Wolfsong (Green Creek 1)

“Not kidnap. You can’t kidnap someone your size, what the fuck—”

“—kidnap me, and what? Sit here and stare?” I shook my head. “Jesus, how the hell did you guys survive this long on your own?”

They glared at me.

I glared right back and felt something settle in my chest. Like a crack filled.

I gave them an out. “Right. So. I have work to do. If we could get this started? So it’ll be finished.”

“You’re not going back to work,” Kelly said. “Not today.”

“Gordo’s already there,” Carter said, turning back around and pulling away from the curb. “Decided now would be a good time to get back to the shop. Lucky us, because now we have all the time in the world.”

“Did he?” I asked, unsure whether to be amused or irritated. A little of both seemed right. “Seemed he forgot to mention that to me.” Probably for good reason too. While we were on the mend, I don’t know if I’d have agreed to this had I known ahead of time. And I think everyone knew that. I was a stubborn ass when I needed to be.

“Well, the shop is called Gordo’s,” Carter said. “I’m sure he didn’t think he had to.”

“He’ll probably need to relearn a few things,” I said. “Three years is a long time to be away.”

They both winced at that.

“He’s been doing it for years,” Carter muttered.

“It’s not like he would have forgotten,” Kelly mumbled. “It wasn’t that lo—”

“Don’t,” I said, my voice deeper than it normally was. “Don’t you dare say it wasn’t that long. You have no idea what it was like here. So don’t you say that.”

The rest of the trip was silent.

I WAS surprised when the SUV stopped and I found we were out by the old covered bridge. It was in the middle of the day on a weekday, so we were alone. Carter got out first, slamming the door behind him. We watched as he paced in front of the SUV, glaring at the bridge. He was growling, something I could hear even though the windows weren’t rolled down.

“We can smell them,” Kelly said. The Omegas.

“There was a lot of blood.”

Kelly watched his brother. “Mark told us. Not everything. Some parts. Said the rest needed to come from you. Joe wasn’t too happy about that.”

I snorted. “I don’t expect he was.”

“It was hard for him. For all of us.”

“Just as hard for us who were left behind.”

“We didn’t want to leave.”

“You did.”

“Joe… no. That’s not fair. We all made the same choice. He didn’t make us.” Kelly sighed. “I can smell your blood too. Here. And my mother’s.”

“It happens when you’re fighting against fang and claw.”

“Do you understand?”

“What?” I asked, watching Carter as he stalked the area where we’d fought, stopping every now and then to glare at the dirt.

“Why we made the choices we made.”

I could lie, but he would know. Th