Saved By The Alpha
Chapter 23

When we made it back to the safe house, I barely made it to the couch before my wolf finally gave into exhaustion, and I shifted back. The pain hit me all at once, a soft gr0an falling from my l!ps when I tumbled onto the couch. I regretted the change immediately as a sharp pain lanced up my left arm. I hissed, pulling it against my ch3st.

My father hurried past me toward the bathroom, and Iris sat carefully by my head, running her fingers through my hair as she looked me over. “How’re you feeling?” she asked, nails gently raking across my scalp.

That feels really nice. My heavy eyelids slid a little farther shut as I focused on Iris instead of the hundred other uncomfortable signals my body was sending me.

“Eli?”

“I’m fine.” My eyes flashed back open. “The wounds are already healing, see?” I held up my arm, ignoring the way it protested. The lacerations had already begun to close up. My side didn’t have the same electric pain it had before I’d shifted.

Iris gave me a flat look, and Maverick snorted from elsewhere in the living room. “You’ve still got a bit of adrenaline left in you,” he said. “Just give it a few minutes, and I suspect you’re really going to start feeling it.”

“Great,” I muttered, leaning my head back against Iris’ soothing touch. “Thanks for the vote of confidence, Mav.”

“Just keeping it real,” he replied, floating out of my peripheral vision as my father returned with the first aid kit from the bathroom.

I frowned, trying to wave my dad off. “It’s already healing,” I protested again. “Seriously. You don’t have to fuss.”

My father gave me a cross look. “Either you let me bandage your injuries, Eli Archer, or so help me, I will call Dr. Johnson and have him on a jet in the next twenty minutes. Your choice.”

I opened my mouth before I paused, furrowing my brow. Even without my wolf’s help, I could sense he was dead serious. Even if it would take Dr. Johnson hours to get here from London, he’d do it. He’d definitely do it.

I sighed, staring straight up at the ceiling instead. “Fine,” I said, trying not to wince as my father leaned over me, rolling up my shirt to look at my side.

Iris smiled down at me, tracing her fingers over my cheek as he began disinfecting the wound. “Doctors, huh?” she teased. I couldn’t help but smile up at her.

“Did everyone get out of the facility?” I asked. I hadn’t been able to do much talking before. I couldn’t have checked in even if I could think past the pain.

Iris nodded. “Yes. All the captives got out, and they’ve been transported somewhere safe,” she confirmed.

I breathed a sigh of relief, gritting my teeth almost immediately. My wounds may have been healing, but Maverick was right. I was suddenly much more aware of each ache and pain.

“What about the feral wolf?” I asked, trying to keep my mind off of the arm.

“We’re transporting him back to Remus’ holding facility,” Maverick said. When I turned my head, I realized he’d taken up a position leaning against the wall, watching my father’s every move. “I’m going to head over there later. It will be a while before he wakes up anyway.”

I frowned. “What are you going to do with him?”

Maverick shrugged. “Not sure yet. Depends on what my contacts say and how agreeable he is — or isn’t — once he wakes up. I need to head over there anyway to interrogate the guards and scientists we took captive, so it doesn’t really matter.”

“I’m going with you,” Iris said, looking over. “This case has so many loose ends that still aren’t tied up.” She frowned. “If anything, we found more questions than answers.”

Mav gave her a wry look. “I’m starting to think that’s always the way it works,” he said. She snorted, giving him an amused look.

I frowned. “I—”

Iris looked down at me, raising a brow. “I will be perfectly safe in Remus’ facility, Eli,” she said as if she could read my mind. “I used to do this all on my own, you know.”

You never had a case involving an international squad of werewolf hitmen.

My frown deepened, but I couldn’t think of a good reason to argue other than that I wanted her here with me. But there was no way to say that without sounding either pathetic or like a controlling as*sh0le, so I sighed.

“Fine,” I said, trying not to sound too petulant.

She was right about the case, after all — and unfortunately, Maverick was right about the adrenaline fading away, too. Everything ached, and I wanted little more than to curl up in my bed and sleep until it had all gone away.

Iris rewarded me with a smile, leaning down to k!ss my forehead. “I’ll stay until you fall asleep,” she said quietly, resuming the soft stroking of my hair. “I promise I won’t be gone longer than necessary.”

As she ran her nails across my scalp, I sighed softly, settling against her more comfortably now that my father had stopped fussing.

Man, if this is what we do instead of arguing over who does what…I could definitely get used to this.

It was dark outside when I woke suddenly, my skin clammy and my heart thumping. I bolted upright, gr0aning as I clutched at my side. The sudden movement and sharp pain still weren’t enough to shake off the last shreds of my nightmare, though, and the vision of Brock locking me inside a damp, musty crawlspace hung over me like a burial shroud.

I svcked in a breath, but it felt like I was trying to breathe through a straw.

D*mn it, not now.

Remus appeared by my side, seemingly out of nowhere. He must have stayed back after the others had left, but I hadn’t even noticed him in the room. I eyed him, but didn’t say anything, focused solely on trying to control my breathing.

“Eli, look at me,” he said calmly. “I need you to look at me.”

I swallowed hard, but it didn’t seem to help me much. I gave a jerky nod, but it took me another moment or so before I could look up, meeting the other alpha’s eyes. He hummed softly, placing one hand on my shoulder.

“There you go,” he said, his voice as steady as a stone. Like something I could lean against, and it wouldn’t budge. “Good.” The corners of his mouth lifted upwards. “Focus on me. Focus on my wolf.”

I nodded, fighting the urge to close my eyes. Instead, I focused on my wolf, allowing him to reach forward tentatively. Remus’ wolf met him wholeheartedly, and within moments, I was filled with a comforting warmth, as if I were sitting by a fire or wrapped in a warm flannel blanket. My pulse began to even out as my breathing became less ragged.

We sat there, just like that, for several silent moments.

Eventually, I was able to speak again. “Thank you,” I said quietly, ignoring how hoarse my own voice sounded to my ears.

“Of course,” Remus replied, finally letting go. He rocked back and tipped his head. “Are you all right? Is it your injuries?”

“I…” Am I okay? I’ve definitely been better. “It’s not the injuries.” I frowned. “Well, they’re no worse than they were when I fell asleep, at least.”

Remus hummed, pressing his l!ps together. “Maybe the day is catching up with you. We had a long, hard day, and a lot happened.”

“Yeah,” I said, finally dropping his gaze. I stared down at my hands. Honestly, I would have preferred nightmares about what we’d just witnessed. Anything other than Brock Beckett. But he always caught up to me, didn’t he? He was there in my head as I wrestled with Victor, and he was here now, haunting me so I couldn’t sleep.

Couldn’t heal.

My wolf stirred, and I glanced back at Remus, watching him as he studied me. My wolf was still drawn toward him as if the alpha in front of us could heal all of our ills. It didn’t make sense, and yet…I wanted to tell him. I wanted to tell him what the dream was and just purge it all together.

Maybe I was far enough removed from the situation that it felt safe. Maybe it was just the moment we’d shared just before. I had no idea where this feeling had come from, but I decided not to investigate it any more deeply.

It’s now or never. You might not get another chance — and Brock doesn’t deserve to live in your head rent-free, Eli.

“Brock used to hit me,” I blurted out, startling even myself.

Remus blinked. “Brock?” he said, brows twitching. “The Brock that came over with you? That Brock?”

“Yes,” I said, scowling. “That Brock. My mother’s mate. He’s been a flaming heap of garbage as long as I’ve known him. He k!sses my mother’s as*s and worships the ground she walks on, but as soon as she turns her back, he does whatever he wants. If I ever displeased either of them, he’d scream at me. If I tried to argue, he’d ‘straighten me out’. If I tried to fight back, he’d lock me in the root cellar for f**k knows how long.” Now that I had started, I couldn’t stop. The list of sins came pouring out.

The time Brock dumped my dinner in my lap because I wasn’t “grateful” enough and made me sit in wet clothing for hours.

The time he tied me out in the rain like a naughty dog, not allowing me to shift back to my human form because he swore our neighbors would see, and I was young enough to believe him.

The time he took the weekend money my father had given me to go to the arcade with friends because he claimed I ‘owed him’ for eating his food and sleeping under his roof.

I could have gone on longer, but Remus reached across the couch and pulled me into a one-armed hug, careful to avoid my injured limb. “Thank you for telling me. I’m sorry that happened to you,” he said quietly. “And I’m sorry I ever let him step foot in this house. I had no idea.”

I shrugged awkwardly. “How could you know? I’ve only told Maverick, and even then — he left for the army when he was eighteen.” I hadn’t spoken of it since.

“Still.” He sighed heavily, looking away. Several emotions flickered across his face as he gritted his teeth. “I wish there was something I could do — that I could have done. Hell.”

“You had no idea Remington Silverstreak wasn’t your biological father,” I countered. “There’s no use wishing.”

“No, but someone should have done something,” Remus growled. I could sense his anger building, and my wolf squirmed, uneasy. “Your mother should have stopped him. F**k, Nic should have done something. You were just a pup. You shouldn’t have been expected to deal with your mother’s sh!tty mate on your own.”

I shrugged, at a loss for words.

Remus growled again. “You said you only ever told Maverick — does that mean Nic doesn’t know?”

I shook my head.

“He never saw anything wrong? Never asked?”

I opened my mouth and then closed it, l!cking my l!ps. I’d wondered the same thing myself for ages. I shook my head again. “My mother always had some excuse,” I croaked. “If my father asked, she’d always answer before I could. I didn’t argue.”

Remus’ expression softened, and he looked back at me. “Eli, why didn’t you tell your father?”

I felt like a child again, the way I kept shrugging and shaking my head. “Because. I know it sounds irrational, but I felt like he must know. He must know, and he wasn’t saying anything. He kept including Viola in family events because he wanted to keep the family ‘whole’, and I felt like…I don’t know. The illusion of wholeness was more important to him than whatever was happening behind closed doors. I didn’t want to ruin it. I didn’t want him to be mad at me too, and I didn’t… I don’t know. I didn’t want to know for sure that’s what it was, either. I know that sounds stupid.”

“It doesn’t sound stupid,” Remus argued. “It sounds like the logic of a child who doesn’t know which way to turn. It isn’t your fault.”

“I know.”

“Do you?”

Do I?

That wasn’t a question I was prepared to answer yet. “You’re going to tell Nic about Brock, aren’t you?” It was more of an accusation than a question.

Remus didn’t take the bait. “I could — but I think you should,” he countered. “I can be there if you want — or I can be there afterward if you want it to be private, between the two of you. But I think you need to tell him, Eli.”

I know.

I don’t want to.

But I know.

I sighed, leaning back against the couch cushion. “Hell.” I couldn’t even imagine how that conversation would go. The very thought of it made my stomach turn. “I’ll think about it.”

Before Remus could pepper me with any more questions, my phone chimed. When I grabbed it from the coffee table, I saw Iris’ name and quickly opened the text.

Come to the facility as soon as you’re up to it. We got some information about Bella.

Another text followed a moment later.

Bring Remus,too. I think we need to talk to Brenner right now.