And then the monster was gone into the midday sun. Just like they’d all feared.
It was all his fault. Dodge muttered under his breath as he charged after Silas, shouting at the prick to listen to him and stop fucking around. His heart jumped to his throat as he caught sight of Deirdre and the architect still standing in the empty lot. His chest tightened as Silas changed direction, toward the human, and her face turned curious, confused, and finally horrified.
Terrified.
Dodge’s wolf nearly burst free. The wolf was better prepared to fight Silas in his monster form, but Dodge doing a full shapeshift in front of a human wouldn’t have improved the situation. He shouted for help and put on some speed, hoping he could reach Silas with his shambling lumber before he got his deformed paws on the architect. Dodge growled in warning to the other wolf. He wasn’t going to touch the girl. She was Dodge’s. That was it.
Which nearly stopped him in his tracks.
Only real fear that Silas would kill her kept Dodge moving, and it was like an out-of-body experience, as if he watched from somewhere high above. Deirdre didn’t freeze, unlike the architect, and whipped up some of the magic that made Dodge queasy to watch. It was unnatural. The wolf hated it, even though he acknowledged that it was a useful weapon to have in the arsenal.
And damn good thing, too, since it saved Lawson.
Silas ran into some invisible fence as Deirdre moved her hands and chanted, and bought Dodge enough time to slam into Silas and knock him down. The wolfman wasn’t strong enough in the half-form to fight Dodge off, though he did his damnedest to worm free. Dodge growled and pinned him, twisting his arms back to restrain him, then snapped in the prick’s ear, “Cut it the fuck out, asshole. That’s a civilian you almost ran down, and a female as well. Leave it alone.”
Some of the tension ran out of Silas. Maybe the former soldier was still inside enough to know when he’d violated the rules they’d followed their entire careers. Dodge didn’t look up as Evershaw barreled up, Trent on his heels, with more chains. “It was my fault. He saw an opportunity and took it. Make sure the girl – the architect is...”
He looked up when he heard a car door slam, and saw the architect’s shitty car start up and peel out fast enough to leave smoke drifting in the air.
“Well, fuck,” Deirdre said. “I don’t suppose she’ll come back on her own, hmm?”
Dodge shoved to his feet after Trent got the chains on Silas and started dragging the wolfman back toward the storm cellar. “No fucking way.”
Evershaw turned on him, rigid with fury. “The fuck is wrong with you?”
“I told you it was my fault, I made a mistake.” Dodge didn’t back down. He wasn’t scared of Evershaw, and he sure as fuck wasn’t intimidated by some alpha posturing. Dodge was in the pack and a follower because he didn’t want responsibility. He respected Evershaw enough he didn’t mind taking orders from the wolf. But that didn’t mean Dodge would hang around for bullshit brow-beating. “I’ll fix it.”
The alpha’s face stayed red and a growl boiled up in his chest. “My mate was out here. She could have beenhurt.”
“She wasn’t,” Dodge snapped. “I wouldn’t have let him hurt them.”
“Perhaps you boys should just whip out your dicks and have a literal pissing contest,” Deirdre said coolly. When both men stared at her in consternation, she arched her dark eyebrows. “No? Okay then. We all knew it was only a matter of time until Silas figured out a way to escape. He’s a smart boy. That’s why we’re building a habitat with much better security than my now-destroyed storm cellar.”
Evershaw grumbled and caught the back of her neck, pulling her against his chest despite Deirdre looking prickly. The witch didn’t acknowledge him and instead leveled a no-nonsense look at Dodge. “We now have a bigger problem to consider. Lawson saw me work magic and got a good eyeful of Silas sprinting for freedom. I could probably talk her through the magic as simply a coincidence or weather phenomena, but there’s no way in hell to explain the wolfman. We still have to try, or at least convince her to keep her mouth shut, but first we have to find her. I assume you’ll take care of that?”
He managed to keep the growl out of his voice, since Evershaw would have killed him with his bare hands, but just barely. “Yeah, I’ll fetch her back.”
“Good.” Deirdre nodded and elbowed her mate away as Evershaw pressed his nose into her hair to smell her. “Would you cut that out? I’m fine. He didn’t even get close to me.”
“Still need to make sure you’re okay,” the alpha muttered, then abruptly picked her up and headed for the house. “All of you.”
Dodge sighed and raked his hands through his hair before going to the back of the house. Probably best to be out of the house for a while, since the two of them made a lot of noise when Evershaw needed to reassure himself that his witchy mate was unharmed. Dodge grumbled and retrieved the architect’s folio from where she’d dropped it. He took a minute to be impressed that she’d run across the entire garden in those high heels and hadn’t lost one or broken her damn ankle. And she’d helpfully aerated the soil in the process.
He snorted and riffled through the papers, breathing in her scent. “All right, Persephone Lawson. Where are you going to hide?”
His heart-rate increased and the wolf perked up. He enjoyed a good hunt, tracking down unwilling prey. It had been a long time since he had a really good run. He doubted that Persephone knew where the hell to hide to avoid him. She probably wouldn’t even expect someone to come after her. She didn’t strike him as the kind of person who had enemies with trackers and enforcers. She wouldn’t see or hear him coming, which made his job easier. Dodge shrugged. More the pity. She had a fine ass he wouldn’t have minded following around for a few days.
Chapter 7
Percy
Imust have lost my mind. Maybe they put something in the iced tea that caused hallucinations. My hands shook so hard I could hardly hold onto the steering wheel. My brain almost refused to remember how to work the gas pedal at the same time, so getting through the city was a bit dicier than I liked. I couldn’t think of anything but that...monster, charging toward me. The intensity in Deirdre’s face and the silver sheen over her eyes as the wind moved and she chanted and then the monster just – stopped.
I shuddered and hunkered lower in my seat. Thank God none of them followed me. Thank God I hadn’t lost a shoe, although my ankles objected strenuously to the run across the dirt. I might have twisted one or both, but the adrenaline carried me to the car. I’d pay for it later. I’dthinkabout it later.
After a glass of wine. Maybe a bottle of wine. Maybe a bottle of bourbon.
I gulped for air and shook my head as I stared at the red light in front of me. What the fuck just happened? There couldn’t have been some weird hybrid monster in their basement. It just wasn’t possible. It had to have been something else. A bear, maybe, with a terrible case of mange. A deranged and very hairy man locked below. I wasn’t sure which was more disturbing, though. Neither possibility seemed like a good one.
