Page 101 of Hart's Redemption

I danced back and narrowly avoided a hit to the face for my efforts.

“Watch his face!” Mallin called out.

I bit back a sharp retort that he “come over here and fight me himself”. If Elijah hadn’t been so insistent that I remain silent, I might have. As it was, the effort of not laying out all three of these idiots was proving difficult enough without adding my temptation to clock Mallin on principle.

A shift of air behind me was all the warning I needed to dance aside. The largest one regained their bearings and stumbled forward, right into the cruel one. They hit the ground in a stream of curses, and I leapt onto the chair. The scarred one glared at me, then clenched their fist and advanced.

“Enough.”

The scarred one vibrated with rage. Bruises from his companions’ efforts to hit me decorated his body, as they did the other two, still struggling to rediscover their footing.

I cocked my head to the side and defiantly met Mallin’s gaze.

Mallin’s lip curled back in a snarl. “Let him stew for a while. We still have twenty-four hours to get him to confess.”

I barely didn’t laugh at the pathetic attempt at a threat. That Conrad Mallin believed ‌he could do things worse than my own mother had done was truly preposterous.

I maintained my obstinate stance until the echo of the door closing at the top of the stairs dwindled into obscurity. Grateful to be alone, I sank into the chair, drained. Normally, the altercation itself wouldn’t have been taxing, but I’d yet to fully recover from the oaths being re-administered.

I used what remained of my waning strength to shift the chair to the far wall, where I could monitor the only entrance and mitigate the likelihood of being surrounded when they inevitably returned. The chair creaked in protest as I fell unceremoniously into its unforgiving embrace. I fixed my gaze on the faint outline of the door at the top of the stairs and fought what I knew to be a losing battle. My eyes were already heavy from the decided lack of sleep I’d gotten over the course of the last two days, on top of the soul-deep exhaustion that plagued my body. It was only a matter of time before slumber overtook me, then Mallin would have all the advantage he needed.

Elijah

“We have to go after him,” I said, pushing to my feet.

Eric shook his head. “You know what will happen if you do, Red. That could be considered open rebellion. He won’t even give the pretense of a hearing if you do that. Also, he’s not alone. There will be witnesses, and not the kind you need. Dylon, Neevah, and Cara are all extremely loyal to Conrad. Why else do you think he brought them?”

I stared at my hands and asked myself for the thousandth time why I hadn’t followed Eric’s advice and just challenged for the pack before I’d left for the trial. If I had, then we wouldn’t be in this mess. I wouldn’t have to convince Conrad and a cluster of backward-thinking elders that the sacrifices Josh had made for this pack far outweighed the crimes he’d committed.

He walked over. “We can’t do anything rash. We need action, but we’re going to have to be smart about this.”

“Who are you and what have you done with my best friend?”

“Don’t look at me like that. Just because I’ve been pushing you to overthrow that asshole for ten fucking years doesn’t mean I’m incapable of more moderate action.”

“Ooh, someone’s got a mouth on them.” Both of our heads swiveled around at the unexpected intrusion of Remus’s voice. He took in our confused expressions, his brow furrowing. “What? The door was unlocked.” He held up a case of bottles. “Plus, I brought booze. Now, where is the lucky bastard?”

My heart sank to the pit of my stomach as I connected why he was here. Eric, meanwhile, glared openly at Remus’s casual enthusiasm.

“Would it kill you to fucking knock?”

“Pfft.” He threw an arm around Eric’s shoulders. “What’s the matter? You look like someone kicked your kitten.”

Eric snarled and threw off the arm. “You over-muscled, pompous son of a—”

“Josh isn’t here,” I interjected before Eric could start a full-blown Beta fight in the middle of my living room.

Remus’s face only fell for a moment before it hardened. “Where is he?”

“Conrad took him,” Eric growled, still bristling from their interaction.

“The Klamath Alpha?”

I nodded.

Remus’s face clouded with dark intensity. “I can have the team here in less than an hour.” He immediately brought up his communication screen from his embedded bio-ware.

“Wait!”