Deep Wolves by Rhea Wilde Read Free Book Online Page B

the beginning. There was a deeper issue here. Irvine’s presence alone was proof of that. My mind hadn’t wandered from Vaughn.
    “I want to see him.”
    “Okay,” Irvine nodded. “But you have to let him rest. Believe me, if he was able, I would be talking to him right now.”
    Irvine and I made our way to the back of the shop. Vaughn was laying on the table unconscious. They had wiped the blood from him but still, I had never seen him like this before. His wounds bandaged and the red covering his body, I broke down immediately and started to cry. I rested my head upon his chest as the tears rushed from my eyes.
    Don’t leave me. Please…
    I could feel his heart beating faintly underneath my ear. But seeing Vaughn nearly lifeless reminded me that even a man like him was still mortal. And the thought of losing him made me break down even more.
    “I’ll be waiting outside, Ms. Everhart.”
    I listened to the sound of Irvine leaving me while I rested upon Vaughn’s chest. I stood up straight and looked down at him. I felt helpless. The only place in the world that I thought was ours and ours alone had been invaded. I didn’t even feel safe in Phoenix’s shop.
    I made my way back out to the front. Irvine was sitting there and looking out the window. He sipped on a cup of something that Phoenix had prepared for him with a calmness that I envied at the moment.
    “So what do you know?” I asked him.
    “It’s happening again, Ms. Everhart.”
    “ What? ”
    “What happened here is happening again. In New York City.”
    “The murders.”
    “Yes. Except it’s worse. Much worse.”
    “How?”
    I gingerly took a seat in front of Irvine, afraid of what I was about to hear. Irvine took another sip of his drink and sighed deeply.
    “I told The Agency what happened. I wiped the entirety of the Rucai out because it was necessary. I told them they were murdering women in an attempt to find a new Alpha for their clan. They needed someone to breed with.
    “The latest police discovery in New York was similar to what happened here. Too similar. The Agency immediately started keeping tabs.”
    “They saw one of the wolves responsible?”
    “That’s right. They actually managed to capture him.”
    “What did they do to him?”
    “The Agency has methods I don’t entirely approve of. They weren’t able to get much out of him until he died. But what they did learn is that he’s part of the Nakas Clan.”
    “The Nakas? So you’re going to stop them.”
    “No. I’m afraid to admit that even I’m not capable of that. There are simply too many of them.”
    “How many?”
    “Thousands, Ms. Everhart.”
    “Thousands…”
    He nodded and confirmed what I thought I heard. To think that there were that many wolves capable of committing those kinds of murders made my stomach churn. I didn’t want to think about what could happen even though the situation was forcing me to.
    “Which brings me here,” Irvine explained. “This is unlike anything I have ever done. The Agency is not asking me to destroy them. I cannot. They have sent me to negotiate.”
    “Negotiate?”
    “Yes. I am to quell any uprising the Nakas are trying to cause before it gets any worse.”
    “B-but… They won’t listen to reason. You saw what they did here. What makes this any—”
    “Ms. Everhart, I recall quite well what happened here. My official orders are to stop them. Negotiation is preferable simply because of the numbers. But I will do whatever it takes.”
    “And how are you going to stop them? How are you going to convince thousands of wolves to stop when you don’t even know why they’re doing it? What if they won’t listen?”
    Irvine scoffed as I asked all of the questions. What he was trying to do seemed impossible. The Rucai were small in numbers. Vaughn single-handedly destroyed them. I couldn’t imagine what it would look like if there were thousands of them running over New York city.
    “That is where Vaughn comes