Page 86 of Hunted

The intruders didn’t seem concerned by that. They kept their weapons pointing at the ground—wary, yet relaxed.

Probably because of the three black dragons that had just appeared over their heads, spiraling down out of the sky. The smallest one looked extremely familiar.

The Outlaw Ridge men kept their weapons ready, but a murmur spread through the pack.

“Wolf Hunters.”

“Holy shit.”

“Are they for real?”

Sanchez looked like he was seeing ghosts.

One of the helmeted men lifted a megaphone to his mouth and said, “We are the Wolf Hunters. Take us to your leader.”

There was a short silence, and then the door to the bunker slammed open and Mikey was running across the grass. She threw herself at the guy with the megaphone and hugged him. “Dad!”

What the fuck?

The guy pulled off his helmet, dropped it on the ground, and then picked up Mikey and swung her around. “Ninja baby!”

Gunn made a ‘stand down’ gesture to the Outlaw Ridge wolves. They lowered their weapons—most of them, anyway.

The other Wolf Hunters were taking off their helmets, and Mikey was hugging them all. They were all in their forties or fifties except for one guy about Gunn’s age, and they all looked dangerous as fuck, except when they were hugging Mikey and patting her on the back.

The dragons came in for a landing, and Boomer muttered, “I hope they don’t leave dragon shit all over the field. Because I’m not fucking shoveling that up.”

Mikey was talking to the guy in front, wearing a commander’s badge. He had long blond hair braided down his back, and he looked like some kind of elf lord.

“Gunn!” Mikey called. “Come here! There’s some people I want you to meet.”

Summoning his alpha dignity, Gunn walked down and was introduced to Tristan Barnes, mystery man and commander of the fucking Wolf Hunters, and Flynn, alpha of the legendary Bad Blood crew. The young guy turned out to be Brandon Fierro, alpha of the Wild Blood crew.

And then there was Michelangela’s fucking dad. Who was apparently friends with legends. Not much to live up to there.

After acknowledging the other alphas, Gunn said formally to Tristan, “I welcome you to my territory, if you come in peace. May I ask why you’re here?” He glanced around at the others. “And why two alphas and an Enforcer are wearing Wolf Hunter uniforms?”

It was the big man with the dreadlocks who answered. “We all have ties to the Hunters,” he said. “And what we’re doing here is Hunter business, not Shifter Council business. Because the Shifter Council doesn’t know about this place, am I right?”

Gunn exchanged glances with Mikey, who shrugged. “I didn’t tell them.” She spoke to Flynn. “But yes, this place is a secret, so…” She made a zipping motion across her lips.” He nodded.

Tristan said, “I was told Thanatos wanted to talk to me. So here I am. But I understand the territorial situation and chain of command here is… complicated. So I wanted to pay my respects to you first.”

Gunn said, “Am I going to be invited to this little conference?”

Tristan exchanged glances with Flynn and Brandon. “Not this time. Sorry. Thanatos has secrets it’s not up to me to reveal. But believe me when I tell you, if I ever come to consider him a threat to you, Mikey, or your pack, you will be the first to know.”

Gunn studied him, then looked at Mikey. “Your call,” she said.

Gunn went with his gut. “Fair enough. Just call ahead next time. People dropping in without warning makes the men antsy.”

“Agreed.”

At that moment, Thanatos appeared in the shadows at the edge of the forest in his Thanatos-like way, robed and hooded as usual. And—stood there. Because people came to him; he didn’t go to them.

Mikey whispered to Tristan, “I’m not sure he can come out in the sunlight. We better go up there.” She paused. “If he’s a vampire, you’ll tell us, right?”

Tristan gave a little snort, but they all walked up to meet Thanatos. The dragons Changed into people—two women and the dragon boy—and followed along. The group stopped about ten feet away from Thanatos. Sugar stood unobtrusively behind him.