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Nothing is in them now, but there were mutations that would’ve ripped through whatever hive is hidden here, sniffing them out before they realized the monsters were there.

In the next breath, Titus twists around, keeping the blade to his captive’s throat, while knocking the gun from Leather Vest’s hands. He hammers a kick to his chest that sends the man flying back into Ponytail behind him. A gun fires off, pinging against the truck, and I startle, falling to the side to keep from getting hit by a stray bullet.

It all happens in a matter of seconds, and when it ends, Titus is holding a gun on the men, with the blade still propped at the first stranger’s throat.

“Getting slower, old man.” Cadmus hops down from the truck, and another shot just misses him, before he swipes the gun out of Ponytail’s hand and slams his knuckles into the man’s cheek.

Effortless.

“Now, you’re going to answer my friend’s question about the Skulls, or I’m going to put a bullet in yours before knocking it clean off your shoulders. Friend.” Unlike Titus, there’s an air of amusement in Cadmus’s threats that one could almost mistake for lack of being serious.

He aims the gun at Ponytail’s leg and fires a shot. A wail of agony follows, and that’s where Cadmus’s amusement ends.

He kneels down beside the man, gripping his throat. Head tipped, Cadmus seems to find intrigue in the turning shades of the man’s face. Red. Purple. Ponytail opens his mouth, tongue hanging out uselessly, and when his friend lurches toward Cadmus, the Alpha doesn’t bother to look, before his arm is outstretched, the barrel of his gun pressed into Leather Vest’s forehead.

Choked gasps chime the few seconds before Ponytail will be strangled to his death.

“Okay! Okay, the Skulls … they went east.”

“Where?” Cadmus doesn’t relent, and the veins popping in Ponytail’s forehead show his body’s struggle for air.

“Route Sixty-Six. Toward Florida.”

“When?” The Alpha’s questions are as flat as his concern seems to be about ending Ponytail’s life.

“Left early yesterday morning.”

Releasing Ponytail sends the shades of purple back below his skin, and he collapses to the side, gasping for breath like a fish on the shore. Cadmus twists toward Leather Vest, still holding the gun to his forehead. “And how do I know you’re not lying to us to protect your friends?”

“They ain’t no friends of ours. Bastards lost their balls letting some bitch run the show. I don’t follow a bitch’s orders.”

“Still, maybe I should tie you and your friends to the hood of our vehicle and take you with us. Or …” Cadmus draws the gun down the man’s face, running the barrel over the loose flesh beneath his bearded chin, which lifts when he props it there. “Watch your bones explode out the top of your head. I’m sure your buddy over there wouldn’t attempt to bullshit me after that.”

“I ain’t lying.” His lips stretch to a smile as he stares back at Cadmus. “See, I know what waits for you there, asshole. And I would love to be a fly on the wind to see that fight.”

“The Alpha?” Cadmus lowers the gun and pushes to his feet, tucking the weapon into his pants. “It might interest you to know we share the same blood.”

Realization dawns on his face, and he glances back toward Titus, then to his friend, still gasping beside him.

“We’re practically brothers. And so long as he gives us what we want, we won’t have to kill him, along with the rest.”

“What do you want with them?”

“They’re our ticket inside Calico. We’re going to have them open the doors.”

Leather Vest leans back from Cadmus, his brows pinching to a frown. “Are you batshit crazy? Open the doors of Calico? You might as well kill us all now!”

Shrugging, Cadmus reaches for the gun in his waistband again.

“Cadmus!” I lurch forward, catching sight of his grin fading to disappointment. “Don’t. We’re not here to hurt anyone.”

“’The hell’s the fun in that?”

“Do you know what’s behind those doors? Do you have any fucking clue what those things can do?” the man asks.

Cadmus lifts his arm and twists to the side, revealing a scar of three claw marks that extends up his ribcage and across his stomach. “Too well, I’m afraid.”

“Why would you consider something so crazy, then? Put us all at risk?”