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“Probably balls deep in Roxy,” Ares snorts.
My heart stutters in my chest, stomach sinking like a stone.
Everyone but me shoots Ares a dirty look and his eyes widen, snapping to meet my own as he holds up his hands in surrender. “Shit, sorry Sloane…”
“Really, Ares?” Avery groans, cutting him a glare. Her eyes soften as she turns to me apologetically, slipping an arm around my shoulders. “I probably should’ve told you…”
“No,” I say, quickly steeling my expression and shrugging her arm off. “It’s fine, really. I’ve been gone a long time. I have a lot to catch up on.”
The door to the squad complex slams, and I whip my head around to see my past storming from the building like a dark cloud, headed right for me.
The one and only Maddox Kessler.
I’m thrown back in time, and suddenly I’m that seventeen-year-old girl again, staring numbly out the car window at my first love as my dad drives away. But the man in front of me now isn’t the same boy who was standing in the middle of the street with tears staining his cheeks, screaming ‘don’t go’.
He’s taller. At least six foot two, and he’s filled out considerably, packing muscle onto his already broad frame. Tattoos wind from his knuckles up his forearms and biceps, disappearing beneath the sleeves of his black t-shirt and peeking out from beneath his collar, ink crawling up his thick neck. His expression is hard, sharp jaw clenched tightly and dark blue eyes like stone.
He doesn’t look my way as he strides toward us. It’s like he looks right through me, seeing everyone elsebutme.
Part of me is glad for it. Madd used to look at me like I was the only girl in the room; the only girl in the whole universe. If he looked at me like that now, I’m not sure I’d be able to keep faking this confident, composed façade I’ve been putting on since I stepped through the gate of the squad complex.
But then theotherpart… the other part of me longs for just a crumb of his attention. Just one glance, some sort of acknowledgement that I once meant something to him.
I don’t get it.
“You guys ready?” he asks as he approaches, eyes sliding from Tristan, to Iver, to Avery- skipping right over me and landing on Lo before sweeping to Archer and Ares.
They all either nod or mumble in the affirmative.
“Alright, let’s get this shit over with then,” Madd mumbles under his breath as he breezes right past me, close enough to touch. His scent hits me with a wave of familiarity, and I swear it’s stronger than it used to be, spicy and distinctly masculine. Distinctlyhim. I left behind a boy, but this older version of Maddox is all man.
“Listen up!” he calls out, curling his index finger and thumb and sticking them in his mouth to whistle sharply. All at once, the dull roar of conversation dies out, everyone’s attention snapping to him. The way he commands a crowd is a thing to see, dominant energy rolling off him like a physical force.
“By now most of you have heard rumors about the hunters in Denver,” Madd begins, gaze sweeping over the horde of fighters gathered before him. “I’m here to tell you that they’re true.”
A wave of apprehension ripples through the crowd, a rumble of low murmurs and whispers rising up as they all look to one another with alarm.
Madd clenches his jaw in irritation, pinching the bridge of his nose between his thumb and forefinger as the sound around him builds. Then he holds up a hand, and just like that, everyone goes silent again.
“Alright, everyone calm the fuck down,” he growls. “I hope you got that out of your systems, because you’re the last people who should be panicking. Save that for the children and the elderly, the defenseless within our packs. As for us, this is the exact reason we’re here.Thisis what we’ve trained for. If those assholes do wind up making their way to our borders, we’re the first line of defense.”
He sweeps his gaze over the people assembled before him again, the intensity in his eyes conveying the gravity of the responsibility the squad carries. “It’s our job to protect our people, to stand up for our packs and our land. You’rewarriors. The best of the best. You’re the ones who are going to take those hunters down if they come knocking. So are you with me? Are you ready to fight for what’s ours and send these demons back to hell where they belong?”
Madd definitely knows how to rile up a crowd. A roar of affirmation erupts from the squad fighters on the field, echoing off the corrugated metal walls of the squad complex and sending birds scattering from the trees in the surrounding forest. All the while, I’m watching Madd with rapt fascination. He can’t seem to even so much as look atme, but I can’t look away from him. He’s like a dark god, everyone here completely captivated by his larger-than-life presence.
Including me.
“Alright, good,” he barks, and the crowd settles so that he can speak again. “Now that’s out of the way, we’re going to make some adjustments to the training schedules and exercises going forward, but first we need to talk about doubling up the patrols.” He swings his gaze over to his sister. “Aves?”
She nods, stepping up beside him to take the reins and announce the new patrol assignments. Avery’s a force in her own right, commanding the crowd almost as powerfully as her brother as she begins to rattle off the new plan for patrols.
I barely hear her over the sound of my own hammering pulse in my ears. I’m still staring at Madd, watching as he folds his thick, tattooed forearms over his chest, the muscle in his jaw feathering as he gazes upon the men and women he leads.
He’s familiar, yet different.
Something comfortable, yet terrifying.
And for a moment, it strikes me that the rumors may be true- maybe he’s really nothing like he used to be. Maybe he’s a stranger.
