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Gordo sighed. “I hear you. I’ve got this. I’m in control.” He brought up the stump at the end of his arm. The tattoos were swirling, crawling over scar tissue. I felt his magic, enormous and untamed. It caused the air around him to stutter, but he took a deep breath, and the symbols carved into his skin stopped moving. “I’m good. You’re with me, so I’m good.”
Mark huffed a breath against him before stepping back.
Elizabeth came next, just as a little car pulled into the parking lot. Jessie jumped out, crowbar in hand. “What happened?” she demanded, looking at Ox. Elizabeth rubbed up against her, and Jessie settled a hand on her back. “It’s the wards, isn’t it? I felt that. God, I’ll never get used to it.”
Joe came, followed by Carter and the timber wolf. Joe’s eyes were red, and he stopped in front of Ox. Ox reached under his chin, grasping his jaw, and pressed his forehead against Joe’s.
Carter went to Kelly and sat at his side, head cocked, ears twitching. The timber wolf circled them both slowly, growling low in the back of his throat, his ears flattened against his head. Carter whuffed at him, and the timber wolf nipped at his shoulder.
I was thunderstruck. I didn’t know why I hadn’t seen it before or why no one had told me. “Holy shit, Carter, is the wolf your—”
A bright flash of pain rolled through me as Rico kicked me in the shin. “Your friend,” Rico cried. “Is that wolf your friend.” He glared at me as I rubbed my shin. “Isn’t that right, Robbie?”
Carter looked confused, glancing back and forth between the two of us.
“Later,” Rico muttered. “Focus, okay? We’ve got bigger things to worry about than Carter’s… friend.”
As Will closed the grate over the last window, Ox turned toward all of us. He let his eyes fill, and the power that emanated from him settled over me. It almost felt like it’d been with Ezra, dreamlike and peaceful, but I didn’t think Ox was the type to exert his will over others. Not unless he was forced to.
I had to believe that.
He said, “We stick together. Always within sight. Listen. Be ready for anything.” He glanced at me. “Robbie, with me. Kelly, behind him. Everyone else, you know what to do.”
“And here’s where my childhood friends take off their clothes in public,” Rico said with a sigh just as Chris and Tanner began stripping.
“Don’t be jealous of my rocking werewolf bod,” Chris said.
“I hope it’s not bad wolves,” Tanner muttered. “I still have PTWD.” He winced and looked at me apologetically. “No offense, Robbie.”
“Post-Traumatic Werewolf Disorder,” Rico explained at the look on my face. “It happens when things get all bitey.”
“Chris,” Jessie said, staring up at the sky, “if you could shift so I don’t have to see your junk again, that’d be great.”
Chris didn’t argue. The muscles and bones underneath his skin began to move, and he grunted as he fell to his knees. His shift was slower than a born wolf’s, as was Tanner’s. But it wasn’t long before two wolves stood before us, eyes orange.
“Dominique?” Ox asked Jessie.
“She knows what to do. Don’t worry about her. Focus on what we need to do, Ox. Let’s get this over with.” She tapped the crowbar against her shoulder. “And don’t get in my way.”
He nodded before looking at Gordo wordlessly.
Gordo was staring off into the trees, his hand still on Mark. “It’s hurt,” he whispered. “There’s blood. Whatever it is, it’s been injured.”
“Don’t take any chances,” Ox said.
Rico cocked his gun. “My kind of alfa. Shoot first, ask questions later. Let’s rock ’n’ roll, motherfuckers.”
There was no shooting.
There was no fighting.
But oh, was there blood. I could smell it the closer we got to the wards, heavy and thick and filled with so much anguish, I thought I would drown in it. It was a wolf, but not one of ours. It wasn’t an Omega.
It was an Alpha.
Ox stopped, raising his snout, nostrils flaring as he inhaled deeply. Joe stood at his side, a yin and yang of black and white. I was struck then by a ferocious memory of being in Caswell, standing in Michelle’s office, phone ringing, computer beeping, as black-and-white wolves haunted me like ghosts.
“All right?” Kelly whispered, hand brushing against mine.
