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Gabriel sighed, then rose to his feet. The anger overshadowed his grief at that moment. It was that emotion that would fuse with his leadership skills as an alpha to seek the perpetrators.
“Show me the campsite," he said.
Sebastian's body was left as it was, set to be retrieved by the men and women who would be responsible for the burial. Gabriel himself would notify the family. It was another burden but a necessary one.
They shifted and began to prowl the night. The campsite wasn't far from where the body had been found, which made Gabriel feel rather certain about what he was going to find.
The humans weren't present at the site, which allowed the tigers to explore and sniff out their information and history. It didn't look like a casual family outing to Gabriel. The tents themselves were too large and too professional looking, and the scents weren’t that of innocence. They were that of something adult, craven, and bloodthirsty.
Lucas had snuck into one of the tents and found what looked like a blueprint for an archaeological dig. Gabriel was growing more and more ill by the second. He had heard about campsites such as these being set up near shifter communities. They weren’t just nosy humans. They were people with discriminatory values and infinite resources.
“It’s run by someone named Malcolm,”Lucas said telepathically as they gathered around the blueprint.“They are looking for something …”
Just then, all five tigers shot their heads in the direction of the outcrop of the forest. The humans had returned, six or seven of them, with glistening metal guns poking out from the trees and aimed directly at them.
They had to think fast. Humans didn't think twice about using guns. They definitely hadn't when they came across Sebastian.
Gabriel let out a staggering roar as Lucas, Mark, and the two other shifters leapt into action. The guns went off. Tiny explosions of wildfire hurtled toward them. Thankfully, the humans were too stupid and too terrified to land any shots. The tigers had moved fast, a few heads severed from the human's bodies while others received slashes across their throats, wet blood splashing in the darkness.
It was only a matter of seconds before the air had gone mute. All that remained was a single hunter who had dropped his gun amidst the chaos and tried to flee in a cowardly cry.
Gabriel grabbed hold of his ankle with his teeth, only sinking into the flesh lightly. He dragged the man, who was whimpering and screaming, toward the center of the campsite where the rest of his tigers waited.
“Please!” The man, whose face had been spritzed with his friends' blood, sobbed. “Don’t hurt me!"
They all shifted into their human forms at once, which quieted the man's feeble lamenting. He lay dumbfounded in the dirt, hands in front of his face and shaking uncontrollably.
“We will not hurt you if you give us the information we need," Gabriel said, voice rumbling. "But if you don’t, your head will roll around this forest. We will do to you what we did to the rest. Got it?"
“Yes, yes!” he screamed.
Gabriel moved to him, crouching and naked. It was nearly completely black out now, so Gabriel leaned in close, squaring his shoulders and flexing his arms to look his most menacing.
He spoke in a hiss that was hypnotizing, like a serpent drawing in its next meal. “What is going on here? Be specific. Tell us, and we will let you live."
The man did not hesitate for a second. He blurted it out in anxious word-vomit.
“I work for Malcolm! Malcolm Richardson! He’s out here looking for those relics, those ancient relics! TheLantern Eye, that's what he said it was! I don’t know what it does, I swear to you. I have no idea …”
The man's face fell into his hands, and he began to mewl. It was sad for Gabriel. He would get no satisfaction from killing him.
“All right, that’s enough,” Gabriel snarked, taking the man by the collar. “We will let you live. But tell no one of our presence. We can smell you. We will find you. Hear me?"
He heard him and responded by sniveling even louder. Gabriel tossed him aside and watched him stumble into the dark.
“The Lantern Eye?” Lucas said.
“Yes,” Gabriel said, rising to his feet and wiping the human blood that had dribbled onto his skin. "The Lantern Eye."
NINE
LILY
Gabriel had told Lily a little about the missing shifter earlier that day when she had seen Gabriel meeting with some of his men. They had all seemed so focused and serious.
It was alarming, but he had assured her that a shifter going missing wasn't something that was inherently concerning. Still, the look on his face when he left had told her otherwise.
The sun had started to set when Gabriel left. Lily felt wired from the amazing sex, as well as curious and intrigued by what she was sensing around her. She decided to get dressed and head out onto the porch to call Gabriel’s mother, Claire.
