Lone Wolf (The Westervelt Wolves, Book 8) by Rebecca Royce Read Free Book Online Page A

remained. Gabriel gasped, stumbling backward like a falling comet had slammed into him.
    His wolf had left him. No . He couldn’t believe it. The gods wouldn’t take him back. He couldn’t be left alone in this world without Carrie and without his other half. Could he shift? Had he been left … human?
    Exhaustion tainted his every move. All he wanted to do was fall to the ground and not move until the sun and moon left the heavens above. Instead, he called his shift to himself. The white light came, less beautiful than before, subdued in its glory. His wolf body remerged. He could walk like a wolf, howl like a wolf, smell like a wolf—but only in body. His wolf soul had left.
    “Gabriel.” Tristan ran up the hill toward him. His brother lived. That had to mean something. Didn’t it? Couldn’t Gabriel make Tristan see he was Alpha? Wouldn’t that fix things?
    He called his human body back. This time he knew he’d shifted once too many times that day. Soon, he would collapse and there wouldn’t be a damn thing he could do about it.
    “Brother.” Gabriel reached out for him and Tristan caught him as he stumbled.
    “Gabriel.” Tears streamed from Tristan’s eyes. “Are you hurt? Did you try to stop one of the mated men? What has happened? How could this be? Who could do this to us? The pack is destroying itself.”
    “Tristan, tell me something.” He could barely form the words, but he had to know if his father had done what he’d said he would do. “Do you know someone named Carrie?”
    His brother blinked rapidly. “Gabriel, did you hear me? The mates are all dying. We are all that is left. Unmated males. Mom, she got the unmated women off the island. But she’s gone now. Father butchered her.”
    Tristan continued to ramble on, but Gabriel couldn’t hear him. The world spun and blackness took him over. One thing was for certain; their should-be Alpha had no idea Gabriel was mated or that Carrie even existed.
    His father’s spell had worked.

Chapter 4
    “We have to burn them.” Michael’s voice cracked as he looked at Gabriel. They both leaned against the wall of the Institute, the primary headquarters of the Westervelt pack. “All of them. We can’t possibly bury them en masse.”
    Gabriel hit the back of his head against the concrete building. The thumping of his head made the ache in his soul a little more bearable. If he could concentrate on small pains he could avoid thinking about really large ones.
    “Are you listening to me?” His brother scowled. It had only been ten hours since the massacre. None of them were in their right minds.
    “I am.” He nodded. He had, in fact, heard every word his older brother uttered. There just didn’t seem to be anything worthwhile to add to the conversation.
    “And you think what? Yes, we should burn them, or no, we shouldn’t?” Michael’s tone suggested he might explode at any second. That would really be a sight. His older brother so rarely lost his temper that when he did it always shocked everyone. Today seemed a good day to go a little berserk.
    “Michael, you’re Alpha now. If you want to burn them, that’s what we do.”
    “You and I both know I shouldn’t be Alpha.”
    The telepathic communication boomed around inside his head. Without his wolf there to take the magic, that way of talking actually caused him pain. Not that he could say anything.
    He stared at Michael. “Brother. I think there’s something I’d like to tell you.”
    Michael’s weary eyes met his own. “What would that be?”
    Carrie’s beautiful brown eyes flitted in front of his vision. “Nothing. Never mind.”
    Tristan approached. “What have you decided, my Alpha?” His brother’s sincere gaze implored Michael to make a decision. Gabriel wondered if Tristan noticed Michael flinched at the word Alpha. Probably not . Tristan tended to only see the good in everyone around them, a trait that would have to be destroyed before he could take his rightful place