Lone Wolf (EDITING)

Saving Most

He looked so much like Liam that it was painful, sending a sharp pang of hurt through her heart. When he stood up, he was nearly as tall, but made up for the few inches of difference with brawn.

This was bad. Very, very bad.

Seren spun on her heel and lunged for the door, pulling it open faster than she thought possible as a something crashed behind her. She had made it a few feet into the hallway when Donovan's large hands clasped her waist firmly and swung her up and around, her feet fully off the ground so that she squealed in fear.

"I don't know where you thought you were going," he grunted, marching back into the room and planting her in the chair in front of his desk. "But don't you dare get up." His green eyes were deadly serious. He looked almost panicked. "I don't even know where to start with asking you questions. What...how are you a rogue?"

"Your brother made me leave," she shrugged, like she didn't care, like it didn't burn.

Donovan's dark brows knit together in confusion and disbelief. "You expect me to fall for that? He told me you had a problem with running away from him. Shit, you did just that the night you peeped on me and thought it was him having sex with someone else!"

"Believe what you want. He told me that I didn't belong there, that I never had and never would. He told me he didn't want me and he would hurt me if I stayed. Is that clear enough for you?" Seren's voice cracked with the revisiting of it, watching the male's expression as anger flitted across his features.

He reached across his desk for his cell phone, but Seren jumped up in a flash and pinned his hand down on top of it. "Don't," she snarled. "He told me that if he knew where I was, he would have to come kill me."

"Fine. I won't say anything about you, but let me make sure he is alright. Perhaps it hasn't crossed your mind that he sent you away to protect you."

Seren frowned. She had looked at his actions every which way while she had been driving. Sure, his fight with Max could have left him with a wound, but she had seen nothing and he had not complained of one, nor had she smelled his blood. Furthermore, she would have expected him to tell her if something had happened to him so that she could try to help him through it.

Donovan stared at her as he pulled the cell phone up and dialed his brother, putting it to his ear as it rang. Faintly, she heard his voice and it made her weak-kneed and lightheaded so that she plopped back in her chair, face pale.

"What do you want?" he asked.

"Liam, I was just calling to see if you had made any decisions regarding the Red Toothed pack and when you needed my men," Donovan said without a trace of emotion.

"They are diseased. We cannot go in and fight them without loosing any man that is bitten. I want to put our efforts into developing a vaccine for this before we move in. We have sent in samples already. There is no cure."

"I see. What happens when someone is bitten?"

Seren winced, remembering Max's transition into the beast that got him killed by his own alpha.

"They become sick and disturbed. Once they shift, they are lost and have to be killed. If not, they die within a few months, but that is too much time to let one of them run around. They are dangerous monsters, Donovan. Even if we attacked them preemptively, we would lose many to the sickness," he growled.

"What about your new mate? How will you keep her safe?" Donovan's eyes stayed on Seren as he asked that question. Her stomach tightened in preparation for Liam's response. 

"It doesn't matter anymore," he bit out.

Seren's heart dropped. Of course it didn't.

"What do you mean it doesn't matter?" Donovan was clearly unhappy with his brother's dismissive response. He watched the female's shoulders droop as her eyes turned down to the floor. "She is your mate. You have to keep her safe."