“I want to see the walls of pictures,” said Tate, so Aspen led the Alphas out of the dining room.
Hearing voices muttering outside, Camden crossed to the back door. Through the windowpane, he saw the other four Olympus Pride members making their way toward the rear of the house, passing rusty gas barrels, an old tractor, a wheelless horse trailer, and a partially collapsed shed. Wayland clearly had no interest in the property’s upkeep.
“Shit,” muttered Bailey, reaching down to grab the phone she’d somehow dropped on the floor, her fingertips barely scraping over it.
Camden headed back to the table and bent down to grab her cell. It was as he went to straighten that something caught his eye. He froze as his mind scrambled to process what he was seeing. Fuck.
Urgency rocketing through him, he snapped out, “Aspen!”
She returned, her brow furrowed, the Alphas trailing behind her. “What now?” she asked.
He clamped his hand around her wrist. “We need to all get gone. Now.” He tossed the cell to Bailey, who caught it easily. “There’s a fucking bomb attached to the underside of the dining table. Move.”
The five of them rushed at the back door just as Luke stepped inside, the other Olympus Pride members close behind him.
“Out,” Tate barked at his brother. “Get the fuck out now.”
Luke obeyed without hesitation.
Keeping hold of Aspen’s wrist, Camden swiftly followed him, conscious that the others were hot on their heels. They practically jumped off the porch before then making a mad dash for—
The house exploded.
A rush of heat hit his back. The force of the explosion swept both Camden and Aspen off their feet. They landed flat on their stomachs. He quickly shuffled aside and threw himself over her, shielding her body with his own. A ringing sound filled his ears and—
There was a brief whizz followed by a hard clunk as something hit the gas barrel a few feet away.
Bullet.
Camden acted fast, pulling Aspen upright and dragging her behind the old horse trailer. Luke joined them a mere second later. The others also took cover as more and more shots rang out.
Camden stiffened as the smell of blood hit him. Aspen’s blood. He turned to her, his heart leaping in his chest. “Where are you hit?” he asked, his voice a growl that vibrated with his cat’s panic.
She extended her wounded arm. “The bullet only grazed me. Stings like a bitch, though.”
Relief near felled him. Still panicked, his cat roared and urged Camden to get their bearcat to safety. But it wasn’t safe to move yet.
Luke cursed beneath his breath. “The bastard’s got us right where he wants us. And he’s somewhere in those trees over there.”
Camden glanced around to check on the others. None appeared to have been hit, but he couldn’t be sure.
Tate, who’d taken cover behind the tractor with Havana, Alex, and Bailey, caught Camden’s eye and mouthed, “Talk to him.”
Camden nodded, understanding that the Alpha wanted him to somehow distract Wayland. Once the barrage of bullets stopped, Camden loudly called out, “You really hate me this much, Wayland?”
There was a brief silence. “Now that’s what I’d call a rhetorical question,” a familiar male voice responded that made Camden’s tiger snarl.
He exchanged a look with Aspen, who nodded. It was definitely Wayland.
“I figured you’d probably turn up here at some point, but I didn’t think you’d track me down so fast,” the polar added, sounding amused.
Watching as both Alex and Bailey shifted into their animal forms before stealthily slinking away, Camden went on, “You’ve been a busy boy lately.”
“You knew I’d come for you,” said the polar.
“I expected you to do it a lot sooner. Why the delay?”
“I was waiting for you to find a mate, of course. I was going to take from you what you took from me. It’s only fitting. But you seem set on growing old alone, and I’m tired of waiting. The bearcat can die in lieu of your mate. She shouldn’t even be alive right now anyway. She was the one who should have died that night,” the polar insisted, his voice thick with venom.
Camden’s tiger went ape-shit—both man and feline knew that Wayland wasn’t calling his bluff, hoping for a reaction. No, he meant it. He had every intention of killing Aspen.
“But maybe I’ll spare her if you come out now, Camden. You’re not as safe as you might think. There are bombs out here too. I can set them off right this second. But I’d rather be looking into your eyes when you die. So come out of hiding, and I won’t kill the others. I’ll let them live. All of them.”
Now that was a lie if ever Camden had heard one.
Aspen grabbed his arm. “Don’t,” she whispered. “He won’t spare anyone. He knows we’d all hunt him for killing you.”