We stopped running, seeing that there was no way to avoid a confrontation. The patrols reached us in no time and stopped next to us. The tallest Bone Crusher climbed off his bike and eyed us with undisguised amusement. “Well, well. What do we have here? A group of rogues in Bone Crusher territory.”
My mates and I shifted back into our humanoid forms. We didn’t have to, since we could have spoken to him even if we’d been in our lupine form. But I didn’t like the way he was looking at us. Everything about him—from his dark leather clothes, to his deep penetrating gaze—unsettled me. I needed to face him using my other shape.
“These are the Badlands,” Sam said coldly. “It’s not just your territory. We have as much right to be here as you do.”
“I suppose that’s true, but it doesn’t really stop me from putting an end to you.”
“And why would you do that?” I asked him. “What have we ever done to you?”
The man arched a brow at me, scrutinizing me with obvious interest. “Nothing, but that doesn’t matter. You don’t have to do anything for us to want to hunt you down. It’s just the way it is, in the Badlands. And with the auction going on…”
He trailed off and snapped his mouth shut, as if he’d just realized he’d said too much. “Anyway, you’re lovely. What’s your name, little female?”
“Her name is none of your business, asshole,” Rowan growled at him. “She’s already mated, and you’ll have to go through us to touch her.”
That wasn’t the best phrasing, since I had no doubt the Bone Crushers could do just that without blinking an eye. But Rowan’s anger gave the man pause. “You… You look familiar. Oh! Are you a Firewolf? A Savage?”
“As a matter of fact, I am,” Rowan answered. “Rowan Savage.”
“The Alpha’s son,” the Bone Crusher mused. “All right. We’re not going to get involved with your chaos mate hunt. We have no quarrel with your pack. But be advised that it’s not really safe around here. If you’re planning to head further north, you might want to reconsider.”
“Reconsider? Why’s that?”
The Bone Crusher grimaced. “I’m not at liberty to say. There’s been a… regrettable incident between us and the Soul Reapers. If you go any further, you do so at your own risk.”
Well, fuck. The words ‘regrettable incident’ weren’t promising at all, when they came from a Bone Crusher’s lips. “Thank you for the warning,” I said. “We appreciate it.”
He waved off my gratitude. “Don’t mention it.” He stared up at the crimson moon, his gaze going sharp and distant. “This chaos… I get the feeling a lot of people are going to die because of it. You might as well try to avoid it, even if we can’t.”
On that ominous note, the Bone Crusher mounted his bike again. “We’re done here,” he told the rest of his people. “Let’s go!”
The rest of the Bone Crushers howled in agreement, and the sound mingled with the revving of the bikes’ engines. Before long, they were disappearing in the distance, dust rising in their wake as the bikes rode on.
“What do you make of that?” I asked my mates. “Do you suppose he was telling the truth?”
“He had no reason to lie,” Rowan mused. “And it’s true that the Soul Reapers and the Bone Crushers don’t exactly get along.”
“We’re caught between two pack wars, aren’t we?”
Sam and Nate shared a dark look. “Depending on what Alpha Clayton and Alpha Savage did… It certainly seems like it.”
Wonderful. What the hell were we supposed to do now?
* * *
Rufus
I officially hated Wolfsbanes. The damn creatures had brought a whole arsenal of weapons with them on their attack on my pack. They didn’t usually pull out the big guns, mostly because things like that were so destructive, but it looked like today, they’d lost all sense.
I took cover behind a rock, gritting my fangs as I tried to dig out the silver shrapnel from my wound. It hurt like hell and my skin sizzled when I touched the piece of metal. But it would be even worse if I allowed the shrapnel to stay inside my body. Knowing the Wolfsbanes, they must have added poison to the metal weaponry too. Every Firewolf who’d taken more than a glancing blow had gone down and hadn’t gotten up.
Fortunately, I’d seen this coming, so the damage wasn’t too serious. I’d known the Wolfsbanes would bring ranged weaponry, and that was an advantage for them, considering the fact that so much land around our two packs was barren.
But we had advantages of our own, and I knew I could still win this. If only my brother had been here…
I chased away the thought with an angry snarl. I couldn’t think about Rowan right now. That would just distract me, and I couldn’t afford it. Besides, he’d betrayed me and challenged me in front of the whole pack.
Finally extracting the silver shrapnel from my body, I clutched it in my fist. The pain provided me with some clarity. My Firewolves were out there right now, ready to obey my commands. The fire of blood lust burned through them, just like it burned through me.
