Chapter 113

Art POV

Wright House

"Your brother thinks himself a fighter. I went to find him and barely saved him from a Lycan he was trying to take on by himself. In closed combat."

Wright had a look on his face I would have given anything to be able to capture. It was a cross between a shocked gasp and an outright gawp. With his mouth hanging open, he looked patently ridiculous and it was even more ridiculous I hadn't thought to have my cell phone ready to capture the moment on camera.

For posterity of course.

Blackmail was below an Alpha Inspector.

Or that was going to be my stance on the matter if anyone asked.

I wasn't too concerned about someone asking. People tended to be taken aback by my size enough to caution them away from pushing me even in conversation. The exception seemed to be Tyler Wright whose wolf was the most fierce I'd faced; I had zero interest in fighting him.

"Art, what are you talking about? Where's Ethan?"

Rachel sounded incredulous enough for me to realize she wasn't aware of his activities even without taking a peek into her mind. Her fear was only teasing around the edges of her voice which let me know I could tease my way along for a while longer before answering.

I'd called Justice to me as soon as I'd gotten away from Nathan Lewis. My interest in seeing him searching for me after I'd turned to mist was gone in a breath the same as me myself.

I had been barely inside a forested park before I summoned Justice with the totem she'd given me when she'd loved me, when I'd loved her, when we'd been lovers rather than liars.

"Was that really necessary? You have an amazing invention in your pocket, you know? A cell phone? You turn it on and call me from it as if we're outside the Dark Ages?"

"Enough. Where's Ethan Flores right now? I need to get to him before anything or anyone else does. He's in danger because it's now gotten back to Richard Campbell his men couldn't retrieve Lindy. Rachel has been proven to be his daughter and, more importantly, Elena Campbell's daughter which means Ethan is Elena Campbell's son."

I had been forced to cut Justice off before she wound herself too tight. She had a tendency to get histrionic with me. It wasn't good for either of us. The only thing we were better at doing than fucking was fighting and neither of us needed to lose any blood with a shark sniffing around in the water.

Justice had given me a puzzled look before taking out her oracle orb.

I'd watched her turn the familiar sphere over and over in her hands before her eyes went black from the magic coursing through her. She'd given me Ethan's location as a stab of knowledge straight into the center of my brain. Knowing her the way I did, I chose to let it go and just followed the lead she'd given me to Ethan.

"Art? Where is my brother?"

Feat was beginning to overshadow every other feeling for Rachel. The sharp tang of it tainted the air in a way which made my wolf recoil, but my fangs sharpen further as my thirst became stronger at the sign of potential prey.

I'd never balance the two halves of myself, but I could balance out Rachel's fear with a combination of truth and omission.

Thinking back to the way I'd found Ethan being savaged in the center of a fighting cage, I explained, "Ethan is in the ER. I had to take him for some medical assistance. He bit off more than his wolf could chew."

An Omega shouldn't have been able to face a Lycan. Nature indicated they cower before a more powerful predator. Ethan Flores had apparently missed that particular survival lesson or his wolf, Ryze, had one.

"He's hurt? Enough to need a doctor?"

Rachel was repeating out loud the thoughts forming in her head as they formed which wasn't boding well for where my time would go next.

I was not interested in babysitting her in addition to her fool brother.

Turning to Tyler Wright, I appealed to his stoic stance, "Try to tell your mate to calm down, okay? Ethan is being helped. He doesn't have any injuries he can't heal from and he's with competent doctors. I wouldn't have left him if I thought there was a chance he would need me."

Wright nodded slowly. I could see his mind processing what I was saying---and weighing what I wasn't.

I could see it in Wright, but I couldn't hear it and that was its own damnable annoyance. Who knew I could be blocked from hearing a wolf? Even powerful Alphas were no match for the venomous viper inside me.

"What kind of injuries does he have? Answer me, Art."

Emotions I didn't want to deal with were coloring Rachel's voice, her aura was beginning to bleed out from her body in a way I knew would be bad for her baby.

Her wolf should be too dormant to shift, but if she was too emotional, it was possible the wolf could force the turning which would kill the fetus.

"He's fine, Rachel. Really. Don't sweat the small stuff."

I tried for a reassuring smile---which evidently wasn't reassuring enough because an olive jar was tossed at my head too fast for me to do more than dodge.

"Rachel!" I shouted at the same time as Wright who looked as shocked as I felt.

"He is my brother, Art! Tell me what has happened to him right now or I'm going to make you wish you'd never been born."

My own wolf grumped inside my head, 'Too late for that one.'

"Shut up, Merlyn," I muttered, bitter the bastard had piped up for the first time in an absolute era just to be a dick to me.

Rachel and Tyler exchanged a look in the taut silence after I talked to myself out loud.

Then.

They shared a laugh before Rachel leaned into Wright's body to try to seek comfort from her mate. Laughter was better than yelling so I chose to take it for the gift it was and run with it.

"Ethan is---"

"Your name is Arthur and your wolf is called 'Merlyn'? Who was named first? You or the wolf?"

I gritted my teeth against the urge to snap back with biting words rather than biting teeth. Of course wolves sensed their names from the moment they awoke inside their host's body, so the whole question was just Tyler Wright being an Alphahole to me. It would serve him right if I did take a few bites out of him.

Some Alphas deserved to be reminded no matter how strong their wolf was? Somewhere there was always a stronger wolf.

"Believe me: you don't want to travel down that road with me, Wright. In this instance? Just settle yourself in the knowledge I'm the one who is right and you are the one who is wrong."

Rachel cleared her throat to get my attention and my eyes shifted with a slow slide which would have made me nervous if I hadn't fed plenty prior to coming to speak to the pair.

"Tell me about Ethan? Please?"

I was getting a headache. Again. These wolves were going to be the death of me.

Rubbing my forehead for a moment, I sighed, "He's fine. I'm telling you: he is fine. He was taken to the ER by me. I personally took him. I personally saw he had doctors attend to him. I personally witnessed them take him off to be patched up in surgery. He's going to be just fine. I wouldn't have left him if I thought otherwise."

"Surgery!" Rachel shouted, sitting straight up in her stool with a speed which rocked the seat on its legs.

Wright steadied her with a single hand while I resisted the urge to reach for her myself.

Last thing I needed was to enrage his wolf by making a grab for his mate right in front of him.

"Yes, surgery. It's when the doctors fix the things your body can't fix for you?"

Wolfen people rarely had to have any kind of medical intervention as our bodies healed with a speed not matched by most others in the supernatural world. Given our bodies had to break apart and reform every time we changed our nature -wolf to Man to wolf again- healing fast was necessary for our survival.

"What things couldn't his body fix?"

Fear radiated out from Rachel with the intensity of a pulsing wound; I realized I was going to have to get Wright on my side if I hoped to get out of this situation without specifics she'd never get out of her head.

"Tell her I'm going to him right now and he'll be fine."

"Don't tell him to tell me anything! He's my mate. I want to see my brother. Now!"

"You can't see your brother. Going to the hospital will put both of you in danger. Tell her, Wright!"

With that, I refused to wait to see if the stubborn Alpha would do as I asked and simply willed myself back to the hospital to await news of Ethan Flores.