“They hid. A few of us couldn’t.” Lorelei looked away. “It was bad, but nothing we couldn’t get through. Not until Kaley—”
A surge of raw, angry power burst through the room. Zack clenched his jaw and his fists and still looked like he was about to punch a hole through the table.
Jay held up a hand. “It’s okay.”
Zack sucked in a steadying breath. “They didn’t say as much in front of me, but I knew they’d go after the pack. It didn’t matter how broken I was—I had to get free and get them the hell out of Memphis.”
“So you left,” Jay murmured. “But why did they follow? Could they want you all back that badly?”
“Last night was personal.” Zack rose and retrieved a cloth-wrapped bundle from a drawer by the sink. He set it on the table before carefully pulling back the fabric to reveal a twist of herbs, twine and a lock of bright pink hair.
Jay picked it up and turned it over in his hands. “The girl from the woods. Mae.”
“That’s right.” Lorelei leaned forward. “One of the new alphas—Scott Fields—he took a shine to her. At least, that’s what we thought. Then he got…crazy. Plain old bugfuck insane.”
Zack snarled. “He stalked her, is what he did. Tried to make her feel indebted by keeping the other men off her. And with no one to protect her, what the hell other choice did she have?”
He exploded from the table, toppling his chair to the floor. Furious, jagged power smashed through the room in a brutal wave. Lorelei sucked in a breath, and Eden jerked beside Jay, nervous ripples of magic vibrating off her.
If he didn’t calm her down, she’d shift—suddenly and painfully. “That’s enough,” he said firmly. “Everyone settle down.”
Zack whipped around, his mouth open to deliver what would undoubtedly be a vicious retort, judging from the rage in his eyes. Then his gaze tripped over Lorelei and settled on Eden, who was practically hyperventilating, her fingers locked around the edge of the table.
He stumbled back and hit the wall with a hollow thud. “I can’t do this. I can’t take care of them.”
Jay stood. “I’ll help them in any way I can, but I can’t do it alone.”
Zack met his gaze. “Are there more of you in town? Do you have some sort of pack here?”
“No, there’s just me.”
Something deadly stirred behind the other man’s gaze, a banked fury that eclipsed his previous anger and turned his next words into a venomous threat. “The only other alpha we have is Kaley, and she is not going to be your partner.”
Jay held his gaze. “To be honest, I kind of figured she was with you.”
That put an entirely different look in Zack’s eyes. Panic. “She’s not. But I’m responsible for her, just like I’m responsible for all of them.”
And the weight of that responsibility would break him—sooner rather than later. “So let me handle it for a while. I’ve got the contacts, I know this place… It’ll be easier.”
Zack turned to Lorelei, who stared back at him, unblinking, and nodded once, almost imperceptibly.
The press of Zack’s power melted away. “I yield. If Eden says I can trust you…then I yield.”
“I’ll need to call some friends. Will you be okay with that?”
“Are they friends who’ll keep their hands to themselves?”
Jay ignored Eden’s squeak of outrage. “Yeah, they are.”
“Fine.” Zack glanced at Lorelei again. “You can tell them everything they need to know,” he growled before spinning out of the room. A few seconds later another door slammed shut.
Lorelei ran her hands through her hair. “Sorry. He’s been through a lot.”
“I’m sorry.” Eden folded her hands on the table, her knuckles white. “You’ve all been through so much.”
Jay had calls to make, and there were practical matters to deal with. “Lorelei, if you make a list of things you need—food, flashlights, sleeping bags, anything—I’ll make sure you get them today. Tomorrow, we’ll get started on things like electricity.”
“There are immediate needs.” She stood. “Zack said there are some things stored in the attic we might be able to use. I’d appreciate some help looking around, Eden.”
Eden pushed out of her chair without meeting Jay’s eyes. “I repacked a lot of it after my uncle died. I’ll show you.”
A mundane task, but it could be what she needed to keep going at the moment. “You’ll be all right?” Jay asked.
She managed a half-smile. “I’ll shout if I start sniffing people or going crazy again.”