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“I’ll bring the entire pack,” a man said.
“That’s my family,” she said.
“One second,” Aiden whispered.
She pushed at his arm, but she might as well have been in a cage.
“Hey, I’m over here!” she shouted, but nobody even paused.
“I told you. We can disappear,” he whispered. “They can’t hear you until you’re not touching me.”
“Then why were we whispering?”
“I wasn’t sure if it applied to you. I mean, it works for whatever I’m touching, but you’re a witch.”
“I—”
“We should have ended that pack when we had the chance thirty years ago,” a male voice said in the dark.
“We won’t make the same mistake this time,” another one chimed in.
Her family had allied with a local wolf pack when her sister had fallen in love with the alpha’s son. Apparently, her coven and that pack were in the woods looking for her. It would have been flattering if it wasn’t terrifying. More wolves ratcheted up the danger considerably.
“We can help,” her aunt said. “They can’t fight the witches and wolves together. We’ve proved that.”
Aidan’s arms grew tenser and tenser around her.
“They don’t mean that,” she breathed. “Once I’m back, they’ll be fine.”
“If only we could be sure where she was, then we would know where to hit,” one wolf lamented.
She winced. She’d never heard such talk from her family. On the one hand, it was nice to know they cared. On the other, this bloodthirsty need for revenge wasn’t helping anybody.
“Please don’t go back,” Aiden said behind her.
“What the hell? You promised!”
“I know. I know, and I’m not going to stop you. But I am asking you.”
She twisted around to see his face, and he leaned back so her shoulder was against his chest, and they were nose to nose. Her traitorous ovaries decided this was an excellent position. She ignored them. “Why?”
“You heard them. The moment you return home safe, they can raze my pack to the ground. You’re the only bargaining chip I have.”
“You’re dire wolves. You’ve got cyanide teeth. What are you worried about?”
“It’s not cyanide, and I barely have a pack left.”
She goggled. She knew that power was waning. Her coven spent half its time matchmaking amongst magical families to keep it alive. She didn’t know it had gotten so bad.
Aiden cleared his throat. “If your wonderful family comes in with guns blazing, I won’t have a pack left. And however despicably they’ve behaved, annihilation is not a just end.” He took a deep, noisy breath. “And you’ve every right not to care about them at all, but a lot of your family would die, too.”
She nodded once. She’d seen the wounds a dire wolf could inflict with its poison. They were different than normal wolves with their teeth and claws covered in death. They were also bigger and faster. He was right that it would be a horrific fight.
“Why do you care?” she asked.
He frowned. “I’m trying not to be insulted that you’re surprised I don’t want a bunch of people to die.”
She sighed. He was a genuinely decent human being/poisonous, murderous wolf.
