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We chose it in hopes of healing the broken and the damaged.
There was a time when humans were our greatest adversary. They hunted us like animals. Called us freaks, monsters, and murderers. There were still those out there who believed we were a threat, but not because we were any of the things they accused us of being. No, we were a threat because of our power and our abilities. In the modern world, there were very few humans who knew about the existence of shifters, and most of those who did rarely cared that we were any different from them. It was how wolves like me came into existence.
Half-breeds.
Outcasts.
Slaves for the pure, entitled bigots.
Over the past hundred years, there had been a growth in human-shifter children. Most of them had been stolen from their homes or bred to be killers for a bigoted cause. My mother had been nothing more than a sheep among the masses. She’d let them use her and take me from her arms the day I was born without a second thought.
If it hadn’t been for Wolf, I would never have escaped.
“You’re quieter than usual,” Wolf commented. His sharp, icy eyes assessed me from the other side of the cab. I snuck a peek at him out of the corner of my eye. Worry lined the edges ofhis face, his brows creased with concern. “What’s on your mind, brother?”
That was a loaded question. There had been a lot on my mind recently. Each night, my past would come back to haunt me. It gripped at my heart and stole my breath until I was waking up in sheer terror that they had returned for me.
“Just thinking about the mess we’re in, brother,” I partially lied. That was also high on my mind. Haven had problems, sure, but nothing like the hit that had come at us this morning. Four shifters dead—and with silver bullets. Most people, humans and shifters alike, thought silver was a myth. I knew firsthand that it wasn’t.
“I know.” Wolf sighed, running a hand through his dark hair, gripping the edges in frustration. “Makes no fucking sense. None of our enemies would do that shit. Not even Corsico.”
Corsico.There was a name we hadn’t uttered in a while. Corsico was the name of one of the largest shifter families on the West Coast. They also happened to be a family of shifters. Mostly. Like many packs these days, they were a hybrid mix of humans and wolves living harmoniously together. We’d had a beef with them in the past when they tried running their drugs through our town. We weren’t the worst of enemies, but fuck if we were the best of allies.
“Something about it…” I trailed off. Silver bullets to the head, which was familiar. It had been my signature move as a hired assassin so shifters would know who had come after them. “I’m wondering if it’s a hyena.”
Hyenas were what half-breeds had been known as by the Collective, the community that had trained us to be assassins and pawns. The elite among us had been known as jackals. I’d been one of them. The best of the best. Until we weren’t.
“There’s no way, Hunt,” he assured me earnestly. “We wiped that whole commune out.”
“Doesn’t mean there isn’t another one out there somewhere,” I pointed out. “Who said that was the only one? They could have had backup locations we never discovered. Hell, one of the fucking hyenas could have taken it upon themselves to restart the program. Those fuckers had all been brainwashed, and not all of them were happy to be shown the light.”
Another sigh. He knew I was right. That was what bothered him. Voodoo was a powerful thing to mess with. All magic came at a price that many people thought was too steep to pay. Unless you weren’t the one paying for it.
Erasing a scent? That shit required high-level shamanism that came with a ticking clock. Most rituals had to be enacted and fulfilled during certain times or phases of the year. Some were meant to be short and non-lasting, while others, which were long term, needed to be reupped every so often. If you didn’t reup the ritual during the active contracted phases, you paid with your soul.
“Shit,” he mumbled. “I didn’t even think of that.”
I hadn’t thought it a possibility either until today’s events.
“What if it’s them?” I asked, my heart rate picking up at just the thought. I knew he could hear the steady thumping of anxiety brimming through me. “What if—”
My foot hit the brake hard, sending the back of the truck fishtailing as I caught the familiar scent of iron lingering in the air around us.
“What the fuck?” Wolf roared, but I could see the moment his senses caught a whiff of the bitter tang of death. Easing off the brake, I kept the truck at a crawl as we followed the scent of blood. It grew stronger the more we inched along until it was nearly on top of us. I pulled the truck to the side of the road and put it in park, not bothering to remove the keys as Wolf and I rushed out of the cab to follow the scent trail.
“There’s nothing out here for miles.” Wolf sniffed the air. “This land is all tribal, and none of the locals have been up here recently.”
“Do you smell anything else?” I asked curiously. “Anything at all?”
Wolf’s brow furrowed as he concentrated on gathering in the surrounding fragrances of the forest. His eyes widened at the sudden realization that the only thing either of us could smell was blood. Humans and shifters were full of a myriad of scents. Blood, sweat, the natural aroma of a body. Hell, almost anything manufactured these days left a scent. We should have been able to smell shampoo, conditioner, any kind of Cologne or fragrance, but there was nothing.
We stepped off the blacktop and onto the forest floor, wet leaves rustling beneath our boots. Wolf pulled his Glock from the small of his back. I followed suit. Neither of our magazines were loaded with silver bullets, but there was enough ammo between the two of us to put any shifter down for a good long while.
We kept each other in our peripheries as we ventured toward the riverbed. My keen eyes caught sight of something in the distance where the sandy riverbed flowed onto the forest floor. I held up a fist. Wolf froze, reading my silent sign. I brought two fingers to my eyes before pointing to the river and signaling to him that I’d seen what looked to be a prone female. I looked at him, and he nodded, giving me the go-ahead.
“You there,” I called, but there was no answer. The female didn’t move, her body nearly lifeless.Shit.I surged forward, gun still at the ready in case it was a trap, but from the looks of it, she wasn’t going to be getting one over on us anytime soon. Wolf was hot on my heels, cursing under his breath as he replaced his Glock in its holster before moving to help me take stock of the scene.
Blood seeped beneath the woman, flowing onto the sand below. She was soaked through and caked in mud.
