Chapter 94

We arrived back at the pack house, and I took Aurora to her room and laid her in her bed. Immediately, she struggled to sit up.

“Dane. There’s something in your eyes… Where are you going?”

“To question Coleridge.”

“No!”

I knew he was her ally, but he had also attacked her. Before she could react, I strode to the door and closed it. Then I jammed the knob and broke it.

“Dane!” she shouted. “Let me out of here!”

Trajan stood outside. I bared my teeth at him. “She doesn’t leave this room.”

Trajan’s face didn’t betray any emotion. “You aren’t my Alpha, and she is my Luna–heir. She’ll hate us both for this. I won’t make decisions for her.”

“I’m not making any decisions for her. I’m making them for me.”

Trajan nodded, and his face turned dark. “I’m going to let her out. But…I’ll give you some time because of what he did to her.”

“Good.” I strode from the room as Trajan faced the door, which shook with the force of Aurora’s blows.

I glanced out a window at the night as I passed.

It had been twelve hours since Tristan and Seraphina had disappeared.

I wondered if it would surprise Aurora to know she wasn’t the only one who felt each second drag past. I was counting every one.

The pack house had several floors, with my rooms and those of my family being at the top. To get to Holden’s, I had to go down two flights and down multiple hallways.

It gave me too much time to think. To rage.

Sometimes ruling over as much as I did was a curse.

Holden had approximately twenty wolves from Fall Line with him. Not enough to threaten my pack, but enough to help him fight his way out if things turned bad.

Though he hadn’t posted guards outside of his room before, I couldn’t help but notice the four massive wolves standing on either side of the door now.

I would cut every last one of them down if I had to.

“I will speak with your Alpha,” I growled as I approached.

The wolves regarded me silently, but I could wait.

I must always maintain control.

The same couldn’t be said of Holden.

They must have used their pack bond to tell him it was me, because a second later the door flew open, and Holden’s hands were at my throat. He grabbed my shirt by the collar and shook hard.

“What the fuck are you thinking, imprisoning me in my own room? I should be out there! I might not be her real fiancé or those kids‘ father, but I’ve known them longer than you and I love them too, damn it!”

My hands grew into claws and my teeth into fangs. Before I understood what he was saying, I ripped his hands from my shirt and sent him flying back. He hit the wall, denting it, and sending plaster flying.

He leaped up, his blue eyes gleaming as his own claws and teeth grew.

But by then, his words had made their way into my brain. I stood and stared. “What do you mean, keeping you prisoner? I had every wolf out searching, and you’re in here sitting on your ass!”

“No. Your beta told my wolves I couldn’t leave this room, or you personally would tear me limb from limb.”

“Fuck.” I turned as if I could see Archer beyond the walls of the mansion and into the woods, where he should still be hunting Remington.

Beta, I snapped in my mind, Did you give the order to put Holden Coleridge under house arrest?

Archer’s mental voice came back over a distance of miles—enough that even I couldn’t tell exactly how far away he was. Yes, Alpha. It seemed best not to let him wander away, the way Reed did.

That stopped my response in its tracks. I’d been prepared to snarl at Archer, but he was right. I hadn’t been vigilant, and because of that, Reed was gone.

Next time, don’t give an order about another Alpha without clearing it with me first, I said. I loaded that command with power, so he’d have no choice but to obey.

Yes, Alpha. He sounded obedient enough, but…was he? Or did I sense resentment in my perfect, loyal beta’s tone?

I broke the connection and turned back to Coleridge. “I didn’t give that order.”

Coleridge stood and straightened his suit, eyes flashing. “Then maybe you should control your beta better.”

I growled deep in my throat, but Holden just growled back.

“You deserve to die for what you did to Aurora. I might not have given the order, but imprisoning you is exactly what I should have done the moment I came back with her.”

Holden sauntered up to me. “Not unless you want war. Don’t forget, Montague, you may be richer, and you may have grown a little larger than Fall Line, but we are of the old blood. You? You’re just some upstart backwoods Broken Forest offshoot with new money. Blood money.”

Blood money? I snarled. Despite my restraint, I might have slashed him then.

In fact, I probably would have, just for suggesting my grandfather somehow built this pack on blood money.

But Aurora chose that moment to come sprinting up to us with her phone. She held its screen up. On it was an old woman with short white hair and a brisk, commanding voice.

“Stand down, Alpha Montague, or I will bring your entire pack to its knees.”

I glared at my ex–wife.

Aurora had called Grandmother Augusta.