Forever Yours

SIXTEEN

Isaac grunted with exertion as he threw the strap over the stack of cars. On the other side of the flatbed truck, Tobias caught it before cranking it tight. Shame washed over Isaac, almost crippling him, as he fought not to look at the twisted metal, blown tyres and shattered windows. Something bright caught his eye and he reached into the broken window of what had once been a family wagon, being careful as not to cut his arm on the jagged pieces of glass. His hand wrapped around something fuzzy and squishy and when he pulled his arm back he swallowed thickly at the sight of a child's toy in his hand. He stared at the tiger, which had sucker pads on its paws to stick to the window, until a single tear dribbled down his nose. What if he'd hurt his pack members? Sometimes the children would be in their parents' cars pretending to be race car drivers. What if they'd been in the cars? What if he'd killed innocent children? He was their Alpha, the one that was supposed to protect them. The one they should never fear. Yet here he was again, paying the ultimate price with regret for his emotions getting the better of him.

'What you got there?' Tobias walked around the truck, nodding at the teddy grasped tightly in Isaac's hands.

'Uh, nothing.' Quickly stuffing it into the back pocket of his jeans, Isaac cleared his throat.

Tobias nodded silently, his eyes curious. 'Well, this is the last of them. The decent cheque we'll be getting from Tony will leave us with a bit extra after the insurance payout.'

Isaac nodded stiffly. Tony was the owner of the local scrapyard. Although he was a human and oblivious to the supernatural creatures that inhabited the town, he'd been a business friend of the Winters for years. Isaac had been glad when he hadn't questioned the large amount of damaged cars but by the way his grey eyebrows had been raised, he could tell he'd been wondering what the hell had happened. It wasn't like Isaac could even say he'd been keeping them for some time as a large percentage of them were close to brand new. Thankfully the insurance company, one hidden from the human world which werewolves used for when these unexplainable things happened, would be depositing the claim into the bank account within the next few days. Although replacing their cars wouldn't help the frightened looks he got from the Omegas.

The sound of the front door of the house closing had Isaac looking up to see Trent walk outside holding Cree with Stefan following behind. Isaac's jaw tightened at the sight of his father-in-law and he busied himself by making sure the straps over the crumpled cars were secure. He sighed agitatedly when he could hear their footsteps approaching. It wasn't Trent he was avoiding but Stefan. Isaac knew he'd been the one to obey the prince's orders like a well-trained puppy, but he'd been the one to swear him to secrecy. He'd used his royal status, although he hadn't wanted to acknowledge it, to keep Isaac quiet. To frighten him into doing what he said with the threat of disobeying the crown. Isaac blamed himself, it didn't take someone else to tell him he had fucked up majorly, but he also blamed Stefan.

His jaw tightened as they stopped at the truck, the both of them looking at the wrecks with expressions of astonishment and worry. Stefan had been steering clear of Isaac's path since Roxy's departure, usually staying in town and only coming to Moonlight Ridge to spend time with his grandson. Well, as much as Cleo had let him.

'You did a good job, Winters.' Trent shook his head, shielding his eyes with his free hand to look at the highest car on the stack. 'I'm glad we parked ours out the front.'

Isaac didn't say anything, instead grinding his teeth. Stefan didn't dare look at him, instead using playing with Cree to avoid him.

Brisk footsteps moved across the gravel and the men looked to see Cleo coming from the house. Although her eyes were hidden by sunglasses, Isaac could almost see the glow of her angry eyes directed at Trent. Her wedges twisted along the rocks as she marched towards them, her fury making all the men who were of high-ranking positions shrink down a little.