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“The ER is overwhelmed by the survivors. How many didn’t make it?”

Lexi huffed a growling sigh.

“Lexi? I’m not worried about my life. This is why I exist.”

“Okay,” she said, a high-pitched mustering in her voice. “I’ll tell you what I can. Just… this is much bigger than you, and definitely bigger than me. Have you ever faced a wyvern?”

“Whoa. What? Yeah. Once. They’re tough as… fuck. This is a wyvern?” A wyvern couldn’t have done this much damage—well, it could have, but it wouldn’t have. That would explain Wade’s patient thinking they were attacked by a dragon.

“Wyverns are involved.”

“Wyverns? Plural?” Fuck. There was no way in hell he could take multiple wyverns. Not alone. “I’ll do some recon. Tomorrow, you and I are going to have a long chat about what this is all about. And you’re going to explain why you know about wyverns, aside from a dusty page in your training manuals.”

“Don’t draw any attention to yourself. It’s not just wyverns.”

“Lexi—”

“I really need to get going.”

“Lexi, wait—”

“Oh, before you go looking for them, shower and change your clothes. Don’t leave anything traceable back to… to you.”

“What?” The call clicked off before he could demand more answers.

Wyverns were nasty fucks. Violent, relentless, and wild. Fed on animals, not humans. But collective hunter knowledge and personal experience only went so far.

He dialed Astrid and turned toward home.

“Hi, Vann,” his teammate answered in her soft, steady voice.

“Hey. I need your brain, and Bodie’s. Fast.”

“On it.” She cooed for the fussy baby in the background.

Bodie hopped on a second later. “Hey. What’s up?”

“What do you guys know about wyverns?”

Astrid made a soft humming sound for a moment. “From what I understand, they’re solitary creatures, so they’re not usually a problem. Is that what you think might be causing the attacks in that area? A wyvern?”

“I’m going on slim intel from someone who knows more than she’s letting on. And she says it’s more than one, and more than just wyverns.” He bypassed town via backroads, dodging most of the tourist traffic. “My neighbor, who works at the ER? She got called in for an animal attack at a campground. Multiple injured. I just dropped her off, so hopefully she can tell me more when I pick her up. In the meantime, I’m doing some recon.”

“Vann,” Astrid said, her voice glowing with suspicion. “Why are you driving your hot neighbor to work and back? Lana said the sparks were zinging.”

“It’s not like that.”

“Not like what?” she asked innocently.

“Do wyverns have a good sense of smell?”

“Better than mine, but—hang on,” Bodie said. Pages sliced rapidly past each other as the academic werewolf flipped through a heavy text. “Bear with me here. Okay. Can you hear me okay? Our cell tower’s been acting up lately.”

“Yeah. You’re coming in clear.” He flipped the wheel and backed into the driveway. “Do they track their prey?”

“Like a bird of prey, but only to fill their stomach.” Bodie’s tone was vague as he seemed to focus on whatever he was reading. “That’s what I thought. So, wyverns are dangerous, of course, but they’re… how do I put this… They’re like sidekicks. Alone, they will defend their territory and can get vicious when provoked, but they’re not outwardly violent on their own. They can be trained, like falcons—to an extent. Hunters actually tried to train them, ages ago, but it was too hard to keep them from attacking the human victims they were supposed to be protecting.”

“Fuck. I don’t like any of this.” He shut off the engine and looked up at the apartment. Lexi was already gone.