31. Ryan

Ipushed back the chair, the sound loud in the quiet room. Standing, I moved to the window, staring out at the quiet street that lay bathed in the soft glow of the setting sun. The peaceful sight did nothing to calm the storm brewing within me.

"I don't buy it," I said, turning back to face them. "Carson's not the type. He's reliable. Keeps to himself, yes, but he's never shown any signs of being… unstable." The word left a bitter taste in my mouth.

"And yet here we are," Jem replied, his eyes meeting mine. The weight of his gaze told me he didn't believe it either, but as our Alpha, he had to consider every possibility.

I paced the room, my wolf agitated beneath my skin.

"Has anyone else talked to Carson?" I asked.

Derek shook his head, his face solemn. "I was the only one. He said he's been alone for the last few days."

There was that word again. Alone. It echoed in my head, a stark reminder of the position we found ourselves in. One of our own accused, with no alibi. A setup or a murderer—either way, we were in a precarious situation.

I stared at Derek, my mind churning. "Let's say it's a setup," I began. "If Michael is doing this to provoke a war, then we need to find proof. We can't sit idle and wait for him to make his move."

Derek nodded. "Agreed. But we need to tread carefully. Any wrong move could lead to a confrontation we are not yet ready for."

Jem's gaze was calculating, his Alpha authority permeating the room. "We need to find out more about the humans who were killed. Who they were, if they had any connection to Carson, or if they were random victims."

I picked up the file again, opening it to the pictures. Two young men, full of life, now reduced to gruesome crime scene photos. We owed it to them to find out who had done this. "Derek, I want you to head to Bridgetown tomorrow. Ask around. Check with your asset. See what you can find out about these victims."

Derek nodded, grabbing the file. His gaze was steely, determination etched in every line of his face.

Turning to Jem, I stated the obvious. "We need to prepare for a potential conflict. If Michael is planning to invade, we have to be ready."

Jem was silent for a moment, his gaze lingering on the map of our territory spread across his desk. Then, he nodded. "I'll inform the enforcers and begin training more fighters. We won't be caught off guard."

We all knew what was at stake—our freedom, our territory, our lives.

We nodded our goodbyes, and as I left Jem's house, the weight of it all crashed down on me. There was so much at stake here, and yet I couldn't stop thinking about Mai. She was oblivious to the threats we were facing. She was at Bottley's, likely surrounded by warmth and light, laughing with Sofia, unaware of the dangers lurking at the edge of our Pack.

As I trudged back to my place, my gaze went to the window of the room I'd just set up for her. Seeing the golden eagle feather through the pane of glass, I knew exactly what I was trying to protect. I needed her to be safe, needed her to trust me, to believe in the bond we shared.

I reached for my phone, Mason's text from earlier popping up on the screen. A reminder of the immediate danger from Seth. I needed to speak to Mai, sooner rather than later.

I followed our bond to the Bottley Bar. It was like a cord pulling at me, with my wolf wagging his tail the nearer we got to her. I parked, then paused outside the bar, watching Mai through the window. She was talking to Sofia and Wally, her wavy black hair flung over her shoulder. I remembered how it felt to run my fingers through her hair. How good it felt watching her bounce up and down on my cock, her hair bouncing with her.

I shook my head; I couldn't think of that right now. We had to lock Seth down, make sure the Bridgetown Pack stayed out of our territory, clear Carson's name, find the real man-eater, and find some sort of solution to the Hayley issue. Then I was going to take Mai away for a week and fuck her in every position I could think of, and there was a shitload I'd been dreaming about in the last four years.

I walked in the door and knew the moment she realized I was there. She stiffened, her scent of almonds, honeysuckle, and mint suddenly laced with anger. She didn't turn to look at me, even when I approached the table.

I nodded to Sofia and Wally. They both looked amused to see me.

"Mai."

She shifted her gaze to me when I said her name, and a jolt of passion swept through me.

Focus. I had to focus.

"We need to talk."

"I don't have anything to say to you right now, Ryan," she replied, her voice cold.

"That's okay," I said as I sat down next to her, my body nudging her along the bench seat. "I'll talk, you listen."

I picked up a couple of fries from the plate in front of her and bit into them. Mai looked outraged.

"You know, I need to get back to work," Sofia said, bugging her eyes out at Mai as she stood up.

Wally looked from me to Mai and back again. Then he slid out of his seat. "I'm gonna go, er, over there." He strode over to where Sofia was standing by the bar.

"He really doesn't have the hang of the whole subtle thing, does he?"

Mai ignored my question. "What do you want, Ryan?"

I sighed. This wasn't going to be easy. "I know you're mad at me right now, but I need to ask you some questions about Seth."

She narrowed her eyes. "No. Absolutely not. We are not discussing Seth. We will never discuss Seth. Seth is my business, not yours."

Yup, not fucking easy at all.

Being the Beta of a Pack meant I'd had to sit through countless meetings where Pack members needed a mediator. I knew I couldn't get upset. I kept my tone even, trying to ease into it. "I appreciate how you feel about this. However, the situation that we're in means that Seth is heading this way. Mason and Sam are tracking him, but it's possible Seth is going to get here before they get to him. If that happens, it would be useful for us to know what Seth might be expecting when he arrives. How much does he know about our Pack? About your place in it?"

Mai glanced down at the table. I followed her gaze. Sometime in the last minute, I'd picked up a fork and bent it in two. Huh. I really didn't like saying that asshole's name.

Mai looked up at me and raised her eyebrows. I placed the bent fork back on the table.

"This isn't just about you anymore, Mai. Seth is coming here. He is a threat to the Pack. What if he attacks someone here trying to get information about you? Does he know where you live? Do we need to put extra patrols in that area? Or will he head into town to try to track you down? We need to anticipate his next moves."

Mai stared out of the window as I talked. I knew she was thinking about it, and I could smell how unhappy she was. I hated doing this to her, bringing this up when she obviously wasn't ready. But I had to have the information so I could protect her.

"I understand how difficult this is for you, Mai. I'm not trying to be a dick about this."

"You don't understand anything, Ryan."

My wolf whined inside me. He couldn't understand why she was so reluctant to tell me. In his mind, Seth was a threat to Mai and to the Pack. She should tell us everything so we could hunt him down and kill him. It was simple. I had to contend with my wolf's point of view and balance it with my human side. I knew this made her uncomfortable. I knew she wanted to hide Seth from us, to deal with him herself. But that was not how our Pack operated.

We had worked hard over the last four years making it the sort of Pack where we all had each other's backs. I had to remember that Mai grew up in Oliver's Pack, though. Jem and Hayley were too busy trying to establish themselves as an alternative Alpha couple to pay much attention to Mai. My brothers and I were too busy trying to keep Oliver's enforcers off all our backs and keep them from hurting the weaker Pack members to see what was going on. After Mai left, Sofia told me what life had really been like for Mai at school and with Hayley.

Mai left, and Goddess knew what she had to do to survive before she found a base at Cocrane. She had always had to deal with things herself. Why would she think any different this time? My wolf growled. That was our job. We had to show her that there was a different way. That the Pack protected each other, and we were all stronger for it. So far, I'd done a piss-poor job of it.