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“How insightful, Grant,” Will grunts.
They finish their game, and Will deals me in. I idly sift my cards from hand to hand, trying to remember the rules for Texas Hold ‘Em and coming up blank.
“So if you’re playing for blackberry rations, doesn’t that mean one of you is more likely to get scurvy?” I ask. “We ration things in a specific way for a reason.”
“Correction,” Will cuts in. “Grantis more likely to get scurvy, because he sucks at poker.”
“Or maybe I’m just drunk, which gives you an advantage,” Grant says.
“I think it’s become clear that Ialwayshave an advantage, purely by virtue of having a better poker face…”
Their words fade into the background as I continue flipping the cards from hand to hand, my body relaxing into somewhat of a stupor. It’s getting to be that time of night when I’ve hadjustenough whiskey to call it. All the people still in the den are having their fun, retiring to their bedrooms. They’ll be screaming the whole damn night, though, and at this point I’m just exhausted. My mind goes comfortably numb, the cards jumbling and blurring together.
A scent hits me.
Maybe it’s just the conversation, but I could swear I smell blackberries on the air, and just a touch of leather. The honeyed breeze blows through the window, invading my senses, lulling me into a sense of complacency…
“Are you in?”
I frown. “I fold.”
I put the cards down on the table face-up, suddenly not caring about the game I’ve onlyjustagreed to play. Grant whistles, reaching for the cards as I get up and walk past him to look out the window. “What the…dude, you just folded with most of a royal flush,” he says. “What the fuck is wrong with you?”
“Guess I’m winning his blackberry rations,” Will shrugs.
I frown, scenting the air again. The smell of blackberries and leather is much stronger now, so sweet that it makes my mouth water. I lean into the air, closing my eyes and trying to track the location of that delicious scent.
“Reyes, you good?” Grant says. “You’re acting super weird.”
“Shut up,” I growl, unable to stop the words from slipping out. I’m agitated, tired, and he’sdistractingme. Especially because I can’t shake that fucking smell, and there’s something wrong with the way the night hangs heavy around us.
And then I hear it.
Hooves in the tall grass, whispering across the prairie.
I draw back suddenly, my eyes snapping open. “Get your fucking guns,” I say, whipping around. “We’ve got company.”
Will is on his feet in an instant, but Grant lags behind. “You—how do you know?”
“You don’t hear it?” Will says, shouldering his rifle. “We need to get out on the battlements. Shit—they must know we’re more vulnerable during the full moon.”
“Or we’ve just let our caution slip because we’re so damn horny,” Grant mutters. “Shit, I…”
I don’t catch the rest of what he says; I’m already striding toward the ladder and dropping the twenty feet down to the grass below, my body absorbing the hit. My limbs start to contort, the Alpha Prime preparing to protect his pack. I climb up onto the boundary wall partially shifted, my keen eyes surveying the tall grasses and the woods beyond.
“Reyes, wait!” Will’s voice calls from behind me, but my hands have already found the wood posts, claws biting into them to haul me over into the field just on the other side. A crumbling asphalt road leads away from the caverns, toward the woods, and I find myself following that scent down the road and into the forest.
I won’t let these people hurt my pack.
And Ihaveto find the source of that blackberry and leather scent.
CHAPTER TWO
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TILDA
I haven’t gone out with a raiding party like this in a long time, but I don’t have any choice.
