Page 47 of August

“Yeah. He was out on the path.” He patted his pocket and realized he didn’t have his phone. “Do you have your phone?”

She shook her head. “I don’t know where I dropped it.”

He let go of her but took her hand, leading her to the maintenance shed where he showed her the keycode to unlock the door, then swung the door open. Inside, he lifted a walkie and switched it to the security frequency.

“This is August. I’m in the norm paddock and I’ve got five jackal males here that need to be gathered up.”

There was a crackle, and then he heard Joss answer, “I’m sending males to you. Is Ginny okay? Do either of you need medical assistance?”

He was about to answer that he thought they were both fine when Ginny gasped and gripped his arm tightly.

He looked at her and saw she was frozen, staring out the door toward the paddock gate.

“He’s alive!”

Ginny ached from head to toe and every dang part in between. She wanted to curl up in a ball and cry for a few days, and she also wanted to take a very hot bath and soak until she felt normal again.

As she listened to August explain they needed assistance, movement from the paddock gate caught her attention.

Her grandfather walked through the gate, but he wasn’t alone.

He was dragging…no. It couldn’t be.

Her brother, one arm hanging at an odd angle, face beat all to hell, was struggling to keep up with her grandfather’s pace.

“He’s alive!” She sputtered the words, both elated and confused.

August said into the radio, “Fuck. We’re not alone in the paddock. Her grandfather is here. We need backup, fucking right now.”

“On the way,” the male said, his voice tinny through the walkie speaker.

August stepped in front of Ginny.

“Who is that?” he asked with a low voice.

“It’s my brother, Cliff. I…he’s dead, I don’t understand!”

“Is it a trick?”

She stared at the male, who looked like he’d been run over by a train, and knew that it was her brother. How was it possible?

“It’s not a trick, it’s him.”

“Stay behind me, your grandfather’s on the warpath.”

August moved forward to meet her grandfather and brother and she stayed at his back. Part of her wanted to run to Cliff, but part of her still couldn’t reconcile what she was seeing. How was it possible that he was alive? She’d been so sure when she’d seen the body rolled up in the old rug and heard the males talk about her being next that it was her brother in there.

Wasn’t it? Had she made a mistake and he’d been alive the whole time?

“That’s far enough!” she shouted over August’s shoulder. “Let Cliff go and leave us alone forever. We don’t care if you’re alpha until you’re a decrepit old male, we’re no threat to you.”

“Aren’t you?” her grandfather asked, letting go of Cliff’s arm. He crumpled to the ground with a groan. “As long as there are heirs, or the threat of future heirs,” he said, his gaze dropping pointedly to her belly for a moment before returning to stare at her face, “then my hands are tied by the laws of our people. You will return to your home, along with your brother, and sacrifice yourselves for the good of our people.”

“You’re out of your mind,” she yelled.

“You’re not taking my mate anywhere,” August said with a low growl. “You’ll leave this place on your own or with my help, but one way or another, you will never be a threat to her again.”

Her grandfather glanced at August but didn’t seem to consider him a threat.