Protecting the Wolf's Mate (Blood Moon Brotherhood 3)

“In bed,” Hollis assured her.

“Tell them,” Ellen prodded.

Tess shook her head.

“No?” She frowned “The children would have been studied—possibly dissected for their blood. Cyrus wants the cure.” She stepped closer, their faces inches apart. “And Jessa? If he can’t cure the sickness, he’ll breed new wolves. But he’ll never get her pregnant, I can assure you. And once he knows that, he’d give her to the pack. You’ve seen what they do, Tess, how the women scream and fight. Not that it helps? No, it only adds to the pack’s excitement.”

Tess kept shaking her head, tears streaming down her face. “They wouldn’t—”

“Why not?” she asked. “Because Byron told you he wouldn’t? Byron isn’t the Alpha, is he?”

Tess stared at the floor, her hands clenched at her sides.

“You believe what you want to believe, Tess, to ease your guilt. What happens to Jessa when she’s no longer of any use?” She growled, her wolf longing to tear free. “And so would you, if you go back—a fate you have earned. She and Finn’s children. This pack. Your father. If Cyrus has his way, none of them would survive.” Ellen waited, willing to let Finn take over. But one look at the Alpha told her he was battling for control. “Let her go. She wants them, deserves them.” She straightened, meeting Finn’s gaze. “Let me take her back to the Others. She can die at their hands or slowly, painfully, from their sickness. Either way, she is no concern of yours. Or a threat to your pack.”

“Hold on,” Hollis finally spoke, his words harsh. “No one is going back.”

“Not yet.” Finn’s command rolled over her.

Oddly, her wolf listened. She, however, refused. “I am not your pack.” Her fight wasn’t with Finn or his pack. But she wasn’t about to let him—anyone—force her into anything.

“No. You’re not. But you’re not an Other.” Finn shook his head, his irritation coloring each word. “Right now, all I can think about is tearing her head off.” He looked at Tess with pure rage. “No one is going anywhere or doing a damn thing until we all calm the fuck down.” He cleared his throat. “How did you do it? Communicate with him?”

Tess bit her lower lip, uncertain. “He’s dead now—”

“Then it shouldn’t matter,” Ellen bit back, her blood reaching a higher temperature. “Who? Who else?”

Tess pressed her lips together.

“I’ll get the silver knives,” Hollis offered.

“Fine,” Finn sounded off, crossing his arms over his chest.

Hollis headed from the room, looking grim.

Ellen pushed Tess into the corner before tearing the room apart. The room was mostly bare —only her bed, her father’s bed, and a small bookcase. She tipped the bookcase, flipping through each novel, running her hands along the lip of each shelf, then turning the whole thing upside down. Nothing.

One glance at Tess told her the woman was keeping her vow of silence. Ellen attacked the bed with a vengeance. The mattress, the sheets, feathers rained down all over the bedroom floor.

Hollis returned and joined in, standing the box springs up and shaking it. “Something’s inside.” He felt along the seams, found a clean cut hidden by the fabric piping, and shoved his hand inside. He pulled out a slim cell phone.

“Who else?” Ellen asked. Whoever it was, Byron didn’t know. She’d been keeping secrets.

“No one,” she muttered.

“Then why not just tell us about the phone?” Finn’s tone revealed he was rapidly losing his patience. “I don’t have time for your fucking games, Tess.”

“No one.” She glared at him. “I kept it…in case he told someone where I was. In case they tried to rescue me.”

“Rescue you?” Hollis repeated.

“She doesn’t know any better.” She almost felt sorry for her then. Almost.

“I know who my pack is. I know what loyalty means,” Tess argued. “You have nothing! Nothing.” Her face grew a mottled red.

There was a ring of truth to her words. Ellen had nothing. “I have nothing to lose.” Her smile was back, a hard, evil smile full of threat. “There’s more, isn’t there? What else was Cyrus after?” If Byron was trying to earn his way back into Cyrus’s good graces, he would have told her everything.

Finn unrolled Gentry’s knapsack. As an ex-special ops team, Gentry was the only human Ellen understood. The man enjoyed danger, risks, working for the pack. He was, Hollis said, an adrenaline junkie. He got to shoot at bad guys and carry all the latest, fancy weapons. Which meant the knives would be silver and offer a variety of uses. Namely, extracting information from an unwilling wolf.