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shoulders.
    Carlos recalled Derrick’s words. “He strikes me as a man who wants to be
forgiven, but he knows you’re not going to give it to him.”
    His house still smelled of Reed,
and Carlos was loathed to go to the backyard. Carlos flung his thoughts back to
the Starr Mountain Pack and why Jax Starr had a bone to pick with him.
    The Alpha thought Carlos stole some
of his wolves, but Jax’s defected wolves—Derrick and Ricky—only came to New
Haven to find their mates. Each time Jax set his schemes in motion, Carlos only
gained more loyal wolves.
    When Jax sent Terrence’s former
mate to New Haven intending to stir up some internal conflict, Terrence found a
mate in Al, one of his Gammas. Recently, when a serial killer entered New Haven
seeking new prey, Pat, one of his grief-stricken wolves who’d lost his mate,
found a new mate in a lone wolf hunting the killer.
    There was no evidence, but Carlos
and his wolves suspected Jax somehow subtlety nudged the killer into New Haven
to stir up trouble. Initially, Carlos believed Jax sent Reed to him as part of
his ploys, but he no longer believed it was true. Reed said he came out of his
own accord and Carlos was beginning to believe him.
    Carlos remembered Reed’s words and
the solemn expression accompanying his mate’s face. “I meant what I said, Carlos. After you, I’ve never taken another mate.
I belong to you and will always belong to you. Distance and time doesn’t change
anything.”
    All his new wolves did everything
they could to be with their fated mates. They shed blood, nearly lost their
lives battling monsters, and risked all to earn their happy endings.
    Why couldn’t Carlos, the New Haven
pack Alpha, do the same? He could imagine the ghost of their adoptive daughter,
frowning up at him, asking him what the hell he was waiting for.
    “Fuck.” Carlos dropped the frame
and shed his clothes.
    In seconds, he was running out of
his house and into the fading afternoon. A howl tore out of his throat as he
ran. It was a different howl from the one he usually bellowed to admonish his
wolves. The howl rang loud, defiant, and filled with an unmistaken strength
like a siren’s wail.
    Growls, yips, and more howls
answered his call as he ran from the residential district and into the town
proper. Carlos didn’t need to crane his head to know a blur of mottled fur fell
in rank behind him.
    His pack may contain wolves
abandoned for being weak, wolves plagued by all sorts of health issues and were considered faulty by any normal pack, but they were his wolves and they were
all proud to be part of his pack.
    Each wolf joining the train he
formed strengthened the metaphysical pack bonds like a new link of chain.
    Taking the pack’s advice, the New
Haven streets were empty and most of the businesses were closed. Carlos assured
the town mayor everything would go back to normal by tomorrow, and he intended
to deliver his promise.
    Carlos ran past the shop and houses
forming the entrance of New Haven and ran out into the road. His paws skated
smoothly past gravel and in minutes he was past the ‘Welcome to New Haven’
sign.
    Numerous cars formed a blockade.
Its occupants didn’t notice their arrival immediately. The wolves of the Starr
Mountain Pack had formed a loose, large circle, probably watching Jax executing
his mate. Angered at the thought, Carlos used the pack bonds to announce his
presence with an ear-shattering growl.
    Werewolves in wolf form or in their
human forms along the nearest edge of the circle yelped and backed away,
leaving an opening for them. Carlos was aware of each of his wolves and knew
the chain they forged felt like steel. Meanwhile, Jax’s pack tasted like
brittle iron.
    The circle’s center was cleared
except for the Starr Mountain Pack and Jax’s second. Reed was on his knees, his
head bowed in defeat in front of a half-shifted Jax. He was stripped naked, and
Carlos could see the signs of his abuse his body had endured under Jax’s