“What’s going on, love?” Then he stiffened. “Connor —?”
“He’s fine,” she said quickly. “They’re all fine. I… I didn’t have anywhere else to go.”
“Len?” a female voice said urgently. Jamie materialized beside Lennox, wearing a short white negligee and holding an assault rifle. The intimidation in her eyes dissolved into deep concern when she spotted Hudson. “What happened?”
“We hadn’t gotten to that part yet.” Sighing, Lennox held out his hand. “Come in, love. I think you need a drink.”
Hudson’s shoulders sagged in defeat. She took his hand and followed him inside.
“What do you mean, she’s gone?” The incensed demand came from Xander, who was staring at Connor as if he’d donned an Enforcer uniform and opened fire on their camp.
They were all looking at him like that, their expressions ranging from outrage to disbelief, and damned if their judgment didn’t evoke both those responses in him.
They would have done the same thing, each and every one of them. That’s how it was in this land. You didn’t live with your enemies. Hudson was lucky he hadn’t killed her, for chrissake. Banishment was a goddamn vacation compared to what he could’ve done to her.
“She’s Dominik’s twin sister,” he snapped.
He was greeted by four shocked faces, but the understanding he’d expected to find, the support, was glaringly missing. Not a single one of them looked as if they believed that Hudson’s connection to Dominik justified what Connor had done. Not even Rylan, who always unfailingly had his back.
“She lied to us,” Connor muttered.
Contempt laced Xander’s tone. “We already knew she was from the city. Who the fuck cares who she’s related to?”
Fury scorched up his spine. “She’s related to the man who killed my wife, you bastard.”
The men looked shocked again, but Kade was the only one brave enough to speak up, though his voice was lined with apprehension. “You were married?”
“Yes, I was fucking married. And I slept with the sister of the man who killed my wife.” Revulsion tore a path down his throat and twisted his insides, making him feel like he’d swallowed a handful of razor blades. “You honestly think I could let her stay here after learning that? What the hell is the matter with you guys?”
A whining noise had him whirling his head at the furry creature in Pike’s arms. For fuck’s sake, even the wolf was looking at him with baleful eyes, as if he’d betrayed her. As if he’d betrayed all of them.
Pike stroked the wolf’s head to calm her before flicking his expressionless gaze in Connor’s direction. “Where did she go?”
“How the hell am I supposed to know?” The defensive note that crept into his voice pissed him off. “I gave her one of the bikes, okay? She has her gear, weapons, enough food to last a few days. I didn’t send her away with nothing, all right? But she couldn’t stay here.”
“Lennox’s,” Xander said decisively. “That’s the only other place she knows.”
Kade nodded. “Yeah, she would’ve gone there.”
The men conversed as if Connor hadn’t spoken, as if he weren’t even there, and he listened to them in disbelief, unable to fathom what was happening right now. Even Rylan was avoiding his gaze. His own best friend couldn’t stomach the sight of him.
“This is unbelievable,” Connor growled. “You bastards took it upon yourselves to call me your leader. I didn’t want the damn job, but you gave it to me, and I’ve done everything in my power to make decisions that I feel are best for this camp. And now I make a call you disagree with, and that’s it? You’ve written me off?”
Rylan finally spoke up, cold and measured and gratingly self-righteous. “You didn’t kick her out because it was the best decision for camp. You did it because it was the best decision for you. Because she hurt you and you lashed out like a goddamn lion with a thorn stuck in its paw.”
Connor ground his teeth together, trying hard to control his temper. “You’re saying you would have continued to trust her? Knowing who her brother is and what he’s done?”
“What he’s done. Not her.” Rylan’s blue eyes flared with annoyance. “Hudson isn’t responsible for her brother’s choices, or his actions.”
“She lied to us, Ry.”
“Because she knew exactly what would happen if she told the truth. She knew you’d react like this.” Rylan dismissed him just as the others had, turning to Xander to issue a sharp command. “Reach out to Lennox on the sat phone and find out if she’s there.”
Xan took off without a word, Kade hot on his heels.
“Gas up the bikes,” Rylan told Pike. “The Jeep too.”
Pike left with a nod, still cradling that damn wolf as if she were his own young.
Alone with Rylan, Connor drew a ragged breath and met the eyes of the only real friend he’d ever had in this sorry world. “What the hell are you doing, man?”
“Getting her back,” Rylan said evenly.