CHAPTER 68

Finding Gunner was my next big problem. He ran several cover businesses and had twice as many hidey holes for when he needed to go to ground. I decided on stopping by the diner and seeing if anyone had any news of where he was tonight.

Of course, my last exit from the diner had been rather spectacular...

Getting there was the easy part, I even had time to pick up some of my own clothes.

My nerves grew heavy as I stalked through the alley toward the back kitchen door. It was early, and despite being a diner and serving very unhealthy breakfast and lunch fare, the diner actually didn't open until noon.
It was filled now with human customers, I could scent them burying their faces in piles of eggs and bacon, sipping coffee's and teas. The only wolves in the place were Alice and the boys.

I waited until they were all out of the kitchen, serving customers and dealing with some paperwork in the back, before I slipped inside, but I stayed near the door.

I wasn't sure what their reaction to me would be. It was altogether possible that I had become enemy to Alice after what I had done. If she attacked or it seemed like she would call me in I wanted to have a quick exit ready. Guilt pinched at me as I remembered her going down, laying her against the door as another barrier to Micheal's entry.

The door to the dining area swung open and Alice walked through, a stack of empty plates in her hand. She startled when she spotted me, unused to being surprised by people she couldn't scent or hear. Anger and hurt passed over her face first, and then it took on a hardened expression.

"You've got a lot of nerve, coming back here," she told me.

I nodded. "I know."

"You struck me."

"I didn't have a choice."

She gave me a look, setting the empty plates in the sink. "Violence is always a choice, Raven."

"I couldn't be hauled back to the ranch, even if Anthony's goal was to protect me. There's was too much on the line, including the life of...an old friend."

"So instead of asking me for help, treating me like an individual, you took *my* choice from *my* hands. How does that make you any better?"

I frowned.

"It doesn't, but Alice, you don't want to go up against Anthony, not right now. He's...not in his right mind. Something is going on with him and he can't be reasoned with. I took you out of the picture to keep his anger on me. Would you rather have ended up like Micheal?"

"Of course not, but that doesn't make what you did any better."

Her voice had softened now, and the hurt look from before had turned into worry.

"I'm sorry, Alice. I really didn't mean to hurt you in any way. You've always been good to me."

She huffed, stalking over to the stove and cracking three eggs into a well seasoned cast iron pan. The tension in the air was thick, but I held out hope that she hadn't gone running the second she saw me, and she hadn't tried to dial Anthony yet. Finally she shook her head.

"It ain't right, how Anthony's been running things. Rob never gave punishments out of spite. He never killed within the pack unless it was absolute necessity. The caporegimes respected that. Now they're pulling out, nearly half of the organization is falling to shit with the different parts picking each other off. Hector took out the dockside boys last night. It was all over the news. No one knows what happened or where the bodies went. You think they won't test that blood? Figure out there's something different about part of the population?"

She was talking rapidly now, her breathing shallow.

Alice was panicking. I walked over to her and put a hand on her arm.

"I didn't have anything when we took over the diner. I couldn't even feed my boys what growing wolves needed. The deal with Rob has been the most secure we've been in our entire lives. I don't want to see it torn apart."

She looked at me and I could see the fear in her eyes, the dark circles that marred her skin from lack of sleep, the wrinkles that had appeared seemingly overnight.

"Anthony is not himself," I repeated. "I'm not sure what's going on, but I am trying to do something about it."

She'd been paying attention to the eggs, which she was busy flipping, but her gaze came back to me.

"Something big is happening, Alice. Probably tonight. And if it does there *will* be chaos, and the pack will probably split. For certain we will lose one of the biggest assets that has allowed the organization to thrive in Boston for the last few decades. Keeping our identities hidden after that will be pretty much impossible."

She paled and leaned back against the counter, eggs forgotten, the spatula clutched in front of her.

"What are we going to do?"

"I need to know where Gunner's been running lately. This is the best place I know to get that information."

"You want me to spy for you," her frown deepened.

"I'm putting it all out there, Alice. Giving you the ability to make your own decisions. If you tell me no I will walk out that door now and try to find another way." I took a deep breath. "I can't promise I will succeed, but I do know that at the moment I'm the best chance at saving this place."

I waited for her answer, noting the too fast pounding of her heart, the way her breath was shaking. She might have waxed on about making decisions for herself, but now that she was put on the spot she was terrified.

"Alright," she said at last on an exhaled breath. "Alright, I'll find out where Gunner is. I'll get the boys to listen too. They know everything I know anyway."

Relief poured through me. I'd been so sure I would have no recourse against Anthony. Hadn't even tried to hope that I might find allies in this.

"Thanks, Alice."

She scooped the three eggs onto a clean plate and piled on some bacon from the warm oven and a couple pieces of toast that had just popped. Her jaw clamped tight.

She was helping me, but it cost her. A good wolf never went against the pack.

Suddenly she stopped, setting the nearly finished plate on the counter and pulled her phone out of her pocket.

"Hello?...uh...yes."

She looked at me, her eyes narrowed with suspicion.

"It's for you."