under those circumstances.
I had no idea where I was going, but it was far away if I had anything to say about it. Thirty minutes and past Jacksonville, I guessed my direction was the Texas-Louisiana state border. I knew I couldn’t drive all night, but I was going to at least make some distance from my own territory. Hopefully that would shake the wolves off our trail for the time being.
Carey fell asleep only a few minutes into the drive, and I let her rest. Something like that had the tendency to either keep people awake for days out of fear or drain them of all their energy. I took her sleeping as a good sign that she was tired, scared, but felt safe with me. Safe enough to close her eyes anyway.
I looked down at my phone for a split second and saw the number I needed. Hitting it, I put it on speaker and on my lap, then turned the radio down. He answered before I finished doing that.
“Harrison. What do you need, cat?”
“We were attacked. Five werewolves, four in wolf form, and one with a gun loaded with silver,” I started, not stopping for pleasantries. “They wanted Carey to flush out her father.”
“Damn it. We’ve been looking for Heath since this all started, but no one has gotten a bead on him.”
Heath. A good name, a strong name. Also, one that made me think of a particularly sexy actor. So that was the Dallas-Fort Worth Alpha. I finally had a name. Not that I needed one, but it was nice to know. I couldn’t have asked for it since it wasn’t pertinent to my Duty, but now I didn’t need to wonder.
I stayed silent, because I couldn’t think of anything to say that wouldn’t be potentially meddling in affairs that weren’t my business. He must have noticed, so he continued instead.
“I don’t know if this is going to help you or not, but maybe it can help you keep her alive and safe. Here’s what we know.” His volume dropped and I raised an eyebrow. He was going to tell me more. Interesting. He didn’t want others to know, either, since while it didn’t break any Laws, he was giving a lot of trust to a werecat. “Right now, the coup’s leader doesn’t want anyone to know who he or she is. Whenever two werewolves meet on the street, even in broad daylight, they ask if the other is for or against Heath. If they answer different, it’s a fight, normally until the death. We’ve got ten dead wolves from just that. The initial coup has five more bodies, a few in Heath’s inner circle. His sons are still missing as well, and some are even saying the family might already be dead except for Carey.”
That gave me chills, and I couldn’t resist commenting now. “That’s not how wolves do things. There’s no such thing as assassinating an Alpha and his family. Any resulting pack made from that would be unstable. It would result in anarchy in the region.”
“Hm, so you do know a bit about our kind. You’re right. This doesn’t happen. Alphas are normally challenged publicly, and getting permission from the Council is preferred. We don’t assassinate people. It’s a sign of weakness.”
“So I’m dealing with wolves who break your rules,” I said quietly. “That is helpful, thank you. I had my suspicions when five of them came into my bar and demanded I give up on my Duty and hand Carey over.”
“And?”
“I killed them all. What do you think?” I snapped, suddenly tense again. Five wolves, all dead by my fangs and claws. I could still taste the blood when it rushed over my tongue, hot and heady. I tightened my grip on the steering wheel.
“Of course. Of course. I take it you’re about to demand something of me because of this, aren’t you?”
“Get people to my bar. It’s on US-175, just outside of Jacksonville, Texas. It’s called Kick Shot. I know they left some sort of vehicle somewhere on the road and there’s a dirt bike in my parking lot. There’s going to be bodies everywhere. Two downstairs and three in my apartment above it. Clean it up and tell me who to scream at for repairs.” I damn sure wasn’t going to pay for it. I could afford it, but I wasn’t going to let the wolves destroy my life and not pay for their part in it.
“I’ll send a team,” he