Brynn nodded and closed her eyes for a few seconds to find that quiet place inside her where nervousness faded and left her clear-headed and confident.
Then she told her story.
He wanted to destroy something.
For the tenth time in as many minutes, Joe searched out Keith, catching his gaze. Keith stood there, stone-faced, eyes blank, and Joe knew his rage found a mirror in his friend and mentor.
His short nails bit into his palms hard enough to draw blood, and Brynn’s voice faded. Though she kept speaking and Joe heard her words, he no longer associated them with her. They were just words, a third-person account of something that had once happened to someone he knew.
If he thought about the things she said happened to her, he’d slip into blind rage.
The assembled alphas had no reason to hide their reactions. Shock and outrage seemed to be the prevailing mood of the room, though Anna had tears in her eyes and looked like she was holding herself back from swooping down on Brynn and folding her into her arms by sheer force of will.
Mary was the only one who seemed mostly unaffected, but Mary barely seemed to be paying attention. She was too busy trying to catch his eye.
He ignored her. She’d never made any secret of her desire for him to come to St. Anthony and challenge Albert for his position. Hell, Al might have even welcomed the chance to step down and spend more time with his wife and kids. But the last thing Joe wanted was to make himself miserable just to fulfill an instinctive need to rule and protect. He’d rather stay in Red Rock and let Gavin and maybe Keith boss him around forever.
Murmurs rose around the table, and Joe gritted his teeth as Brynn told them about the type of men Matthews had chosen to bring to his cause. As she told them about Pierce.
Joe lowered his eyes to the floor when Gavin began asking Brynn questions, the scene with Pierce replaying in his mind. If he’d had the slightest idea why Pierce had really been shucking his clothes when he busted through the door, they’d all be dead. Every single one of them.
Movement caught his attention as Keith eased over to stand next to him. “You okay?”
“Yes,” he grated. “No.”
Mary tried to catch his eyes again, but this time Keith intercepted the look and scowled. She blinked, looking shocked, then her eyes narrowed and she turned to look at Brynn, something calculating in her expression.
“Shit.” It was a soft whisper, barely loud enough for Joe to hear.
“Trouble,” Joe murmured back. “Hell hath no fury, and all.”
“Hell may not, but I sure do.”
Joe squinted at Mary. “If she doesn’t stop looking at Brynn like that, I might have to change my personal rule about hitting alphas.”
From across the room, Sam shot them both a quelling look, her eyes commanding. Keith fidgeted and tilted his head toward the porch. “Come on, Brynn doesn’t want us here anyway, and I stole Gavin’s cigarettes.”
Keith smoking would normally signal the beginning of the apocalypse. Joe just sighed and turned for the door.
Outside, he inhaled deeply and held the smoke in his lungs for a moment before exhaling. “I think I love you a little bit right now, Winston.”
“Yeah.” Keith took a deep breath and scuffed his foot against the wooden slats of the porch. “Shit.
Did you know it was that bad?”
Joe considered that for a moment. “Well, she’s told me some stuff she wouldn’t tell you because of Abby. Not to mention there was a guy getting na**d in the room with her when I busted in there to fetch her.” He took another drag from the cigarette. “I figured some of it out. Doesn’t make it easier to hear, though.”
“Shit,” Keith said again. “Shit, Abby would have a f**king fit. She’d march back to Helena and try to strangle Matthews with her bare f**king hands.”
It didn’t sound like a bad idea to him. “Terrible idea.”
Keith snarled and dropped his cigarette to the deck so he could stomp it out with one booted toe.
“Fuck, I wish she’d told me before. It was bad enough when Matthews was changing the power-hungry, selfish a**holes, but changing sick f**king serial-killing freaks is a different level of deranged. Least there’s not a lot of question about what the other alphas will decide.”
For the hundredth time, Joe wished he’d been able to hold off Matthews’ men long enough for Keith to finish the alpha off. “We almost had him. I f**ked it up.”
“It wasn’t the objective. Getting the girls safe was the only thing that mattered.” Keith leaned back against the side of the house and closed his eyes. “Now the only thing that matters is keeping them safe.”
“Yeah, and it’s turned out to be easier said than done.”
“You slept with her.”
Joe had been waiting for the accusation all day. He finished his cigarette and flashed Keith a bland look. “You gonna get in my face about that now?”
“Honestly? I don’t know what to say. I had no damn idea how much she’d been through, and she’s got to be screwed up by it. Jesus, Joe. Just tell me you know what you’re doing.”
“I do.” At least, he’d had himself mostly convinced that he did. Now, he wasn’t so sure. “I think.”
“Damn it. I wish we were going to have time for things to settle down. Abby and Brynn deserve a chance to deal with the shit that’s happened to them before we drag them into a war.”
“I think we all do, Keith,” Joe answered heavily. “But we’re not going to get it.”
“No, we’re not. Please tell me Brynn’s at least decent with a gun.”
Joe held out his hand for another cigarette. “She could use some more practice, but she did okay.”
“Abby said she was anti-gun or something, so I was worried.” Keith shook two more cigarettes free from the battered pack and handed one to Joe.
“Politics.” Joe snorted as he rolled the cigarette between his fingers. People had all sorts of ideas about the world and how it should work, how they would do things. Those ideas were usually shot to hell and back when it came down to survival. “Brynn can get it done, if she has to.”
“Good.” Keith lit his cigarette and took a long drag before blowing the smoke up into the air above his head. “Because, at this rate, she may have to.”
Joe pressed the heels of his hands to his eyes. “How do you deal with this shit, Keith? With people coming after Abby?”
“I kill them.” Keith’s voice sounded flat. “At least you have one thing going for you. Brynn doesn’t seem like the type to go running into the middle of a fight. I’m still trying to convince Abby she’s got to learn how to fight before she goes warrior princess on me. She says she will, but her damn instincts override everything else.”
“Abby does all right.” He could still see the man who’d come for them while Keith was out of town, broken and beaten. “She wields a mean fireplace poker.”
“Yeah, well, she’s going to be wielding one professionally now. She’s been getting lessons on using makeshift weapons.”
“You ever think we’ll lose?” Though they were his own words, the question stunned him. “I mean, it’s like you said. They’re building armies. Armies of people like Pierce.”
Keith shook his head. “That’s why we won’t lose. Yeah, the fact that they’re all nuts and self-obsessed means they’ll do things we can’t predict but, in the long run, we’re smarter. We’re saner. We’ve got more riding on this shit. And if all goes well, we’ll have magic. Real magic.”
Which meant so much was riding on Brynn and how much the other alphas sympathized with her.
“What do you think? She has Bobby and Anna already. Maybe Paul.”
“Albert will sympathize because of what Sally went through, if Mary doesn’t railroad him just out of spite. He looks like he’s getting tired of trying to keep her under control.”
“She’s definitely looking to trade him in.”
“Yeah.” Keith shot him a look. “Might be easier for Brynn if you let me run Mary off. She’s a jealous type.”
Joe met Keith’s look with a cheeky grin. “I can handle it.”
His friend rolled his eyes. “Yeah, I know it won’t be the first time a couple girls have fought over you, you egotistical ass.”
“Not by a long shot.” It would be the first time an alpha fought with a human, though. “Mary
seriously needs to back off. If she starts hassling Brynn…”
“That’s why you should let me deal with her. Mary, I mean.” Keith snorted. “Brynn is all yours.”
The words shouldn’t have sent a thrill of satisfaction shooting through him. He glanced in the window to where Brynn sat, Gavin’s hand wrapped around hers. “After Matthews is gone, she can go back to Helena.”
“If she wants to,” Keith agreed quietly. “I know Gavin would be happy if she didn’t make the choice to become one of us out of terror. Hell, we’d all be happy.”
If she wasn’t scared when she made the choice, it could mean she was thinking of being with him.
Both options terrified him. “It would be better.”
Joe heard the sound of soft footsteps and turned in time to see Sam ushering Brynn toward the door.
Keith pulled it open, cursing softly when Brynn glanced up. Her eyes looked red, and Joe could smell the salty tang of tears.
He dropped the unlit cigarette and held open his arms, helpless to do anything else. “Come here.”
Brynn stepped into his arms and pressed her forehead against his chest. Sam caught Joe’s gaze over her head. “Keith can probably fill you in on everything else later, if you want to take her home now.”
“Thanks, Sam.” Joe lifted Brynn to his chest and headed down the steps and around the house.
When he reached the truck, he kissed her temple as he opened the door for her. “Bad?”