“The old man pulled a fast one. He’s been trying to find us for years. He never would have been able to.” He clapped his hands. “But then Julian became obsessed with you and his revenge. So Edward lay in wait. He used Julian’s pain to his advantage, let you become the perfect little spy.” Cade began to grin. “I wouldn’t put it past him to have leaked your identity to Julian in the first place.”
Alex’s eyes narrowed. She wouldn’t put it past him, either.
“Then he tells you your father’s killer is here, and the next thing you know you’re volunteering.”
Close enough.
“This is fantastic.” He laughed. “I won’t even have to deny killing you. You’re a spy. They’ll give me a goddamn medal.”
“Julian won’t.”
Cade’s laughter died, and he shrugged. “He’s a fool. Lets Alana run off and be killed by you. Then tries to get cutesy, to punish you, and he ends up mated to you. Everything he touches turns to shit.”
“He saved your life.”
“And I thanked him. Am I supposed to be his slave until the end of time?”
“I think, yeah.”
“I think not. He doesn’t want to rule the world, well I do.”
Uh-oh, Alex thought.
“I’ve been waiting and watching for a weakness.” His gaze met hers, and he smiled. “Now he’s got one. Once I kill you, he’ll be writhing. I should be able to challenge him and win.”
Alex blinked. Hell. The coup really was on.
She had to do something. She didn’t want the village under Cade’s thumb. He was nuts. And what about the Inuits? They’d be nothing but a smorgasbord.
She needed to get outside, then to the trees where she could perhaps hide long enough to shape-shift, make her way back to Barlowsville, and blow the whistle on the wolf in their midst.
It wasn’t much of a plan, but it was all she had. And it started with knocking Cade senseless enough for her to have a head start.
Before she could think too hard and too long about what she was about to do, Alex snatched up one of the glass globes full of water and snow and Alana, then she pitched it right at Cade’s head.
It was a good throw—a great one, in fact. She put everything she’d ever learned from Charlie into it. All those years of instruction, of practice, combined with her increased strength, and she just knew that pitch was going to cause some damage.
Until Cade reached up with that surprising speed, snatching the thing out of the air an instant before it would have broken his nose.
Julian strode toward the back door, the change trickling over him like a winter wind. His jeans split at the seams, bursting open to allow his haunches free.
His fury at his brother for wrecking everything, combined with his fury at himself for not realizing it, allowing him to open the back door with hands on the end of paws before he shouted from a snout that should not have been able to form words, “Bring the others.”
Then he hit the ground loping, following the scent of Cade and Alex down the street, out of town, then around and around and around. He knew she couldn’t be far, but he also couldn’t figure out in what direction they’d gone.
The scents overlapped; they went one way, then curled back the other. He was so angry, so upset, so—yes, he admitted it—scared his focus was shot to shit. He felt as if his brain would explode, so he plopped onto his haunches and lifted his nose to the moon.
“Oooo www-exxxxx!” he called, and the moon answered.
Julian, it whispered in a voice that rumbled through his blood. Julian.
His head whipped to the right. There.
He pulled on his power and the next instant…
He saw her.
Alex went for the door. Of course he’d had her close it. Not that its being wide open would have helped. Not when he was ancient, and she was so brand new. His speed was legend, and hers…Well, hers was not.