Rhett
And the next read,
I liked last night. Kissing you is fun when you try to bite me. Keep pushing, bottom bitch. I like when you fight.
Rhett
Bottom bitch. Bottom-of-the-pack bitch. Rage boiled in Roman’s blood, and he barely controlled the urge to rip the vile notes to little microscopic pieces and take a piss over them.
Tomorrow night is the night. Shutting down Winter’s Edge. We’ll make it a party, trash the place. Be there at eight, or I’ll take it as an act of treason on my pack.
Rhett
Whoa. Roman read that one out loud to his brothers, and then he read the next ones, too. “Bottom bitch, you weren’t there when I came to see you today. Rhett. Or today. Where are you, Mila? I like this game. Rhett. I saw you with him. Saw it with my own eyes. You thought you could casually date, Mila? Wrong. His blood is on your hands. Don’t push me again, or it’ll be your blood next. Rhett.”
“Jesus,” Gentry murmured, looking sick. “I wonder who he killed?”
“Well, half the damn Striker Pack is missing,” Asher murmured. “So I would venture a guess at all of those. Brian, Sam, Voigt, Robert, Matheson, Krueger, Drake—”
“Dad,” Roman said quietly.
Asher nodded and wrung his hands between his knees from where he’d squatted down. “That hunter in the woods.”
“Sick wolf plus serial killer human,” Gentry gritted out. “No wonder the pack went to battle as soon as Rhett said to attack me and Blaire. They know good and well he’ll kill them if they disobey.”
“Why don’t they leave then? Why don’t they find another pack? A safer one?” Roman asked.
Asher shrugged and shook his head. “I don’t know.”
Roman read the last letter out loud as gooseflesh rippled across his skin. “Pack meeting at eleven in the woods behind Winter’s Edge. No challenge, no wolves. That fucker dies dishonorably. I’ll be the hand of justice tonight. Pack law will be upheld. Mixing with that human bitch ended his life years ago. Tonight he will be held accountable for all the disgusting things he’s done. Noah has tainted this pack for long enough. It’s my turn as king now. Be there behind me or die with him. Your choice. Pledges to the new Bone-Ripper Pack will happen right after Noah’s last breath. Rhett.”
Mila’s handwriting was at the top. “This is the worst day of my life.” And then she’d jotted down the date. It matched the day Dad died.
The basket was empty now. She’d put this here for him to find, even before she’d known he would come back to Rangeley. She’d put this here out of desperation that if something happened to the pack and to her, there would be proof of what had gone so wrong in this messed up town.
Mila hadn’t ever been Bottom Bitch. She’d been stronger than any of them.
Roman gripped the letters as his mind spun like a top. This was a huge risk, her leaving this here. If Rhett had caught her… Geez, what did Mila do?
Asher looked right at him as if he’d read his mind. “She just gave us the proof we need to go to war. Now who wants to take on this pack? Who wants alpha? Can’t kill Rhett without taking his throne, so which one of us wears the crown?”
“Not I,” Gentry said in a hard tone.
All Roman wanted was Mila. He’d be miserable as alpha over anyone but her. “Not I.”
Asher swallowed hard and stared at the back wall, as if he could see Ghost Dad, too. “Not I.”
Chapter Eight
“Are you sure you’re okay to be by yourself right now?” Blaire asked. Her bright green eyes were worried.
Mila giggled and shook her head. “Blaire, you almost died, and you’re worried about me right now?”
“I didn’t almost die,” Blaire scoffed. “I had everything under control.” One handed, she turned the old worn steering wheel of a truck Gentry had bought last week. His other one had gone boom the night the Bone-Rippers had attacked him and Blaire.
“Blaire?”
“Yeah?” she asked, pulling into the parking lot of a fast food burger joint on the edge of town where Mila had parked her car earlier.
“About that night we hunted you… I didn’t want to do that. I didn’t have anything against you or Gentry. I just didn’t have a choice.”
“Why not?” Blaire asked softly.
“You are rogue—”
“No, I’m not. I’m with the Strikers.”
“Who are all rogue. None of them have pledged to an alpha. They can go their separate ways tomorrow, and it wouldn’t hurt them. But I’m bound to Rhett, and he can control me in a lot of ways. Noah Striker wasn’t like that. He was a good alpha. Firm but kind. He was a protector, like his sons. My alpha is not. Anyway, I just wanted to say I’m sorry. I think about that night a lot. I’ll go to my grave with regrets about it.”
Blaire sighed and pulled into a parking spot next to Mila’s Jetta, then turned to her. “I forgive you.”
Mila closed her eyes for a moment and sighed. She hadn’t realized how much she’d needed Blaire’s forgiveness. She’d stood by for too long while Rhett had manipulated the town and the pack. “I’m really glad Odine was able to fix you.”
Blaire snorted. “Yeah, I’m just peachy now. I’m just waiting to, I don’t know, turn into a four-headed turtle or something. That woman ain’t right. I think she showed me actual Hell today.”