Masked

CHAPTER 1 | wildfire

Nederland, Colorado

Daniel Locke ended the call and threw his phone on the desk, where it slid into the back of his laptop with a distinctive thud. Throughout his conversation with Hardy, he had remained the stoic and commanding alpha everyone expected him to be. Inwardly, his rage bubbled just below the surface as Hardy described the condition of the downed Werewolf. His people were dying in the worst possible way, and he had no idea how or why. Up until a month ago, Werewolves did not get ill. Now bodies were piling up across the country, and he had no way of predicting when the next victim would appear and potentially expose them all.

He hit the nearest wall with his fist and put a large hole through the surface. Wood splintered as the support beam cracked under the pure, brute force.

Simon poked his head through the door and eyed the damage. "Do we feel better now?"

He glanced at his hand, which bore no marks to show it had made contact with anything, let alone destroyed a portion of an office wall, and shrugged. "Much."

Simon leaned against the door frame and crossed his arms over his chest. "And I'm sure that the poor, defenseless wall had it coming."

He chose to ignore his friend—who also happened to be one of his betas—and headed back to his mahogany desk.

Simon, unable to hold his tongue in the best of situations, inspected the damage and chuckled. "How the hell am I going to expense the fix? I'm pretty sure I don't have a GL code for—in a fit of rage." He shook his head and turned toward Daniel. "I overheard some of the call. You know, it's okay if you don't have all the answers. This isn't your fault, you can't save everyone."

Daniel's green eyes flashed a warning at his beta. "I'm not having this conversation."

Simon's brows rose and he folded his arms. "Man, do you need to get laid."

"That's right, because if there's a problem, getting laid is always the answer."

Simon pretended to think about it for all of two seconds before he winked. "Yep."

Daniel rolled his eyes and snorted. "We all know that lately there's only one thing on your mind."

Simon put on his best offended face. "Nah. Sex solves everything was my default position before I met Lyssa." He jerked a thumb toward the damaged wall. "She finds very creative ways to calm me down before I get to that point."

Daniel frowned and crossed his arms over his chest. He stood to his full height, towering over his beta. "Well, we don't all have the luxury of having a mate, so I'll have to take your word for it. In the meantime, we have somewhat of a problem on our hands."

Simon's mood deflated, and he shuffled his feet under the scrutiny of his alpha.

As soon as the words were out of his mouth, Daniel regretted snapping at his friend. Simon only had his best interests at heart, and only wanted him to find the same contentment he now experienced. But his friend's pity at not having a mate irked him. Moments like this, he regretted the ability to communicate telepathically with his most trusted advisors and was thankful it did not extend to the rest of his pack.

"I just think you gave up too soon," Simon said.

He threw his friend a look that made it clear this particular topic was off-limits. He had long since grown weary of the politics that centered around this subject, and it did not help that his wolf echoed his friend's sentiment.

Simon got the message and plopped down on the oversized, brown leather Chesterfield tucked in the corner of the office. "So, Wildfire has made its way to the West Coast."