Total pages in book: 115
Estimated words: 108368 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 542(@200wpm)___ 433(@250wpm)___ 361(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 108368 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 542(@200wpm)___ 433(@250wpm)___ 361(@300wpm)
“They’re taking care of you.”
“You don’t like that,” she sensed.
“It’s my job.” He knew he sounded petulant. After all, this was what packs did: they looked out for their own, gave comfort and touch when it was needed. But Ally was his, and he wanted to be the one who took care of her.
“Drink it,” said Kathy, pointing to the tea. “It’ll get the taste of blood out of your mouth better than any toothpaste.”
Saluting her, Ally did as advised. That was when she noticed that the seriously hot Phoenix enforcer, Dominic, was looking hard at her. “What? What are you staring at?”
He sighed languorously. “You, before I wake up from this dream.” There were groans of annoyance and a few chuckles.
Growling, Derren would have shot up from his seat and lunged at the little shit if Ally hadn’t placed a hand on his thigh to stay him. “Don’t,” Derren spat at him. “You’re not using your cheesy lines on Ally.”
Holding up his hands, laughing, Dominic said, “Seriously, I’m just messing with her.” His expression turned serious yet soft as he regarded Ally a second time. “Hell, you must be tired . . . You’ve been running through my dreams all night.”
Again, Derren went to dive at the prick, but Ally pressed her hand down harder on his thigh. That didn’t mean he’d let him get away with it. “Zander!”
Standing behind Dominic, Zander whacked the enforcer over the head.
Wincing, Dominic rounded on him with a grin. “Hey, you’ll mess up my hair. The others don’t hit me that hard.”
Casting the Phoenix enforcer an exasperated look, Nick turned to Derren. “Tell us what happened. Is Rachelle no longer an issue?”
It was actually Bracken who did most of the storytelling, praising Ally’s fighting skills and making her uncles smile proudly.
Seeming satisfied, Nick said, “That’s one more threat gone.”
Derren arched a brow at his Alpha. “I take it no one came to rescue Miranda or Kerrie?”
“No,” replied Nick. “But I can’t say I’m surprised. Like you said, Miranda wasn’t a good Alpha.”
“Tell me they’re not dead yet,” said Taryn, hands clasped in prayer. “I wanted to say my good-byes to them first.” There was a deadly undercurrent to that sentence.
“They’re alive,” Nick assured her. “Had it been your pack who caught them, I’d have wanted you to wait for me before you slit their throats—or something equally fun.”
Trey snorted a laugh. “Good. Where are they?”
“The toolshed. Jesse, Roni, and Marcus are guarding them.”
A curt nod from the Phoenix Alpha male. “Then let’s do this.”
Derren nuzzled his mate’s cheek, not wanting to leave her while she was feeling a little raw inside and still recovering from an adrenaline crash. But he was Beta; getting rid of traitors, intruders, and enemies—in effect, doing the jobs no one else wanted to do—was one of his responsibilities. Although . . . he had a feeling Roni would want the honor of killing Kerrie. “Stay here, baby. I’ll be—”
“I want to see this through.” Ally wanted to see the females punished, and she wanted to be at her mate’s side when he took on this heavy responsibility.
“Baby, you’ve had a tough enough day as it is. Sit back and relax while we deal with it.”
She shook her head. “That’s not me. I’m Beta too, remember? If nothing else, I should be there with you.”
“I think this is something everyone here should get to see,” stated Dante. “They were all targets, they all have their own share of anger toward the two females in the toolshed. They want closure as much as we do.”
Nick thought on that for a minute. He addressed the whole room as he announced, “We’ll take the captives into the woods behind the toolshed. If any of you wish to watch them be dealt with, meet us there.”
Only Kathy, Caleb, Kent, and Willow stayed behind. The rest gathered behind Derren, Nick, Trey, and Dante as the captives were brought out by Jesse and Zander.
Nick groaned at the sight of the females and then glanced at his mate over his shoulder. “Shay, was that really necessary?” She simply shrugged, grinning. His gaze flicked to his sister. “You helped, didn’t you?” It was more of an accusation than an enquiry.
“I thought you hid the shears,” said Marcus, a smile playing around the edges of his mouth.
A muscle in Nick’s jaw ticked. “I did.”
“Not well enough,” commented Roni, smirking in supreme satisfaction.
Marcus toyed with his mate’s hair. “When you and Shaya went inside the shed, and I heard those two shrieking and cursing, I hadn’t guessed this was why. Though I probably should have.”
Jaime pouted. “I wish I’d been there. We had so much fun the time we played with the female jackal that Roni caught.”
“The girls like to give their captives a makeover,” Eli explained to Ally as he came to stand beside her.