Azaire POV
I dangled her necklace between my fingers. It still smelled like her. I couldn’t get her eyes and her voice out of my head when she told me she betrayed me. It didn’t feel right but what could I do? She made her choice I just couldn’t believe the love of my life could betray me like that.
Now my Uncle was in the hospital and my Pack was in shambles.
Richie clapped a hand on my shoulder.
“We’ll get to the bottom of this,” he said.
I shrugged him off. “You wasted your time asking Opal to go with her. You put your Pup at risk how could you do that?”
“Opal’s more than capable of taking care of herself besides, I knew there was something wrong with Elaine. She’d never act that way. You know it too.”
“I do! But you saw her.”
“You told me she’s been acting weird. Like the sleepwalking.”
“This wasn’t like that. She chose her Father over us.”
“Azaire it doesn’t add up. Go after her and talk about it.”
Richie wouldn’t get through to me. I didn’t want to be home right now. Her scent still lingered. I grabbed my bike keys. I’ll be back when it’s gone.
I climbed on my bike and fumbled with the helmet. I wanted to take her for a ride one of these days. I was such a fool for thinking nothing bad would come from mating my enemy’s daughter. She was stuck on my skin and in my mind. Fuck, I can’t talk to her right now. It wouldn’t be good for either of us.
A manicured hand slammed on my helmet. I looked up.
Megan.
“What do you want?”
“I’m here to stop you, obviously.”
“Tell Richie to leave me the hell alone.”
She frowned. “I shouldn’t be helping you! You left me for that bitch.”
“I don’t need to tell you about you fucking Ross behind my back,” I barked.
Her cheeks turned pink. “That’s not the same.”
“Of course it’s not,” I mumbled.
“You became distant. I expected you to end things soon.”
Neither of them knew I was aware of their fling or whatever it was. Ross wasn’t the settle-down type of guy. It didn’t bother me too much because I met Elaine and my relationship with Megan wasn’t serious.
“We’re not talking about me right now. We’re talking about you and the Black Claw girl. Azaire you love her.”
“Stick to tackling jackasses, issues of the heart aren’t your thing.”
“You’re such a dick! Maybe that’s why Elaine really left you!”
“Hey! I treated her like a princess,” I yelled.
“Then why don’t you go after her? Or do you want little Miss Winter to have her way?”
I grimaced. “No.”
“Snap out of it jackass.” She punched my shoulder.
“Hey! Azaire,” Francine stumbled and fell to her knees.
“Fran, what the hell?” I abandoned the helmet and climbed off the bike.
Francine clung to a large white shirt, blood oozed down her head and dirt covered her body.
“What happened?” Megan asked.
“Blazer-” she coughed.
“Fuck.” I knew not to trust Black Claw wolves in the first place. This was my fucking fault.
“That sorry piece of trash. I can’t believe he hit you. Wait, no yes I can,” Megan said.
Fran shook her head frantically. “No, he saved me but I don’t know if he’s okay. We went to the Evangeline Hotel to see his Mom. Blazer’s in danger. Some guys showed up and attacked the hotel. They wanted Andrea. Blazer can’t hold them off forever. Azaire you have to help.”
I ground my teeth. As much as I wanted to say no and to hell with them all. I couldn’t do that.
“Fine, just get inside. We’ll discuss why you’re hanging around Blazer Ryker, later.”
She wrapped her arms around my neck and squeezed. “Thank you Azaire. I knew I could count on you.”
“Yeah, yeah,” I patted her back.
“Rich!” I barked.
“Coming!”
Megan helped Francine to her feet. She gave me a firm nod. My wolf was happy about this. This was an opportunity for my wolf to blow off some steam and kick some ass.
***
The hotel was almost destroyed. The carpet was torn up, the staff had fled, and there was glass and ceramics everywhere. Richie and I tracked the rogue wolves to the dining area. Blazer was seconds away from collapsing when we arrived. He fought off four rogue wolves on his own. I had to give him respect it was a crazy thing to do. Two wolves got away but we managed to capture the other two. Richie’s Alpha venom was enough to subdue them for a while.
“You’re the last people I expected to see,” Blazer panted.
I kicked a piece of a table away. This was one of the finest hotels in the city what a shame it came to this.
“You’re going to see us a lot if you keep hanging around Francine,” Richie warned.
Blazer grinned. “I’ll just have to get used to you. We’re practically family since you’re mated to my sister.”
“We’ll see for how long,” I grumbled.
Richie glared at me. I didn’t want to give up on Elaine either but she made her choice. I can’t force her to pick me. I loved her so much I think her betrayal hurt my wolf. He almost felt weak.
“Don’t hurt my sister. She doesn’t deserve that,” Blazer warned.
We weren’t all that different. We both wanted to take care of the women in our lives. Nik was different. He didn’t give a shit about anyone.
“I’m guessing you didn’t hear about your Father’s visit to our Pack,” Richie said.
Blazer stared at us. “I’ve been here all day. This was the first time I’ve ever spoken to my Mother and my Dad sent wolves to kill her. My Dad or his fiancee but I don’t care they’re the same to me.”
Wow, Laiken really is messed up.
“Listen, I think Laiken’s blackmailing Elaine somehow. She’d never leave you like that,” Richie added.
Why was he so invested in my love life?
“I’ll figure it out. I’m the only one who can walk into our Pack house without getting killed, for now. I have to check on Andrea. She locked herself in her office.”
“We’ll take care of the rogues,” I added.
My heart skipped a few beats at the thought of Blazer talking to Elaine for me.
After Richie and I loaded our new captives into the SUV we climbed in and started off, back to our side of town. My phone rang. It was Ross.
“What’s up?” I answered.
“I’ve got good news,” he said. His voice was almost too cheerful. I didn’t trust it.
“We got the curse keeping Elaine’s Mother and sister in the town broken. She’s on her way to Ophelia Falls.”
I nearly slammed on the breaks. Elaine has to know, but if Laiken was prepared to kill one of the Mothers of his children today who’s to say he wouldn’t try it with Elaine’s Mother? He’s bound to know that the curse was broken. He’s going to go after her.
“There’s something else. She is convinced her daughter is in danger and she thinks she’s found a way around the blood promise she made to crazy old Laiken.”
“How?” I asked.
“I don’t know man. She’ll be in town soon.”
“Thanks, Ross,” I said before ending the call.
Things keep getting better and better.