The Luna’s Peak

4

My eyes refocused and I watched Reid’s warm smile fall.

He c****d a brow at me. “Intruders from this morning?”

I sat down in the empty chair next to Silas in front of his desk. “Did Dylan fail to report?”

Reid clicked his tongue. “Looks that way.”

“There were two of them—a male and a female,” I began. “They came in human form and they claimed they were just passing through. Dylan captured them, and Beck executed them.”

Deanna’s voice came through via mindlink again. “Anyone there?”

“Don't kill him yet,” Reid responded. “I want to talk to him.”

“Yes, Alpha,” Deanna agreed. “Should I bring him to the patrol meeting place?”

“That’ll work.”

He ended the communication with Deanna, and then he refocused his attention on me. “Just passing through,” he repeated my words. “From where?”

“Somewhere in Canada, I think,” I said. “I think they were French-Canadian.”

Apparent interest flitted across Reid’s features. “Hmm.”

I frowned. That look was a very particular kind of interest. He gave me a devilishly sexy half-smile as he stood up from his chair, and while it made me heart flutter, it also made me nervous.

“What’s the matter, Nat?” Reid asked, a mischievous glint in his eyes.

I eyed him warily, as I stood with Silas. “What is it that you want to talk to this intruder about?”

Reid came around his desk to place a hand on the small of my back. He pulled me close and gave me a peck on the forehead. His scent enveloped me, and Goddess, he smelled delicious. A light shudder rippled through me, and he chuckled.

“I just want to talk to him,” he insisted. “I won’t touch him.”

I pulled back to look up at him. “Really?”

“I promise,” he held up both of his hands in mock-defeat, “I’ll keep my hands to myself. I just want to talk to him.”

I distinctly remembered one instance, about two years ago, when we found a spy on our territory, and Reid sent his corpse back to his own pack, ultimately absorbing them just a few months later.

He wasn’t friendly to spies. Rightfully so, I supposed.

But I still didn’t think the French-Canadians were a threat.

Silas was already headed out the door and down the hallway. We followed him, with our hands clasped together.

The rain had all but stopped, but from the looks of things, it would pick back up sooner than later. Still, we only encountered four wandering pack members, and nobody tried to stop us. The three of us hardly spoke.

By the time we stepped off the main road and cut through the grass to a break in the tree line, to the dirt path leading to the meeting place, it was drizzling yet again. Once we were on the trail, the tree branches formed a canopy overhead, providing coverage from the rain.

I used the elastic on my wrist to tie it up in a messy bun on the top of my head. I wiped several droplets of rainwater off of my face.

The trees soon thinned out, and so did the canopy above our heads. We arrived in the clearing that served as the patrol meeting place, and we stepped back out into the rain. Deanna was there waiting, as expected, and with her was a newbie by the name of Merritt. Their casual conversation stopped when they saw us, and they both stood at attention. Silas and I stood on either side of Reid.

A stranger was sprawled on the ground. He had a gash in his shoulder and one of his cheeks was red and appeared to be a bit swollen. His wet, fiery red hair was messy. He was out cold.

“What happened to him?” I asked.

“He was combative, Luna,” Deanna glanced down at the intruder’s limp body, “so we subdued him. He came in human form, and he didn’t try to Shift, but he fought hard.”

“Merritt, wake him up,” Reid ordered authoritatively.

Merritt jumped slightly. “Yes, Alpha.”

He quickly moved to drag the intruder’s body several feet, to prop him up against a tree. He crouched in front of him and lightly slapped his cheeks a few times.

“Hey.”

Deanna moved to assist, but Reid stopped her. “Don’t.”

She nodded in understanding. Merritt was new enough to have not had to deal with an intruder yet. Reid was using this as both a teaching opportunity and a chance to test Merritt’s capability. He crossed his arms over his chest as he observed.

Merritt shook the man’s shoulders twice, but he repositioned to get a better grip on him. As soon as Merritt’s palm pressed against the gash in his shoulder, he jolted upright. Merritt released him, and we all watched as he looked around, clearly confused and disoriented.

But then something akin to panic flitted across his features, and then anger, and he scrambled to his feet and he tried to run. Merritt was quick to grab him, but the outsider certainly did have quite a bit of fight in him.

“Alpha, should we knock him back out?” Merritt asked Reid with underlying notes of desperation in his tone.

The man’s head snapped up to look at Reid, and with an enraged scream, he ripped out of Merritt’s arms and charged. Reid didn’t flinch. He didn’t even move. Silas also stood rooted in place, so I did, too.

Merritt tackled the intruder to the ground just a second or two before he would’ve collided with Reid.

Reid c****d his head to the side as he briefly watched their scuffle.

He barked firmly, “Stop f*****g around. Get up.”

Merritt managed to yank the man to his feet and he forced him back some distance, as he continued to thrash and fight, now zeroed in on Reid.

“Twist both arms behind his back,” Reid instructed. “Hard.”

Merritt clumsily grabbed both of the man’s arms, and he managed to get behind him. Once he had a better grip, he kicked the backs of his knees, quickly, one after the other. The stranger finally fell, and he let out another enraged shout. Merritt crouched behind him, now with a firm hold on his arms.

Reid stared down at him. “Why are you here?”

“What the f**k gives you the right to hold me hostage here?!” the intruder demanded, his rage palpable, and his accent thick just like the two who had come before him.

Before he even finished his sentence, Reid snapped back, “Answer my question, or I’ll kill you right now! You’re on my f*****g territory!”

The man didn’t speak another word, his chest heaving, and he was staring daggers at Reid.

“Why are you here?” Reid repeated coolly.

“I was separated from my pack members and I tracked them here. I am looking for them,” the man explained curtly, through gritted teeth.

“Where did you come from?” Reid asked.

“We are from the Lune Bleue pack, in Quebec, Canada.”

“Where in Quebec?”

“Mont Écho.”

Reid paused. “Green Mountains?”

“Yes.”

Silas and I exchanged a look.

The Green Mountains of Vermont were already a part of our territory, of course—I was unaware there were any werewolf packs residing in the Green Mountains of Canada. In fact, I had never thought of the Canadian Green Mountains at all.

“How did you wind up in Vermont?” Reid asked the intruder.

“We were on holiday.”

“Who is your Alpha?”

“Alpha Philippe.”

“Hmm.”

For the first time since he’d awoken, the intruder faltered. “Are you going to kill me?”

“Am I? No.”

Reid nodded once at Deanna, and with that, he turned away. Silas and I followed. Immediately, horrified screams, protests, anguished pleas, and infuriated insults erupted from the outsider as Merritt and Deanna dutifully dragged him away.

Reid, Silas, and I stepped onto the path leading back into town. The intruder’s screams were growing more and more distant, and then we heard a distinct, sickening, wet crunch!, fainter than his screams but certainly audible, and he abruptly stopped.

“Satisfied?” Silas asked Reid.

“For the moment,” Reid confirmed.

“What now?” I asked.

“Not sure yet. Gotta do some research.”

I hesitated, and then I looked up at him. “I don’t know of any packs whose territory crosses country lines.”

A slight smile crept across his lips. “Me neither.”