28. Mai

The house seemed eerily quiet after Mason and Ryan left. Their lingering scent of determination and unwavering resolve mixed with the homely scent of pine and woodsmoke from Thomas and Wally's home. Jase and I were left in the relative safety of its walls, but I was worried about the rest of my renegade Pack.

Every tick of the clock echoed in the silence, each second a reminder of the dwindling time we had before the Pack Meet. We were running out of time.

Sofia had left after breakfast and gone to use her web of contacts in search of valuable information about Brock, Hayley, and Tristan's plans. She didn't want to use the phone—said many of them would only give up information if it was face-to-face and she was alone. I trusted her judgment, her ability to uncover the truth. But the lingering uncertainty gnawed at me. Was this what being an Alpha was? Learning to live with the worry and guilt when you sent others into danger?

Ryan and Mason were next, slipping out to find their enforcers. Mason was doing much better. He'd eaten more in one sitting than I could eat in a week, burped loudly, and declared he was ready. Thomas wasn't so sure, but Mason was as bull-headed as Ryan sometimes, and Ryan knew there was no stopping Mason from going with him.

They'd only been gone an hour when Thomas's cell rang. It was Martha, one of Brock's new enforcers. Thomas was needed up at the compound. Wally went with him to watch his back while Thomas dealt with whatever crisis was going on up there. I shivered at the thought, my gut churning. Thomas was needed to heal the wounded, but being in the Alpha compound with Brock and Hayley was risky. What if they knew that Thomas and Wally were helping us? I could only hope that with Wally at his side, they'd look out for each other and stay safe.

That had been ninety minutes ago. Since then, between checking on Sam, Jase and I busied ourselves around the house. I'd sat and watched Sam for a bit. His breathing was steady, and his color looked better. I couldn't tell that he was in a coma; he just looked like he was sleeping, except for the tubes running into his arms and the regular beep and whirr of the machines he was hooked up to.

I didn't stay long in the room. I kept moving methodically through the house, checking every window, every door, making sure they were securely barred. Jase was following me around like a lost puppy.

"What do you want to be, Jase?" I asked him, my tone playful, hoping to lighten the heavy atmosphere. When I left four years ago, Jase had been at the top of his class in every subject. "I somehow doubt it's being a delivery driver for Takymora for the next five years?"

His brow furrowed as he glanced my way. "I wanted to be an enforcer for Jem and Hayley. Jem brought in a new rule that you have to be twenty to apply. I've got another year to go, but now all I want is to be an enforcer for you and Ryan."

"You know, before you become the next werewolf Vin Diesel," I shot back, a smirk playing on my lips, "why don"t you go see the world? Have some adventures?"

"My place is here, Mai. I don't want to be anywhere else. And I'll fight for it with my life if need be."

Okay, too serious.

I nudged him with my elbow. "Haven't you ever thought about it? Being anything else?"

He was quiet for a moment. "I guess … I guess I"ve never really thought I had a choice."

"Choices are what we make them to be, Jase," I said softly. "Don't let the world decide what you become."

"But what if what the world wants me to be … is what I want to be?" he challenged, turning his gaze toward me.

"Then, Jase," I said, "you make sure you"re the grumpiest, stubbornest, most badass enforcer with a killer scowl that makes all the girls swoon this world has ever seen."

He laughed, and I sighed inwardly. It was a good sound to hear.

I was moving before I registered that I'd heard a noise. I don't know what alerted me. The birds going quiet, perhaps. But I was running before the clamor of a shattered window pierced the relative quiet of the house. We had to protect Sam. Jase drew level with me, his eyes wide in shock.

"Shit," he muttered, drawing in a sharp breath.

I grabbed Jase's arm, yanking him behind me as the first intruder barreled through the doorway. I positioned us back-to-back, Jase and me, as people—Brock's enforcers—flooded into the house from different directions. The first attacker lunged at me with a snarl, his eyes cold and merciless. I drove my foot into his midsection, sending him flying across the room. My hair whipped around my face as I spun to face the next assailant. I saw Jase throw an elbow into a man's stomach, forcing him to double over in pain, then Jase slammed his fist into the side of the man's head.

The next two jumped over their fallen colleagues. I kicked off the wall, gaining height, and brought my forearm down onto the first one's throat as he followed my move. I rammed into him, sending him falling into the man behind him.

I was furious that they'd come here, had attacked my little Pack and our safe haven, but there were more of them than of us, and they pushed us back until we were in the waiting room and the only thing standing between them and Sam, helpless in his coma.

"Get out of here, Mai!" Jase yelled, desperation creeping into his tone as he struggled to fend off two attackers simultaneously. "They'll kill you. You have to go!"

I ignored Jase and his idiotic suggestion. There was no way I was abandoning him or Sam. I would hold this line or die trying. One of the enforcers swung a right hook at me. I ducked, and he hit the wall instead. The sound of the bones in his hand breaking made me smile.

I saw the glint of a knife out of the corner of my eye as a woman stabbed toward Jase's unprotected back. I threw myself between them. Searing pain erupted in my shoulder as the blade sliced through flesh, but adrenaline drowned out the worst of it.

With a feral snarl, I rammed the heel of my hand into her nose. Blood spurted as cartilage crunched under the blow. I followed it up with a roundhouse kick to her ribs.

Rage boiled in my veins, fueling each punch and kick as I unleashed my fury.

My movements flowed seamlessly as I spun and twisted, dodging blows while landing my own in quick succession. The enforcers outnumbered us, but I was faster, fueled by the need to protect those I cared about. I just wasn't sure who would fail first: me running out of energy or them running out of enforcers to throw at us.

A short, stocky man with flaming red hair punched out, his fist connecting with my cheek, making my head spin. I staggered back, smelling my own blood. When he came at me again, I slammed my foot into his knee. He wobbled, and I curled my fingers into a ball and drove my knuckles into his chest. He crashed to the floor, and I followed up with a stomp to his sternum that had him gasping for air.

Finally, all the enforcers lay strewn around me, unconscious or groaning in pain. I stood in the center of the carnage, chest heaving, knuckles split and bleeding from a slash to my shoulder.

Jase stared at me with an odd look on his face. He'd seen me in school fights before, but never like this. Never with so much at stake.

I fell to my knees, my energy spent. He reached out, gripping my shoulder tightly. "Mai," he whispered, his voice filled with raw emotion, "you're one fuck of a badass."

"Stop swearing," I said automatically.