“Take me to her,” he said in a tight voice.
Lorenzo recognized the man standing behind Austin as his brother, the rock star. Lorenzo narrowed his eyes at Jericho, who had been the one to shift on his property without permission. He wondered if he was the omega in the pack—the lowest-ranking wolf.
Austin stepped in front of him and blocked his view. “I don’t see a point in having this discussion in front of your men. You and I know what’s up. You can invite me in, or I can gather up the Council and pay another visit. Now quit eyeballing my packmate.”
Lorenzo raised his voice and spoke in clipped words. “Back off,” he said over his shoulder. His men dispersed and he stepped away from the door to grant Austin entrance. “Let’s go somewhere private.”
Lorenzo gave William a slight tilt of his head, and with that silent command, William headed upstairs. The men gravitated toward the opposite end from the one Lorenzo was heading to, giving them privacy. He closed the door to his room with the Indian motif and sat in his wooden chair, leaving Austin to stand.
“If you prefer to sit…” Lorenzo waved his arm toward the rug below.
Austin slid his jaw to the side and widened his stance. “We put the word out that Ivy went missing, and I know for a fact word travels fast in this territory. Her scent is all over your car, and you haven’t attempted to contact us. That leads me to believe you’re holding her here against her will.”
Lorenzo’s impatience bled into anger. “Do I look like I need to hold a woman hostage? They flock to my door, begging for me to take them in.”
“I can guarantee Ivy’s not here of her own free will.”
“The woman is injured and—”
“Take me to her, goddammit!” Austin shouted.
Lorenzo held up his hand. “She cannot be moved. Man to man, I’m not happy about this situation any more than you are. But the fact is she needs more time in order to heal. The wounds were grave.”
“What happened?” Austin said gruffly, folding his arms.
“She was struck by a car.”
“And whose car was that?” Jericho inched forward from the shadows, walking on thin ice with his confrontational attitude.
Lorenzo rose to his feet. “Maybe you should zip up your pants and tell me who gave you the authority to shift on my land.”
Austin held out his hands. “Let’s be calm about this.”
“Careful how you allow your wolves to talk to me, Cole. Remember that my rank is higher than yours.”
Austin looked over his shoulder. “Jericho, wait outside.”
The young male scraped his long hair away from his face and scowled. After a moment of kicking at the floor like a stubborn mare, he obediently left the room.
Austin gathered up his composure and spoke with more respect. “Was it one of your men?”
Lorenzo returned to his chair. “Yes. And before you decide to single him out, I’d like to know what a female wolf from your pack was doing running down the road, miles away from her territory. What frightened her that she would expose herself to humans and put her life in mortal danger?”
The Packmaster paced toward the window and tucked his hands in his pockets. “We’ve got a pack of rogues scouting our territory.” Then he turned around and said something that sent a chill up Lorenzo’s spine. “The leader has his sights on Ivy. He aims to take down our pack, although I’m sure he’ll keep a few of the women. It’s no secret we have humans in the house, and that bastard will probably slaughter them.”
“So which does he want more, the land or the woman?”
Austin strode forward and ran his fingers through his dark hair. He didn’t have on a jacket, just a black T-shirt. Maybe he wanted the ink on his shoulders to announce a Packmaster was on the property. “Ivy identified the leader as her father’s former second-in-command. I tried speaking with her father, but he’s too pissed off about Ivy disappearing to give me any information. He doesn’t trust me.”
“Why should he? He entrusted his daughter to you and she slipped through your fingers.”
The tension in the room crackled. The only light came from a dim lamp on a small table to Lorenzo’s left.
“I need to see her.”