By the time Caspian and I arrived at the Madfur pack home in the Hallow sector, I was heaving for breath, seething. Heat infiltrated everything and sweat dripped down my back from this backwater desert town. Why the fuck anyone chose to live out in the middle of nowhere where it was bitingly hot and so far away from the sea baffled me.
My wolf lingered just below the surface, his fur brushing against my insides, desperate for release. He’d grown just as addicted to Syn as the rest of us. He’d connected with her wolf–I felt it deep in my soul.
Morning light spilled over the arid landscape as we rushed from the car. Behind us, several guards followed, fanning out. They were already sweating from the heat, one of them licking his dried lips.
The Howler Bar was so far from everything else that there were few people around. Especially at this ungodly hour of the morning. So, there were no busybodies to notify the soon-to-be-dead alpha of our arrival.
I kicked open heavy, metal doors into the bar, and they swung open with a great crack from where I’d snapped the lock.
Caspian charged in first, moving like a demon.
The place was empty, and it reeked of stale beer and wet dog fur. Caspian had jumped up and over the counter, breaking everything he could get his hands on. I lunged for the back door and threw myself up the stairs. I charged into the first room I found, slapping a hand to the door.
It swung open abruptly into an office.
And my sights fell on Anton, the Alpha of the Madfur pack and Brayden’s father. Right now, the old prick had a blonde bent over his desk and he was fucking her, grunting like a damn donkey.
His eyes flew open wide as he swung his attention toward me, pulling his cock out of the poor girl who looked half relieved at my arrival. She had to be at least half his age.
“What the fuck?” he growled, until he did a double-take and saw who’d just stepped into his room. “Alpha?” He practically choked on my name.
“Get the hell out of here, now,” I commanded the blonde, stepping into the room.
She shoved her dress down from around her waist, grabbed her underwear from the floor, and darted towards the door. Her cheeks were on fire, and I was convinced I heard her whisper thank you silently as she passed.
“I see where Brayden gets being an asshole from.”
Anton rapidly tucked his limp dick away and zipped up his pants, before turning to me. “If I knew you were visiting, I would have been better prepared.” He licked his lips nervously.
An explosion of shouts echoed from downstairs, but Caspian was capable of looking after himself.
“Brayden,” I stated. “Where is he?”
Anton blinked at me, the scent of his perspiration filling the room. When he didn’t answer, I took a step forward.
He recoiled. Smart decision. Well, except for the fact that he’d run out of options.
Anger and adrenaline kept my head clear and focused. “I won’t ask again,” I growled.
“Whatever he’s done, we can come up with an agreement. You are a man of reason,” he went on, and his gravelly voice only agitated me further.
“There’s no coming back from what Brayden did. And deep down, you must know this by my presence alone. I let him go the first time, which was my mistake."
I moved with swiftness, snatching Anton by the throat and slamming him into the drywall that cracked around him from how hard I’d shoved him.
There was a rumble in his throat—his wolf, no doubt.
“Where is Brayden?" I asked in slow motion, my fingers squeezing around his throat. Sure, it was counterproductive to cut off his windpipe, but I didn’t want him to think I wasn’t serious.
Anton was a disgrace. As evidenced by the fact he’d raised a pathetic excuse of a son like Brayden, or permitted someone as innocent as Syn to be mistreated under his roof…not to mention the cuffs he’d had placed on Syn so she couldn’t shift.
He clawed at my hand, his face paling. Writhing against me, I let him go and the prick fell to the floor, his knees buckling out from under him.
Clutching his neck, he craned his head back to meet my gaze. Impatience was killing me right now. “He’s not here. He’s been gone for about a week with his friends and a few followers.”
His face quirked behind his fearful mask. Of course the bastard wasn’t telling me the full truth. I could see it in his eyes. He would do anything to protect his son. Fair enough. I would do anything to protect my family, and that included Syn.
I snatched him by his white hair and crouched down in front of him. “You’re pissing me off. Where the fuck did he go?”
“Please, whatever he did, he’s the only son I have.”
“I don’t give a fuck,” I yelled in his face, and I shook myself. “See what you made me do? Made me almost lose my shit.”
Staring at this man’s round face, I was reminded of Brayden, those beady eyes, and that androgynous look many women would find attractive. He was pushing me, acting like a petulant child instead of the alpha who should have fought back by now.
When I got back only a whimper, I growled and pulled out the blade from my belt.
He cut me a deadly stare and ripped free from my grasp, his back smacking into the wall.
“I’ve had enough,” I snarled and snatched him by the ear so quickly he never saw my blade-wielding hand come down to slice it right off.
He screamed, blood gushing out, covering his ear.
“I’m going to slowly cut bits off you until you talk. So what’s next? Your useless dick?”
Blood drained from his face as red dripped down the inside of his arm where he clasped his now missing ear.
“D-Dorse Island,” he spat. “That’s what I heard him mention to a friend.”
I blinked at him for any twitching signs that he lied. Even his scent was pure fear. Moving closer, I gave him a few hard smacks across the side of his face with an open palm. “There, that wasn’t so hard now, was it? And just to be clear, if I don’t find him there, I will be coming back for you.” I grinned.