“What a stupid name to call yourself, Reaper wolves,” Malik says, reading over the paper I just put down as I notice an old newspaper article with Dominic’s picture.
He appears in the background and is shaking the mayor’s hand. While the main picture is of a few men, sitting in the gutter, arrested with their heads down, and human police behind them, I know they most likely never made it to human prisons. It probably explains why Dominic is in the picture’s background.
“That’s Dominic. Do you think he had something to do with the attack?” Zane asks, leaning over my shoulder. Malik moves around my desk and looks over my shoulder to read the article as well.
“No idea,” I tell him, grabbing my mobile. I look for Ezra’s number and ring him. The phone rings a few times before he answers.
“Hello?” His voice sounds rather strained through the phone.
“Bad time?” I ask him, wondering why he is breathing so hard. Is he working out?
“Ah, it depends. Is this important?”
“Kind of. We were attacked tonight. I wanted to ask you a question,” I tell him when I hear Kat in the background, asking who he is talking to, but he doesn’t answer.
“Is everyone alright?” Ezra asks.
“Yeah, we are now, but have you heard of Reaper wolves?” Ezra groans and I pull the phone away from my ear, thinking it is an abnormal response, and look at the screen.
“Ah, what was the question again?” He asks.
“If it is a bad time, I can call back. Clearly, you are distracted by something.” I mutter as realization slowly sinks in.
“No, I am just fucking your sister. It’s fine. I can multitask,” He chuckles. I growl, about to hang up. “Joking, I am joking,” Ezra says. “She is actually sucking my dick.” He adds.
“Fucking prick, when I see you…” I hiss, but before I can share everything I plan to do to him, Ezra cuts me off.
“You will high-five me,” he says, and I growl.
“Fine, fine. Mateo, stay with Kat. I’ll be back in a second. I have Andrei on the phone,” Ezra says, and I hear Kat go off in the background about being on the phone with me and not telling her.
“I don’t know what’s more disturbing, knowing my father is in the house with you and listening to that or you groaning in my fucking ear like some porn star,” I tell him.
“Derrick isn’t home. He went to his storage locker to retrieve something. So be quick because I have a date with your sister’s vagina,” Ezra tells me, and I hear Malik and Zane snort while listening to him.
I glare at them both, and they put their hands up, sitting on the edge desk and pretending not to listen.
“So, what did you want to know?” Ezra asks.
I roll my eyes. As if he doesn’t know what I fucking need to know. “Reaper wolves, have you heard of them?” I repeat myself.
“That’s the rogue gang, a bunch of pussies, if you ask me. I have had a few run-ins with them when they stepped over my borders. Our governments have been tracking them, but they move around too much, and no one knows where they are permanently based. A heap of them were arrested a while back, and Dominic had them killed, so why are you asking about them?”
“They are the ones that attacked us. The rogue camp which is joining my pack is having issues with them, and we had a run-in with them this morning, then tonight they attacked my pack, so Alpha Dominic is aware of them?” I start pacing the office.
“Yeah, do you not listen in meetings?” He asks, but I don’t remember hearing anything of this rogue gang.
“Must have missed it, plus I missed heaps when mom was sick,” I tell him, and he sighs.
“I probably shouldn’t tell you this, but it may help. If you need men, just ask and I will send some over, but honestly, ask Dominic if you want help with them. You could be Dominic’s worst enemy, but when it comes to Reaper Wolves, he will back you.” Ezra speaks with such certainty in his voice that I almost believe his words.
And yet, being the pessimist I am, I still decide to question him. “Why is that?”
“That’s how he met his mate. She was working a corner in the city when Dominic stumbled on her, she had been beaten pretty badly by her pimp, and she stumbled into his Casino looking for help. They laced her with wolfsbane, and she nearly died from her injuries. Security was called, and Dominic investigated why when he saw her. He hunted every member of the Reaper Wolves in the city and killed them for her, including one of the bosses, which was quite shocking,” Ezra tells me.
“Why would it be shocking?” I ask him.
“Because the head boss was a woman, she started it, and her mate helped her. Dominic has been hunting her mate ever since,” Ezra explains.
After that bit of information, we chat for a while longer until Ezra has to leave for reasons I don’t want to know about.
As soon as we end the call, Zane raises an eyebrow at me. “So, what do you want to do?” He asks.
“I will speak to Dominic tomorrow about them and see if his pack will help us. I will call a bus company in the morning and see if we can hire a bus to get to the camping grounds.” I tell him and nod as if I need more reassurance that I am making the right decision.
“Sounds good. I’ll handle the bus if you want. I will call when I wake up,” Zane tells me, and I nod.
“Fine, you both might as well get some sleep. I need to go check on patrols,” I tell them.
“No need. The entire pack is on border patrol. None could sleep afterward, and I think it has dragged up old memories for a few,” Malik tells me.
“Casen and Vince?” I ask him.
“They wanted to go, but I said no. They settled for going to watch over Nora’s siblings,” Malik tells me.
“And you two?” I raise an eyebrow, a little suspicious of what these two are planning to do.
“We will run the borders once we are done here,” Zane answers.
I shake my head. “Try to convince a few to head in and try to sleep. Otherwise, everyone will be exhausted, and we need everyone to be alert. We don’t want anyone falling asleep on shift.”
“We will try. I will tell those, who were on duty when the rogues got in, to head home first.” Zane says, and I nod as I slowly walk toward the door.
“What time is Dominic getting here?” Malik asks, stopping me in my tracks.
“11 in the morning, my sister and father should be here around 10,” I tell them, and they both nod.
“Okay, get some sleep, Alpha. We will sort borders and patrols out,” Malik tells me as I walk them out. I don’t know what I would do without them and my father.
“Also, at the next pack meeting, we need to make sure everyone is okay and not struggling. I know a few of them struggle badly with PTSD, so the pack meeting for welfare checks is Wednesday at lunchtime. If they say they don’t have time, tell them to make time, everyone is to show up, no excuses,” I tell them.
After watching them leave, I shut the door and set the alarm before I head upstairs to check on Jonah. He has kicked his blanket onto the floor. I scoop it up and drape it back over him. A weak smile tugs on my lips as I bend down to peck our boy’s head.
His dinosaur plushie is tucked under his arm while he sucks on his thumb in his sleep. I gently pull it from his mouth, rolling my eyes when he shoves it into his mouth again.
Walking out into my room, I find Sage fast asleep, drooling on my pillow. I take my pillow, flipp it over, and she growls at me as I climb in bed beside her before she realizes it is me. Her body molds around me as she throws her leg across my waist. Her arm flings across my face. I move it off, placing it across my chest, only for her to toss it back across my head. I leave it there, too tired to wrangle her into a more comfortable position.