“Right now, I’m a fucking mate. I’ve had mine taken from me. Try to imagine that kind of pain. I can’t think right now, nor do I care about anything else other than getting her back. Don’t you see that?”
“He’s right,” Eli said. “We’d all be doing the same. She’s his mate. He needs her. We all need our women.”
“But we also need him. If Liam goes, it gives Payne the opening he needs to take this pack, this land. You know what he’s like. He’s unstable. I get that Rebecca’s not here and the danger she’s in. We will get her back. I feel your pain, Alpha, but understand this, I’m part of this pack. As is my mate. I don’t want her to be in any danger. You know what Payne is like. What he does to mates. He takes each mate for himself and impregnates them. It’s why he doesn’t have many followers. Why shifters have tried to leave him. He’s brutal and brings death to his packs. I can’t allow that to happen. So yeah, I’ve got to stop you from putting your life in danger, and you’ve got to come up with a plan. A good plan,” Jake said.
The fear, the panic, he scented it. The wolf within him calmed enough to make sense of what was happening. His pack needed him. His female needed him. There was so much fucking need going around that he felt sick to his stomach.
It wasn’t in him to sit and plan, but to act.
Taking a deep breath, he clenched his hands into fists and tried to calm himself. He didn’t know what to do or what to say.
Breathe in. Breathe out.
“Please, Liam. I know you want her back. We’ll help you every step of the way, but don’t let anything happen to you,” Jake said.
“I’m all for you attacking Payne, taking him out for good, but right now, you know you’re running into a trap and I can’t let you do that,” Ben said.
Eli nodded. “I’m in agreement.”
“Then what do you suggest?”
Jake breathed out a sigh of relief. “For a second there I thought your alpha wolf was going to attack us. They’re going to expect you to go to her. Straight to her. We can follow any trail, Eli, Ben, and I. We have her scent. We can follow it.”
“So?”
“You don’t have to follow us. You don’t have to go straight to her. You can lure them out yourself.”
“They won’t expect us,” Ben said.
Liam paced.
Any mated male would go straight into the heart of danger without any thought. He wasn’t just a mate though. He was also an alpha. Every instinct within him screamed to go and protect her. Without his friends, he’d have surely been dead by now.
“So we follow the scent. I
t’ll put us on Payne’s land,” Liam said. “His pack is dying. There’s not many men or women, and those that are there, are leaving.” It was known that when pack members started to leave, it was only a matter of time before the strength within the pack slowly began to die.
Payne’s leadership had pushed members out. He’d killed them. Damaged them from the inside out.
He was trying to take over another pack, to rebuild fresh, but his methods would produce the same results over and over. Every single pack he tried to take, would die from within. In the end, it would all be the same.
Someone had to stop him.
Glancing over at Alphie, Liam sensed the pain in his dog but also how sorry he was. Alphie adored Rebecca. Liam loved her.
We’ve got to go and get her.
“Fine.” He headed toward the door. “Any sign of trouble, you leave and get the pack to leave as well. I won’t have any of my people hurt at the hands of a man like Payne, understood?” Liam asked.
Ben, Eli, and Jake all nodded.
Leaving his home, he saw their mates waiting for them. There were tears and concern in the eyes of the three females. Liam watched as his men went to them and held each other close.
Rebecca should be home.
She should be meeting the other females.
He had to go and save her.