Ottis lets the wolves that attacked us go and leads us back toward the barn. My skin prickles when our shadows find us. Lori signals me from the direction the wolves had come from. I feel sorry if anyone got caught in their path. I refuse to let Miles and me back into that little room. There was no way I was going to let us get caged in. "You proud of yourself?" Ottis asks me when one of the guys brings out a couple of duffle bags with what I am guessing is payment for Miles's delivery. He uses a tone that gets my stomach fluttering and not in a fun way like the guys do. "Excuse me?" I glare at him. "You killed that guy," he says accusingly. "And?" I laugh. "He charged me. Do you think I'm going to feel bad about that?" "He's twenty-two," "The kid Arthur killed in his dungeon was eighteen and he wasn't a threat to him. If you think you can spook me by pointing out the obvious. You clearly don't know who the fuck you're dealing with," I scoff. "Nope," Miles steps between

Turi and her team have fixed up some of the abandoned homes near the entrance of the pack grounds. Six on both sides. Miles and count the cars. Three at each house. A couple of hogs at the one closest to the gate. We stay here for a few hours just watching before we head back to the burger stand.  "Your scent is all over the place," he says when I walk into the kitchen to get my stash.  "I used to come here to get away from all of you," I say tossing him a band. He catches the money effortlessly and holds it up judgingly.  "We annoyed you?"  "Yeah, I wasn't part of the team and you guys made sure I knew it,"  "We were protecting you," he scoffs as I tuck the twenty-two into my jacket.  "Got it," I smile when my fingertips touch the old flip phone. I stuff it into my pocket and dust myself off. His scent is all over me and I'm in love with it. "We can go home now,"  "How are you feeling?" he as

"Are you and the little fairy-" I let the question drop as Jayk hands me a coffee mug.  "No," he says and starts his Jeep. I don't know what he has in the back but it's packed.  "Morning," Micca drops into the back seat with a groan.  "I told you guys to get some fucking rest. We might be out all day," Jayk scolds.  "I slept like it was my first day of basic training," I did. It was amazing. I doubt I've ever slept that well without substance help.  "I slept," Micca says. "That's the problem,"  Jayk plays his music lowly. It doesn't take long before Micca's low snores soothe my nervousness. I haven't seen Lucinda since Jayk put me on lockdown after triggering my warhead gene. Jayk and I could have gone alone and it bothers me that the three of us are together like this. It's a lot of power for just a meeting.  "What?" Jayk says when I try to get comfortable for the tenth time. 

"I've got movement far East," Micca's voice invades my head when I glance back in the direction my brother was taken.  "Jayk,"  "Yeah?"  "Micca's got movement," there's a long pause.  "Go check it out,"  I reach into my jacket to make sure I have everything I need. The guards are quick to get defensive, but a single whistle has them holding back. I don't go up the way we came. I take the boulders all the way up to the top of the cave. I pull myself up and stay low. I scan the area until I find Micca lying among the tall grass not too far from the cave.  "Where?" I ask Micca. He lifts his snout and I see what he's talking about.  "I've got six targets," he says, but I have a different angle and I can seem more.  "Eight wolves are unloading some kind of cargo near an abandoned house," I infor

This is my first official hunting trip. Our first official hunting trip as a pack. The formation is simple. Leelie is taking the lead. Micca and I flank her. Ashton takes the center just behind us and Jayk stays behind as the strongest of us.  Lydia strapped a harness around each of us in case we got hurt. It has a change of clothes, weapons, and first aid kits. We weren't wrong. They're trading wolves again tonight. This time there are more delivery vans. The ship the vampires came in, is different. This one is a transport ship. It doesn't have sails like the last one. The five of us stay very still as the vans come out of the tunnels. There are about fifteen of them.  There are a lot more wolves as well. I expected them to be armed, but most of them are wearing easy tear-away clothing. Did the humans take their toys? A pleased rumble vibrates in my chest at the idea and the others answer it just as happily.  "Do we have a count?"