Chapter 110

Parker Hudson was a fucking genius for a baby-faced kid in charge of a whole goddamn church. In one hour, he had the entire pack feeling shit they weren’t otherwise willing to face. Everyone fucking cried—me included. Watching Genevieve fall apart while Mom spoke to us fucking hurt but watching my wife openly face her grief was what broke me.

I kept her close as the pack gathered, solemn and broken but healing. No one wanted to leave. At least not yet. We gathered on the lawn and filled the house with quiet chatter.

“Have you decided who’s staying?” I asked Declan quietly. We sat in lawn chairs next to each other with both our wives passed out in our laps. There was something oddly comforting about doing something so domestic together.

“Raven and I will stay here,” my brother whispered. “She gave Cade her bracelet—the one you gave her—since he’s going with you.”

“Makes sense,” I said. That bracelet would protect Cade’s wolf from the hunter. One more point in my fucking column.

“Sam’s staying,” Declan continued. Also made sense, considering Sam’s strenuous relationship with his control over his wolf. “Nolan wants to go if Ginny’s going. Plus, he won’t leave the store. I’ll take Raven into town when the kids need her at the center.”

“It’s a solid plan.”

“I talked Lucas into staying.”

“Good. The kid needs time to recover,” I replied. “I’m worried about him.”

“It’s not the first time he’s gone through something like this.” He sighed. “I hate even saying that, but that kid has seen some shit doing what he does. He works down south a lot when the wildfires come through.”

“Fuck. Really?” I frowned. That shit had to be hard to bear. I glanced over to where Lucas sat on the porch steps, eyes closed and leaning against the rail. The kid hid it well. “Is Finn staying?”

“I think he should,” Declan said. “But that depends on you. Do you want him to stay in town?”

“I think he’d be better here,” I admitted. “Maybe figure out something to help Lucas through everything until he’s back on his feet.”

“We can do that.” He nodded slowly. “Connor’s leaving.”

“What?”

“He asked if I could call Baker and put in a good word for him,” Declan replied. “He wants to move down south for a while. Working the ranch should be good for him. He just can’t stay after Charlotte.”

“Yeah, I don’t fucking blame him.” Charlotte had practically raised Connor. Beck and Jane Harvey were stretched thin between the ranch, the vet, and the doctor’s office. Beck believed in the family businesses, which meant the man was fucking stubborn when it came to asking for help and hiring employees. Cecelia had been her mother’s shadow, but Charlotte had kept busy by giving Connor a childhood before the family businesses took over his life. “I’d do the same.”

“Will you be okay?” he asked. The worry in his voice was blatant and unsurprising.

“I don’t know,” I admitted. “I’d like her to fucking stay, but I’m not winning that fight—”

The revving of an engine cut me off and shut everyone up. The whole pack was present. There wasn’t a fucking person left to show up, so who the fuck was driving up the entrance to the pack lot? I was on my feet in a heartbeat, depositing a startled Genevieve back in the chair, while Declan did the same next to me.

“In the house,” Declan ordered as he ushered stunned pack members toward the house. It wasn’t exactly calamity, but it was fucking close as people rushed toward the house. Between the rush of people, I caught a glimpse of a holographic chrome black sports car peeling through the grass with the kind of precision not possible for a car like that. Unless magic was involved.

Fucking Lane.

“It’s fine!” I shouted with hopes it’d calm the chaos. It didn’t. To Declan, I repeated, “It’s fine. I have said I have backup.”

“Backup that can get through the house barriers?” he asked.

“It’s Lane.” I fucking shrugged because I didn’t have a better answer than that. How exactly did one explain Lane? To anyone. Ever.

“Who the fuck is Lane?” A deep growl vibrated in his chest as he came to stand next to me. The car slowed to a stop in the middle of the lawn—way to miss the fucking parking lot, Lane.

“That’s a fucking loaded question.” I weaved through people and approached the car. Lane stepped out, grinning as he made eye contact.

“You look surprised to fucking see me,” he greeted. “I told you I’d be here.”

“I’m surprised because you look like a fucking tool,” I retorted. He didn’t, but I gave him a hard time over the gray dress pants, the unbuttoned and rolled-up white shirt, and black dress shoes. I’d never seen the guy in anything but hunting clothes, so the fancy shit was a surprise.

“I’m a businessman, wolf boy,” he replied. “I have a closet full of suits.”

“And his best-lookin’ one is his birthday suit.” The passenger door opened with the words, and I froze as he stepped out. Beau fucking Mason. I despised the scruffy-haired, toothpick-chewing, Southern motherfucker. Dark eyes lit with amusement as I scowled at him. “How you doin’, Killy Boy? Still a feisty little fuck, I see.”

Fucking dick.The man was stupid tall for even normal people and poked fun at my height every chance he fucking got. One of these fucking days I was going to put him six feet under to prove a goddamn point.

“You brought Beau?” I demanded. “He’s crazier than you are!”

“Tell me how you really feel, baby love,” Beau replied with a grin. “Maybe this time I’ll actually listen.”

“No, you won’t,” I retorted. Beau never fucking listened.

“I reckon you’re right, but I’ll lie if it’ll make you feel better.” Fucking moron. Sure, Beau was the fucking best of the best. But his best of the best was missing a few fucking screws. “You goin’ to introduce us to your little posse, baby love? Or are you too shy?”

I fucking hated that goddamn nickname. I fucking hated the smug look on his goddamn face. And I fucking hated that Lane brought him with.

“Why couldn’t you have fucking brought Kal instead?” I demanded of Lane. “At least he’s less crazy.”

Mostly I liked Kal because he was a grumpy but fucking serious asshole. I could handle an asshole. I couldn’t handle Beau. And with everything going on, the man was going to push my temper over the edge.

“Because you don’t need Kal’s specialty for this,” Lane said.

“His specialty is torture!” I exclaimed and immediately glanced over my shoulder to make sure no one fucking heard me. I hissed, “He specializes in fucking torturing people.”

“No, no. No, no, no,” Beau interrupted, visibly offended. “I excel in torture. I specialize in fuckin’ sharpshootin’. And I’m goin’ to stay right here and hunker down with all your defenseless wolves because when that violent little thing huntin’ you figures out where the barrier is, I can climb up on that roof and sharpshoot her fuckin’ face off. Tell me you don’t need me here, Killy boy.”

“Jesus fucking Christ.” I pinched the bridge of my nose. Why the fuck did that even make sense? God, I fucking hated Beau.

“Are you going to introduce us?” Declan snapped from behind me. I turned to see all the puppy squad in waiting. Considering the duo standing at my back, my brothers weren’t intimidating. At all.

“I told you I had backup,” I reiterated one more. With a half-hearted gesture in Lane and Beau’s direction, I said, “Lane, wild magic fuck. Beau, crazy sharpshooting fuck. I work with both of them.”

“Oh, don’t lie to them,” Beau cut in. “You can tell the truth, short stack. We’re you’re favorite fuckin’ people.”

“I swear to fuck, I’ll drag your ass out to the woods,” I threatened, but Beau only laughed.

“Enough,” Lane cut in, shooting a glare in his direction. Beau shut the fuck up with a tiny salute. “You have a problem, we’re here to help. It’s as simple as that.”

“See? Simple as that,” I agreed. It wasn’t as simple as that, and from the look on Declan’s face, he agreed. “Beau, get yourself a fucking room. Lane, wait here. Declan, fucking follow me.”

The whole fucking puppy squad followed me—as expected.

“Talk.” It was the only word Declan said as he crossed his arms and glared at me. None of my other brothers looked impressed either. Well, maybe Nolan with his curious, for-research brain, but that was it.

“I’m a fucking bounty hunter,” I explained. “The agency I work for is run by a guy named Joey. Everything goes through Joey, but Lane has his own division that I coordinate with from time to time. They’re… fucking crazy, but they’re elite. They hunt shit that makes the things I hunt look tame. I’ve worked with them on a handful of cases. We need help. I need to know the lot of you are fucking taken care of. Lane and—Lord help me—Beau can make sure that fucking happens.”

“Are you serious?” Declan asked. “You say they’re crazy and you want them to stay here? With the pack? There’s already enough shit going on without you putting the pack in more danger.”

“They’re not in danger—”

“You can’t fucking tell us you don’t feel it,” Sam interjected. “Fuck, my wolf is going crazy near those two.”

And I fucking wished I could feel mine.

“They are dangerous,” I said. “They’re supposed to be dangerous. That’s the fucking point.”

“The hunter is dangerous,” Finn pointed out.

“Thank you.”

“I’m just not sure how anyone is going to react to them being at the house,” Nolan said.

“Lane is coming with me,” I told him. “Beau needs to stay at the house.”

“I don’t trust them.” Another growl rumbled through Declan’s chest as he stared across the lawn. “I don’t think—”

“Can they end this?” Lucas interrupted, his voice rough.

“That’s the hope,” I said.

“Then I don’t give a fuck what kind of people they are,” he replied. “I’ll get Beau a fucking room set up right now.”

“Hold on.” Sam grabbed his arm to stop him as he tried to leave. “It’s not that easy, kid.”

“It is that easy!” Lucas exclaimed, his temper exploding. “Whatever the fuck we’re doing, it isn’t working! People are dying. You’re a fucking idiot if you think we can figure this out ourselves! We’re fucking useless! The five of us are fucking useless! We can’t do any of the shit Killian can do, and even he’s struggling. We need crazy! We need out-of-this-world insane to stop this before more people die! If they’re it, then fine. Fine! I’ll make a fucking bed and cater to a bunch of fucking psychos!”

He huffed out an angry breath as he waited for anyone to challenge him. Poor fucking kid. After what he saw, I didn’t blame him. From the looks on my brothers’ faces, neither did they.

Enough was enough.And while Lane and Beau were fucking crazy in their respective ways, we needed more crazy. A lot more.