a name your punishment would be mine.”

“You have the truth.” Andrei spoke in English. “The female told you.”

“Exactly, she told me. You intended to lie to me.” Nick gave them a disapproving look. “That’s very disappointing.”

“They don’t want a quick death,” Ally told the Alpha. “They plan to escape.”

Derren arched a brow. “Do they now?”

“That won’t be happening,” Nick stated. He turned to Eli and Bracken. “Secure their noses. Marcus, hang back until their stomachs are full. Then you can hit them as hard as you want.”

“Wait,” said Misha desperately in English, “we will give you a name.” Andrei nodded, just as desperate.

“Why would you suddenly want to do that?” Ally tilted her head. “Before, you said you didn’t want to, because if the hit was canceled there would be no one to avenge your deaths.”

“That sadly means I can’t trust a word you say.” Nick shrugged. “Besides, I don’t need a name. There’s only one female Seer who hates both my pack and the Phoenix Pack badly enough to put out a hit on both.”

“I’ll find her, and I’ll kill her,” vowed Roni.

Beside her, Marcus clenched his fists as he growled. “But first, we take care of these two bastards who dared to shoot my mate.”

Eli strolled toward the bears, obviously eager for vengeance on behalf of his sister. “With. Fucking. Pleasure.”