Page 127 of The Reluctant Alpha

My phone rang, the sudden sound making me jump. Unknown number. My thumb hovered over the decline button, then something made me answer.

"Hello?"

"Danny Jacobson?" The voice was smooth, cultured, with an accent I couldn't quite place. Definitely not Shane's usual crowd.

"Who is this?"

"A friend of your brother's. His employer, actually." There was something wrong about his voice, something that made my skin crawl despite its pleasant tone. "We need to have a conversation about young Ben, and your mother."

My blood turned to ice. "Where is he? What have you done—"

"They’re both alive and unharmed. For now." The words were delivered with casual cruelty. "Whether either of them stays that way depends entirely on you, Danny."

But Mom was guarded…

“And don’t think I haven’t seen the wolves supposedly guarding your mom’s house, but you should know they aren’t a barrier to me.”

I thought my heart was simply going to stop. "What do you want?" I forced the words past the terror constricting my throat.

"I want you to get in your car and drive to your mother's house. Immediately. You'll tell no one where you're going or why."

"That's insane—"

"Your mother made pot roast tonight," the voice continued as if I hadn't spoken. "She's very excited to see you. It would be a shame if something happened to interrupt that lovely family dinner."

The casual mention of my mother, the specific detail about the meal, sent panic spiraling through me.

“And I mean no one, Danny. If I see anything that even smells like you’ve been careless with your words, one of them will die immediately.”

Keeping my footsteps light, I crept to the key rack by the mudroom door and snagged the keys to Phoenix's second truck, the older one he kept as a backup. I could hear Emery and the sound of water running, so I knew he was running Tia’s bath.

My heart hammered against my ribs as I tried to work out how to avoid the patrolling gammas, and dismissed even the mud room door.

But I’d climbed out of my bedroom window on more than one occasion.

The evening air was cool against my flushed skin, and guilt gnawed at my insides. I wasn't just defying Bayer—I was potentially putting our cubs at risk. But I believed the psycho.

I reached the truck without being spotted or scented and slid behind the wheel, my hands trembling slightly as I started the engine. The rumble seemed impossibly loud in the quiet night, and I held my breath, waiting for someone to come running, but no one did. I even got through the barrier with a smiling wave at a really young-looking gamma.

Once I hit the highway, I called my mom. "Hey, I'm on my way," I said when she answered. "Should be there in about thirty minutes."

"Danny! I was starting to worry," she replied, her voice warm with relief. "Shane said he wasn't sure you'd come."

My grip tightened on the steering wheel. "Shane's there?"

"Just got here, actually."

My stomach clenched. "Mom, has Shane mentioned his boss to you? What he's like?"

"Only that he's some big-shot developer. Why? Is something wrong?"

I swallowed hard. "No, just curious. I'll explain when I get there. Lock the doors until I arrive, okay?"

"I always do," she answered cheerily.

Three miles from Mom's house, I saw the orange cones blocking the road ahead, the construction barriers reflecting my headlights. My stomach dropped. I slowed the truck, squinting through the windshield for any sign of actual road work, but the street was empty. No equipment. No workers. Just those damn cones arranged in a perfect roadblock.

I was still processing what this meant when my door was yanked open with such force it nearly came off its hinges.