Page 52 of Alpha's Claim

“Paloma is anxious to get back to the East Coast to find her sister,” Lana offers.

I send her a grateful look. She definitely has my back, and I appreciate that.

“Yes, have you heard anything?”

“That’s why I called everyone here,” Darius says. “We located her. The choir tour is on their final leg in New York. We found out the hotel they’re in, and we have friends en route to get her out. They should be there within the hour. Even though they block internet access, Kylie was able to hack into her school laptop and link her to a satellite. As soon as she opens it, we can connect you through my phone, so you can let her know what’s going on.”

I let out an exhale in an audible gust. “Thank God! Thank God.” Tears smart my eyes. “I’m so glad you found her.”

“We will leave immediately to rendezvous with her. Brothers…” Darius breaks off as if it’s hard for him to ask for help.

“We’ll go if you need us,” Matthias says.

Darius lets out his own exhale. “Thank you. I trust the wolves, but I would rather have my brothers there.”

“Bear power.” Bern pumps his fist in the air.

Darius’ phone beeps, and he whips it out of his pocket to look at the screen. “This is it.” The tautness in his voice tells me what it’s about.

I grab his wrist to bring the face of the phone closer to me.

On it, a young woman in her early thirties appears. She doesn’t take time to introduce herself, she just speaks as she clacks keys on her keyboard. “Wren is online. I’m patching you through right now.” The screen goes black, and I hold my breath for one second. Two. Four and five. Then suddenly a video comes on.

Wren stares at the screen. She looks surprised. “What’s this? Oh–Paloma!” Her face breaks in to a giant grin. “Oh my God! How did you connect us? I missed you on Sunday. What happened? Where have you been?”

“Listen, Wren. There’s no time to talk. Thom wants to kill you.”

I hate to scare her this way. I spent years trying to shield her from Thom’s evil, but I have to arm her with knowledge now. “He murdered our parents, and he’s been poisoning me for years to make me think I was sick.”

“What?”Wren’s face drains of color.

“He’s been holding your safety over my head to make me work for him, but I got away. We have friends on the way to get you out of there within the hour. Pack a bag now, so you’re ready when they show up.”

Just then, the door behind Wren bursts open. Wren screams. So do I.

Men dressed head to toe in black and carrying assault rifles spill into the hotel room.

“Please tell me these are your friends?” Wren asks with wide eyes.

I look to Darius, unsure, but the answer becomes clear when Thom leisurely walks in behind the group chomping on a cigar and carrying some kind of baton.

“Hello, Wren.”

I want to smack the smug smile right from his face. “Ah, perfect—there’s your lovely sister. And Darius, my poorly–behaved guest. Just the people I hoped to find.”

His men grab Wren and wrestle her away from the screen.

“Stop it!” I scream. “Get them off her.”

“Now, now,” Thom mock-soothes me. He points the baton at Wren and some kind of taser shock issues from it.

“No!” I scream as my sister slumps to the floor.

“Quiet, Paloma. You can’t throw a tantrum when I clearly warned you what would happen if you tried to run away again.”

I scream at Darius’s phone. “Let her go!”

Of course, he won’t let her go. I’m being irrational. I need to get my wits back, so I can outsmart this maniac.