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Ty struggled with so many people near Rose right now. She’d got him going and he just wanted to go down on her something fierce. The mating heat between them was showing and he couldn’t be happier. Rose was his key to getting the Hollow Wood Pack back without a return to the wars. She was the current Alpha’s daughter and Russell didn’t have any sons. That meant he either gave his pack away to another, or he makes his daughter’s mate the next Alpha.

It seemed like a nice and ironic outcome to Ty. He got the beauty beside him and the pack. Russell got nothing in the end, because Ty would make sure that Russell learned exactly what it felt like for his father to be burned alive. He knew it made him no better than Russell, but it would end there. 

Rose would be with him, and their pups would fear for nothing. The wars would truly be over and done with. 

Being in heat complicated things. Ty knew there were pack injured to look after. Russell’s men chose to rough them up. It was done to push Russell’s weight around. Ty’s guys were instructed to assess their competition. No one was to reveal their skills. Ty’s pack were military trained. They all served; it was why it took them so long to return. 

Ty could feel how upset both women were. It couldn’t be helped. The encounter Ty’s people had with Russell’s told him what Russell thought of his daughter and his short-sightedness in her usefulness to him. 

Ty knew what happened to their mothers and he wouldn’t ignore the fact that could happen to them. If killing Rose prevented Ty from taking the pack peacefully, then Russell would do that. Ty didn’t question that.

“What do you care if my father kills me or sells me to the highest bidder? Jules isn’t part of this. Why are you doing this?”

“Stop lying to yourself. I’ve explained it and you can’t pretend you don’t know. I feel it as much as you do. Your father is not going to mess with our mating, and I know Ben won’t let Jules be harmed in any way. We’re lucky to have gotten here when we did. All the trouble that took me from the bar was caused by your father’s enforcers, and they came bearing a message for me. I’m not sure if it was something your father intended to send or if they were just looking out for you.”

“What did they say? What trouble has there been now?” Rose was distracted from her distress of being kidnapped and insisted he tell her what was said.

“While they were roughing up my people, they sent a warning. After they told us flat out, we weren’t welcome in town they went on to add to the warning. It appears, your father has some plan to profit from everything in his life and he doesn’t care about the cost to anyone else. If he can’t profit from someone, they are gone, never to be heard of again. They hinted I would know what happens to people that aren’t of any use to your father anymore. As I know where the graves are, it’s not a stretch to add two and two. This isn’t kidnapping, it’s a rescue, and I think that’s why the guys walked in and walked out with your things. They wanted you out of his control.”

“No, it can’t be. I know my father has no love for me. Yes, he can be brutal at times, but never with me. Not unless I’ve overstepped my bounds in his eyes.”

“There’re limits on what you can do and not do? You’re a grown woman. No adult should live in fear of punishment because of a perceived misstep.”

“I agree, but that’s the way we’ve been living it feels normal.” Jules piped in. “It’s why we were looking for somewhere to go. But we were having trouble. Other packs feared taking us in because they thought Russell would go to war with them to get Rose back.” Rose glared at her. It was one thing for them to know they wanted to leave and had plans. It was another to admit that they feared what they were saying was true. She didn’t want them making her feel like she was indebted to them for saving them from a fate worse than death.

“What? When did you hear this? Why didn’t I know about it?” Rose noticed what Jules was saying a moment after Jules said it, and it changed everything. Rose couldn’t believe this. When had this happened? 

“I didn’t want to see your face or live with you when you found out how bad your father’s reputation is outside of the region. I couldn’t get any details, but before we were born, he did some questionable things. So, he’s basically persona non-grata in most areas. It’s why we don’t go to the great meets and such like the other packs. He’s not welcome.” Jules looked like she was about to cry because she was so frustrated, and Rose could hear the hopelessness within her voice along with Jules' pleading for Rose to understand why she’d not said anything.

“Good grief, Jules we were trying to get away no stay here. How can I figure out who to approach if I don’t know something that important.” Rose couldn’t believe that Jules did this. It changed everything and she wasn’t sure how she’d fix it.

“Rose, hon. Please try to understand, I was afraid you’d give up searching if you thought it was impossible to find a decent pack to accept us.” 

“This is ridiculous. It’s all moot now. You’ve now got the Shadow Pack taking you in and your father can act out however he feels. What he’ll find out is we aren’t the push overs that he currently believes we are. You’re safe with me Rose. Just like Jules is safe with Ben. Now I’m afraid to ask this. But we don’t have a healer in this pack yet. Do you know of one that can help quietly. I don’t want them singled out by your father and harmed in any way.”

“The local packs share a healer for the most part. There haven’t been any new people taking an interest in healing within the packs for several years.”

“I was afraid of that. The healer must be over worked in this area with four packs to look after.” Ty didn’t like the sound of that. If a war broke out the area would be a death zone with little to no help from healers. That was not sustainable, what if something happened to the healer?

“Well, there’s Heather’s dad who’s the current town healer. Heather’s been trying to study but her father doesn’t want her getting mixed up too much with the other packs as a healer. He’d rather have her do the administration and reception work.” Rose gave Jules a warning look. She was talking far to freely to these guys and it was giving her all sorts of warning signs that something wasn’t right.

“I’ll need to investigate that. We have a healing centre all set up, but no one really to man it properly. Jay, you think you can investigate finding out from this Heather if she knows someone willing to take control of the healing centre? Get a second location going quietly for those who are with us or are innocents in all this.” That last part got Rose’s attention. Innocents? That was something her father never spoke of. Someone was always guilty of something.

“Why not go to her father and ask him?”

“Because I question the competency of a healer that rejects another joining them in a situation where there aren’t enough healers going around.”