Unnamed point of view
I could hear the trespasser a mile out. Whoever this idiot was, they sure weren't sneaky. At three am, this wasn't a person out for a morning exercise. It was too early.
I glanced at my father to see him sleeping. I could handle whoever was coming, werewolf or otherwise.
Quietly, I left our house. It was maybe five minutes before I laid eyes on the woman wondering around. She was headed nowhere in particular.
When I caught her scent, I made sure that I stayed down wind. She was a werewolf, not usually my type, but she was attractive.
I silently followed her for a half a mile before she stopped. She didn't appear to have anyone else following her, so I didn't think it was a trap.
"Who's out there?" she asked.
I stayed quiet. I didn't want her to know about me yet.
"I know you're out there. You've been following me for a while."
She pivoted on her heel, looking around for any sign of me.
"Just come out. I have a proposal for you."
That caught my interest. What would she have to offer us? I could tell that this wasn't a woman who was used to having to protect herself.
"Come on," she said in a sigh. "I have useful information for you. Don't be an idiot." She waited a moment before giving up a bit. "Fine," she muttered, "let Mason rip you a new asshole."
She turned on her heel and came right for me. Maybe she did know where she was going.
I didn't back away. I wouldn't retreat from a woman. So I straightened up and crossed my arms over my chest.
She was shorter than I realized. She froze when she spotted me. She didn't know how to use her nose worth a damn if she was surprised to see me.
She stood, frozen in her boots for a good thirty seconds before I grew tired of waiting. "Say what you came out here to say."
She swallowed in nervousness as she slouched, making herself look small and not-at-all intimidating. "I-I came out here t-to help you," she stuttered, the smell of fear came from her in dramatic waves.
"Help me with what?"
She flinched when I took a step forward. She was completely terrified and I loved every second of it. "I can give information that could help you with Mason. He's been sent here to hunt you down and kill you."
"I'm not afraid of some wolf who can't even find me."
Her brow rose in a sign of defiance. "You're hiding in the middle of nowhere, getting rid of your scent so no one can find you. I'd say you were afraid of someone."
In an instant I had her back against a tree, squeezing her neck with one hand. She gurgled from the force and struggled as she tried to breathe.
"Panicking only makes it worse," I whispered in her ear. She tried for a second, but it didn't work. "You really should learn to keep your mouth shut." An idea lit up like a bulb in my mind. "I can help you with that."
But first, I needed that information.
I released my grip on her, fractionally. "So, what did you come here to tell me?"
I could feel her relief. I wasn't going to kill her. Traitors needed to be outed in their packs. They were always untrustworthy and everyone should know so. Living with the shame of being a traitor would be so much worse.
"His name is Mason Meyers." Her voice was rasped from the hold I had her in.
"I know his name. If that's all you have, you came unprepared."
She quickly shook her head, anything as to not be in that grip again. "He has a mate. Her name is Lexi. If you killed her, he would be broken."
I liked that idea. There would be no better time to attack him if his mate had just died. This woman was right. He would be broken.
I smiled at her, relaxing her. "I think I could use that information."
She nodded once and started walking away. I let her get twenty feet away.
"You know, we used to have a tradition, when I had a pack."
She paused and looked over her shoulder at me; her disdain for me was easily seen in her eyes.
"We used to let the betrayers of our pack stay with us." She swallowed in nervousness. "They would be marked as traitors," I tapped the middle of my forehead, where the mark went, "and they would be forced to live their lives looked down upon as the scum they are."
She turned her head away from me and continued walking home. "Good thing I'm not your pack."
Poor thing, she thinks she is going to get away free and clear. I smiled at the thought.
When I stepped towards her, she dashed through the trees in a sprint. She wasn't fast enough, but she was sure as hell trying.
I followed her. She would lead me back to the pack lands, and possibly the alpha house. That's where the ones who were hunting me would be staying.
When I could pick up scents, I knew this was far enough. It was time to have some fun with the woman.
Lexi's point of view
Mason shot up, startling me out of a dead sleep. He darted out of bed and started throwing on clothes.
I lazily glanced at the clock. "Baby, it's three AM."
He quickly came over and handed me my robe. "I know it is. Something's happened."
I reluctantly threw the blankets off of me and covered myself with my robe. Before we left the room, he gave me a big, wet kiss. I could see that he was worried.
He led me to Dean's office by the hand. I double checked the front of the robe to make sure nothing was showing. Mason had practically dragged me from our room to here.
When the doors opened, I smelled blood. Someone was hurt. Has someone ran into the wolves we're looking for?
My eyes instantly landed on Jenna. I couldn't see her face, but her scent was strong. She was the one who had been bleeding.
She was sitting on the floor, hugging her knees to her chest. She wasn't looking at anyone.
"What happened?" I blurted.
Her head jerked up. The second she made she contact with me, her mate forced her head back down. Mason's grip tightened on my hand, forcing me to stay by him.
I didn't understand. I had never seen her mate so furious with her. Jamison's eyes were solid gold. His wolf fully surfaced, which meant he was dangerous. I felt Mason's fury trickle through the bond, but he cut off most of our connection so I couldn't sense everything he felt.
I glanced at Alpha Dean. He was in full-on alpha mode. His eyes were golden. His bone structure had even changed to allow his wolf's sharpened teeth to come through. He looked ready to tear anyone's throat out.
"I am two minutes from killing that bitch," the alpha growled, trembling as he resisted his urge.
My jaw literally dropped. I was missing something, something life-and-death important.
Mason turned to me, blocking my view of everyone in the room. "Go back to bed."
I was so confused as I looked up at him. His eyes were slowly going golden and I didn't know why. I felt his worries come through the bond and his love for me. Was he worried about me?
He sighed. "I don't know what's going to happen. I just need you to go back to bed." Where you're safe, I heard him say before the bond shut painfully tight between us.
He didn't want me to stay here if they killed Jenna.
I nodded once before returning to the room, wildly confused about what I had just seen.
Mason's point of view
I felt better once she was out of the room. There was a good chance that Jenna would be sentenced to death today. Her mate wouldn't allow it. I wasn't sure if I could keep Lex safe and carry out Finn's laws, even when their alpha was here.
Jamison might try for revenge for his mate. Dean might not fight against Jamison's revenge. I needed Lex in a safe place before I could think.
I sat down on Dean's desk. "What happened?"
I recognized the Mark of the Traitor that was engraved on her forehead. It wasn't something I had seen since I was a child with my psychotic werewolf father. It originally came from his pack. It wasn't something he ever talked about.
"Jamison found his mate bloodied and beaten. She won't speak, not even to me." Dean growled. His wolf wanted to kill her and be done with it.
"Jenna." She was forced to tilt her head up, but keep her eyes on the ground. "You're going to tell me what happened, now."
She shook her head.
"Finn might not be pleased if I call him at three in the morning." He wouldn't care, but she didn't know that.
A tear streaked down her cheek when she blinked. Something bad had happened to take her from the mean assertive werewolf she was to this weak thing, sitting on the floor.
"Who did you betray your pack to?" Dean's voice boomed. He couldn't hide his fury. It had been a very long time since he was this mad. I was just glad it wasn't directed at me this time. He wasn't the best at controlling his anger when it got to this point.
Jenna started shaking. "I don't know his name."
"Was he one of the wolves we're after?" I kept my voice neutral. If the alpha lost it, I'd have to stop him. If I let myself get angry, I'd be likely to join him in his rampage.
She nodded once. "I think so. He knew who you are before I even said anything. He knows you're here to hunt him down and kill him."
There goes the element of surprise, I heard my wolf grumble. I couldn't help but agree. I had been hoping that Declan wouldn't have remembered me. It was a very long time ago that I had seen him. The surprise was going to make this easier. Now they were going to be careful not to lead me to their doorstep.
"Where did you find him?"
She shrugged and didn't bother to wipe her face free from tears. "I don't know. I just went out and started walking around. He didn't find me until I was past the pack's borders."
Them being off pack land meant that they had to cross the territory lines to get back into town. We needed patrols.
"How many were there?"
"Just the one." She sighed. "I told him about Lexi. He knows you're mated together."
I took a step towards the cowering woman when my fury spiked. If she were close, I wouldn't have stopped. Luckily for her, she was quite a few feet away. It took me a full minute to calm down enough to speak.
"What else did you tell him?" Instead of a calm voice, now she got a growl. Now that I knew she had intentionally put Lex in danger, the game had changed. This woman would die because she sold out Lexi, I didn't care if Finn disagreed.
"I told him everything he wanted to know. He wanted to know how many pack members there are, how much land this pack claims, whether or not anyone was trained, where the houses of pack members are. He wanted to know everything."
The fact that she gave so much information away had me barely holding onto what control I had left. "And he tortured it out of you?" She had one more shot at a redeeming quality. Maybe there was something that might make me reconsider ending her life.
She cocked her head to the side, contemplating her answer. "Not really."
Jamison paced away from his mate. "Couldn't help yourself, could you, whore."
Her jaw set as she glared up at her mate. "It's not my fault you don't have the balls for anything anymore. I'll take a good time where I can get it."
He looked back at her, ready to pounce, but he didn't. "We're severing this bond, like we should have when you fucked him." He pointed at me as he yelled his mate.
"It's not anyone else's fault that you're a giant pussy. That's all on you, baby," she shot back at her mate.
This was getting awkward and out of hand.
"What did you get out of him?" I interrupted the lovers' quarrel before I killed them both myself.
"Besides a mouth full of—"
"Jamison," the alpha finally interjected. "Excuse yourself from my office."
With a sneer, Jamison left, slamming the solid door behind him.
"What information did you get from him?" I asked once we had all settled down a bit.
Jenna kept her eyes on the ground. "Not much. We didn't go back to where he was staying. We stayed in the woods. He came prepared."
"So you didn't get anything useful out of him? You just wanted a tussle for your information." Dean was disgusted and it came through in his voice.
She shrugged. "I wanted him to know that Mason has a mate. She's his vulnerability."
"So what? You sent a crazy werewolf after Lex?"
She shrugged. The woman obviously knew she was going to die. Anyone would know what the outcome was going to be in this situation. "Seemed like a good idea at the time. You've never needed a mate, Mason. Why do you need one now?"
I shook my head. "I don't have to explain anything to you. What happens between my mate and me is none of your concern. Sending a wolf who has been on a rampage after my mate is dangerous. Do you think I can't kill him?"
"I'm not worried that you can't kill him. I know he can kill Lexi, that's what mattered."
"You really are crazy." Dean nodded his head in agreement at my statement. "You've committed crimes against our Continental Pack and will be punished."
A crime against one pack was a crime against all. A hit ordered on one wolf was a hit on all. Jenna was dead where she stood as soon as Finn gave the okay. If her mate tried, in any way, to help her or to stop her punishment, he would be punished as severely as she.
Alpha Dean stood Jenna up. "She'll sit in the cells tonight. Don't bother to wake Finn because of her nonsense."
When they were gone, I ran my hands over my face. This was a headache. I didn't come here to sentence pack members to their deaths. I came here to save their way of life, to save their lands, and to prevent their deaths.
I needed Lex.
As I thought she would be, she was wide awake on the bed, distracting herself with an annoying game on her phone.
She stopped and put her phone to the side when she saw me. "I don't see any blood. That must be a good sign."
I shook my head and stripped on my way to the bed. I wouldn't let anyone lay a hurtful hand on this woman. She was too important.
She met me on the side of the bed, sitting on her ankles. "What happened?"
"Jenna is a betrayer of Finn's packs. She's going to be put to death, Jamison too if he tries to prevent it."
She sighed and kept calm; I could feel it through our bond. It was what I needed. "What did she do?"
"She gave our hunted your name."
Her brows furrowed. "Like what? She ordered a hit on me?" I could tell in her voice she was kidding around, but it was true.
I nodded once and she sobered. "I won't let anyone hurt you Lex."
She forced a smile. I could feel her hesitance. "I'm not the weak newly changed wolf anymore. I'm stronger because of you. We're going to find these two wolves and we are going to take care of them, just like we planned to."
I pulled her close by her robe, so she was trapped against me. "You're going to carry your gun around with you, loaded for wolves. We don't know what they look like."
"Good thing I just cleaned it." She rubbed her nose gently along my collar bone, but not getting the reaction she was working for. "We're going to be fine Mason. They're not going to win."
"If something happened to you, they would."
She smiled against my neck. "Well, aren't you the sweet talker when you're worried. I kinda like it."
I pushed her back against the bed. "I'll show you sweet talker."
Lexi's point of view
Mason didn't sleep much. What little he got wasn't restful. Criminal proceedings weren't easy; I had been to a few. With werewolves it was different. One was judge, jury, and executioner. In this case, Mason or Alpha Dean would carry out the execution.
The conversation with Finn was short. Jenna didn't even try to defend herself.
She looked like she hadn't slept all night. I couldn't blame her. She knew she was going to die. There was no way she could stop it. She did wrong and now she would be punished.
The cut on her forehead hadn't healed much more than it had last night. The guy must have used a silver tipped knife; it was the only way it would've stayed.
The only reason I stayed was for Mason. This woman had been a tyrant and had sent a murderer onto me. She was guilty. That didn't mean I wanted to watch her die.
Thankfully, the alpha stood up to carry out his duties. Jamison didn't have anything but hate in his eyes, both when he looked at his mate and when he looked at Mason.
I could tell that this wouldn't be over with his mate's death. He wanted revenge on Mason as well.
I'd definitely be carrying around that gun with me wherever I went while we were here.
When Jenna's spinal cord was severed, her mate bond was gone. The affect on Jamison was almost immediate. He went rigid first, then, he deflated.
I knew, from experience, that it was painful. The bond that I had was different, it had been forced on me, but it was still emotionally wrecking when it was severed.
Even if Jenna had been a bad woman, he had still loved her. Jamison slumped forward and covered his face with his hands. He didn't cry, even if he wanted to. He stayed still, only breathing because he had to.
I wished that I could've felt bad for him, but I couldn't. There was too much bad blood between us all. Mason pulled me out of the room; the rest of the pack followed us out. Jamison needed time with his alpha and his dead mate.