The Outcast

Unbelievable

Everyone at the table, me especially, goes rigid with tension as Simone gives us her recap of this morning's events.

There's no way in hell this is random. This is cruel and calculated. This was planned. And I'll be damned if someone crosses The Five Families and gets away with it.

"I found Alexander and Ry-" Simone exclaims but stops when her voice cracks. She clears her throat and tries again. "I found Alex and Ryleigh chained to trees on the edge of my territory with silver chains. They were covered in defensive wounds. They're throats were slit from ear to ear and they're hands were bound behind their backs. They were drugged with wolfsbane I could smell it when I approached."

"Probably to keep them from shifting." I think aloud as I rake my hands through my hair.

"Ash they were facing each other. Whoever did this to them.. they made them watch each other. They both had to watch as their mate got tortured and killed in front of them and they couldn't do a damn thing to stop it!" Simone yelled as she slammed her hands down on the table. The wood creaked like it would give way.

Something about the way their bodies were found is so familiar to me. Almost as if I've seen or heard of it before. But I can't place where.

Simone pulled a plastic bag from her pocket that appeared to contain a note. "My pack coroner found this in Ryleigh's mouth. I don't recognize the sent but there is definitely one there."

I took the bag from her hands and opened it. Immediately, the words on the page jumped out at me just as a thought formed in my head. I know exactly why the scene Simone described is so familiar...

"Leaving your hometown doesn't mean you get a fresh start. Crossing county lines doesn't make you immune to consequences and neither does crossing borders. Hopefully your new "families" will be forgiving considering these deaths are on your hands. See you soon bitch."

"SON. OF. A. BITCH!" I roared as I slammed both fists on the wood table sending splinters flying.

This can't be happening. I washed my hands of them. He can't be this stupid. He had to have known killing them that way would give him away. Double crossing the Five Families? Are you serious? Not to mention, I literally left the country. You would think that he would move on and actually care more about taking care of the pack he has rather than worrying about someone half way across the world. I left all of this behind a long time ago. I put an entire ocean between us and he STILL feels threatened by me.

But if it's war Triston wants then it's a war he shall get.

Except.

It's not Triston's scent on the paper.

It's Addison Stone.

The one person I hate more than Triston.

Unbelievable. So much for peace.