“Do you doubt, at this point, that we’re capable of having bigger concerns than a werewolf king returned from the grave?”
“There’s a lot going on in that question.”
He frowned, which was impressive considering he’d already looked completely miserable. “You are an Alpha, I need you to behave like one.”
Oof, dressed down in front of others. Now that was a low blow.
“I’m sorry.”
“We came across Lucas quite by accident when we were looking for Mercy, and I’m afraid he has distracted us somewhat from our mission. Things took an unpleasant turn in your absence. Your mother came back, and this time instead of burning anything down, she took something with her.” His brows creased. “Someone.”
“She kidnapped someone?” I asked, astonished. I didn’t think Mercy was just going to parade into Callum’s compound and spirit someone off in the night. Not to mention there weren’t any children on site, only adult wolves. How could she take someone?
“No, it seems he went quite willingly.”
My gaze cut to Wilder and my first reaction was to ask, “Hank?”
Callum let out a bark of laughter, the first sound of mirth out of him since we’d arrived, but not a noise of any real amusement. It gave me a chill.
“No, surprisingly. It would appear Hank’s intention to behave himself remains intact.”
I could see Wilder’s sigh of relief even if the expression on his face never changed. I felt guilty for assuming the worst.
“Then who?”
Callum scratched his chin. The man who had just been able to brutalize Lucas with the truth was quiet, and I didn’t like that.
“Mercy took Ben.”
Chapter Twenty-one
My emotional state bounced from terror to rage and back again like a Ping-Pong ball. I was so stirred up with feeling I couldn’t land on a single thing, and as a result the room was spinning as I processed Callum’s words.
Mercy had taken Ben.
No. Ben had gone with Mercy.
“That fucking idiot.” I thought at first I’d only said the words in my head, but when everyone stared at me in surprise I realized I’d spoken them out loud. I didn’t regret it. “That butthurt asshole. He didn’t get to be Alpha so now he’s running off with the woman who wants me dead? Are you kidding me?”
Ben had been hostile and shitty towards me ever since I’d come back from the bayou with Secret when I was eighteen, but I’d thought it had been typical sibling jealousy. I’d believed he was looking out for me when he’d warned my off Wilder a year earlier. I thought he cared and didn’t know how to show it.
Now I was wondering if I’d been blinding myself to his true nature all this time because I’d wanted to think deep down he lo
ved me. We were twins for crying out loud, how could I be so disconnected from his true feelings? Weren’t twins supposed to share some insane psychic connection with each other?
How could he do this?
I was terrified for him, but I also wanted to kill him with my bare hands. In order to do that, however, I was going to need to get him back.
“Did anyone see him go with her?” I asked. Better to focus on the problem itself. I could get emotional and furious when I knew he was safe.
“One of the night guards saw her on the property, and said that Ben did not appear to be in duress or struggling. He just walked away with her into the woods and didn’t come back. And before you ask, yes, we checked every inch of the property and there was no sign of either of them. We don’t believe she’s done anything to him.”
So he was safe. But he was also somewhere with our homicidal mother, and he’d gone willingly.
Swell.
I rubbed my temples. A headache had been building behind my eyes since our fight with the wolf pack in the bayou, and now with all the added stress heaped onto me in just the last fifteen minutes, it had blossomed into a full-blown migraine.