His head jerked to the side.
I sighed.
“Ox,” he said quietly. “It’s Ox. He wants us downstairs.”
I was going to murder my Alpha.
I moved to step away from Mark.
He held on to my hand. “Hey.”
I looked up. He was smiling at me shyly. “We’ll… can we talk about this later?”
I said, “Yeah,” and my voice was hoarse.
“Okay,” he said. “Okay.”
For now, it was enough.
It would have to be.
We had a goddamn war to fight.
WE DESCENDED the staircase in the Bennett house, Mark walking close behind me. The wooden steps creaked underneath our feet, and the buzz of conversation stopped at the sound.
Fucking werewolves.
They were in the great room. All of them. Our pack.
Rico sat on an oversized sofa, Jessie perched on the arm. Both of them watched every step I took. Rico’s wounds weren’t as bad as they looked in the truck.
Chris and Tanner were battered and bruised. Chris’s forehead had been cleaned, and there was a small row of black stitches across the top. It’d leave a scar, but one I knew he’d wear proudly. Tanner’s knee was slightly swollen and wrapped in a brace, but he had a determined look on his face.
Team motherfucking Human.
Elizabeth sat on the couch, her legs curled up underneath her. Kelly was at her side, pressed shoulder to shoulder. Carter sat at their feet, head tilted back, eyes closed as he breathed in slowl
y, held it, then let it out through his nose. Kelly’s hand was in his hair.
Robbie stood behind the long couch, wringing his hands. His glasses were perched awkwardly on his face, but I couldn’t find the strength to tell him they looked ridiculous. He must have been growing on me.
And the Alphas.
They stood near the windows, upright and rigid, their backs to the pack. An aura of power surrounded them. There were the threads, yes, the ones between all of us. Wolves. Humans. A witch. And there was the ever-present tinge of blue echoing along them. But it was overwhelmed by Joe. By Ox. They were furious, though that fury didn’t seem to be directed toward anyone in the house.
I wasn’t a wolf, but I still understood the urgent feeling of an invading force in our territory. Couple that with the betrayal of a woman who, while we didn’t trust her, we hadn’t expected to throw us to a group of hunters. Especially not Elijah, who had been here once before and taken almost everything. It was a knife in our backs, twisted cruelly.
If we survived this, if we survived the hunters and the infection spreading in two of our own, Michelle Hughes was going to pay.
I would see to it.
And even though we felt blue, there was green. Still. Now. The green of relief, because we were here. We were together.
We were packpackpack.
Carter broke the silence.
“You know,” he said, voice a little hoarse, “I hope you guys are on your way to working out whatever the fuck is going on between the two of you. I mean, it was really gross to watch my uncle carry you up the stairs in his arms like some damsel in distress and snarl at anyone who tried to go into his room to check on you.”