“Yep. Didn’t want to know.” He rubbed his hand over his face. “He’s almost here. Carter, it’s probably best if he sees you first. He’s going to be able to smell the rest of us the closer he gets. Is he going to run?”
“I don’t know,” I muttered. “He’s kind of a dick.”
Gordo snorted. “Yeah, I’m not surprised.” He hesitated. Then, “Is he… is he loyal? To my father?”
I shook my head. “I don’t think so. Whatever Livingstone is doing to him, it’s hurting him. I only saw it for a moment. It was like he was feeding off him.”
“Is that when he broke your back?” Kelly asked, a nasty curl to his words.
Gordo turned to look at me, eyes wide. Joe didn’t. He’d heard.
Fuck. “Yeah. That’s… that’s when he did that.”
“I’m also gonna punch you in the mouth,” Joe said without looking at me.
“Get in line,” Kelly grumbled. “I want another turn.”
“Children, that’s enough,” Gordo said. He took a step back, gaze still trained on the woods. “He’s almost here. Joe, Kelly, move away. He needs to see Carter first. We don’t know how he’ll react with the rest of us here. Especially if he’s feral. If he shifted back after Caswell, he might not even recognize us.”
“He knows,” I said quietly. “He’s been human here with me. He saved me from hunters. Bullet to the leg.”
They all stared at me again.
I really needed to learn to keep my mouth shut.
“Yeah,” Joe said, shaking his head. “I’m definitely going to punch you later. Just so you know.”
They stood behind me, leaving a few feet between us. The fog in my head was clearing. I felt present, more so than I’d been in a long time. They were angry. Their anger was alive and biting. But they were here. They had my back. They weren’t going to let me go again.
I could breathe.
I felt him in the woods. It was faint, but there all the same. I wondered if it had always been there. If I’d just been too lost in my own head to recognize it. It was thrumming, a low beat without words. It was like the moon.
I heard him in the snow. His quick breaths. He was hurt. Not physically, though he seemed weak. I didn’t think Livingstone was trying to kill him. He wouldn’t do that.
He growled.
He knew someone was here with me.
“Gavin,” I called, though I couldn’t see him yet. He blended in with the trees and the snow. “It’s okay. No one is here to hurt you. I promise.”
He was confused. Scared. Angry. It ran warm like a low fever. I thought he would turn and run. He didn’t. He paused somewhere just out of sight, and I heard him whine.
“What’s wrong with him?” Joe whispered. His eyes were red.
“What is it?” Gordo asked.
Joe said, “I don’t know. I haven’t felt anything like it before. It’s twisted. He’s….”
I took a step toward the trees. “Gavin. Come on, man. You know them. Okay? It’s Joe. Kelly. And Gordo.”
A wolf snarled.
Gordo rolled his eyes. “We can just leave you here. Take Carter with us and—”
Gavin burst out from the tree line, his fangs bared, hackles raised. His tail jutted out in a straight line, his head lowered toward the ground. His eyes were violet, and he snapped a warning at us.
I raised my hands. “We’re not going to hurt you. I swear. Gavin, look at me.”