“He’s as good as dead. Withers, too.”
“Rowan.” Jay’s voice cuts through, quiet but with a warning.
Grayson glances at their leader and knows exactly what’s coming. Jay isn’t one to condone murder lightly, no matter how justified. Even with the horrors Carnell and Withers have unleashed, Jay will shoulder the burden of every life lost tonight.
He always carries the burdens of his decisions, carrying the weight of judge, jury, and executioner like a chain he can’t lay down.
“Gideon isn’t taking this lightly, and neither should we,” Finn says, as Jay pulls the Buick over into the dark shadows along the high wall of Carnell’s compound. “Taking a life, no matter how it might be deserved, is no small thing.”
Moonlight illuminates the car’s interior, making it easier to see his mates’ somber faces.
Jay unbuckles his seatbelt so he can turn in his seat.
“Finn is right. We are no better than Carnell if we don’t at least make the effort to detain Withers for trial.”
Suitably chastened, Rowan shifts uncomfortably in his seat, his gaze flickering downward.
“Yeah, okay,” he mutters, his voice quieter now. “But Withers has it coming. We still don’t know where Winnie and her brother are. You heard Gray today, the bastard is still sucking souls dry. He won’t stop unless we stop him.”
It’s true. Warden Paulis had finally confirmed that they’d exhausted their search for the siblings in the early hours of the morning. Leo thinks Withers has moved them to wherever his big plans are about to take place. It’s also likely that he won’t be far from Carnell for at least part of the evening.
It’s a dance of chance, a delicate set of steps, each dependent on the last, balanced between Carnell’s madness and Withers’s evil.
“We have to find him first without showing our hand,” Jay says with a frown. “Grayson, do you think he’s here?”
Grayson feels The Plain jump in his soul, the magic anticipating Jay’s question before he’s even fully put his mind to it. The surge of power is as easy as breathing now that he’s letting it flow through him.
Focusing on The Plain deep within him, he can follow it in every direction—sees it stretch off to the south, where he can feel Nix glowing bright.
“If he’s using it, he’s not drawing on it with any real power. Maybe he’s waiting on me?”
Being tracked like prey does not sit well with Grayson’s Wolf.
Rowan’s wolf-magic flares beside him, flashing briefly before his mate gets it under control again.
“Still pisses me off that he can find us anywhere he damn well pleases,” Jay growls, then opens the Buick’s door, exiting and slamming it shut so hard the vehicle shudders at the impact.
Finn watches as their leader crosses to the fifteen-foot-high fence alongside the road before meeting Grayson’s eyes.
“I believe in you, Gray. Just…don’t do anything crazy.”
They exit the vehicle and watch as Jay jumps, catching the uppermost railing of the wrought-iron fence before swinging up and over, using formidable upper body strength to land on the other side.
Turning to Rowan, who looks ready to follow suit, Finn sighs.
“And if you could not do anything really crazy, I’d be grateful.”
With a wink and a dangerous smirk, the young alpha follows Jay up and over the fence, leaving Grayson and Finn at the bottom.
“Why do I bother?” he murmurs, hesitating. “How do I even do this? I’m not a mountain goat. Shit.”
It takes nothing but a thought to call The Plain to him, the air around Grayson coalescing into a wave of pressure that lifts his feet off the floor.
“Want a lift?”
It’s thrilling to see Finn’s jaw drop at the spectacle.
Grayson isn’t sure if Finn is going to take his chances and climb, but soon enough, he’s got an armful of sweet-smelling mate.
