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“Oh, shit, you’re that girl.” The blond Northern wolf growled a little. “They say you killed Del Talbot.”
“I didn’t. I was set up,” I growled back. “Del taught me every damned thing I know about fighting and honor. I know who did kill him, and when I get the chance, I’ll take what Del taught me and get justice.” I had a quick, gratifying mental image of me slicing through my Alpha’s neck with a giant sword. Or a chainsaw. I’d use whatever came to hand.
The muttering died down, none of these wolves having much issue with me calling my Alpha dishonorable. They’d been here long enough to see the rot, I supposed. The one who looked like Glen asked, “How can we help?”
You could have knocked me over with a feather, I was so shocked. Males who wanted to help me, not hunt me? I’d lived in a pack my whole life and never had a single shifter my own age stand up for me. I had to be dreaming.
“Whatever you need, little shifter.”
I swallowed the unfamiliar lump of emotion and rasped, “I have to live until tomorrow night’s fight, right? I’ll be up against one of you, I guess—or the guy that wins the fight that’s going on now.” In the background, we could hear snarling. “I can’t shift, so I don’t think there’s any way I can win.”
Someone in the group growled. “You want one of us to lose on purpose?”
“Hell no,” I shot back. “I’ll win it fair and square. Just give me a chance? Fight me in human form.” I didn’t expect them to; no male shifter had ever helped me before. Except Del.
Maybe these guys would be like him. Hope curled in my belly like a tiny green shoot.
The blond raked his gaze over me. “I can’t believe you won against Finn in either form. He’s one of the best.” The guys all looked at each other. “All right, so we’ll fight you in human form. Right?” They all grunted in agreement.
My eyes were stinging, and I wiped them with the back of my arm. “Wow, that’s decent. I never thought…”
“Of course you didn’t,” one of the guys said, patting me on the back with a hand that felt as heavy as a sandbag. “You were raised in Southern. We need to get you out of here.”
“If she stays in this compound overnight, without protection, she will die,” the solo wolf said, commenting casually on my death in a voice that sounded way too caramel-honey sexy for the topic.
Focus, Flor. “Actually, I know everywhere to hide. My scent is mostly covered.”
“Hard to hide with blood on your clothes,” one guy said, sniffing my shirt. “And you smell delicious, little female. Like bacon and cinnamon.”
Instantly, the solo wolf was there, holding one of the sniffer’s arms behind his back, and dragging him off behind some of the others. I heard a short yelp and the unmistakable sound of a body thumping on the ground.
“Can I, um, borrow a shirt? I’ll leave this one. I have a few hiding places the jerks in this pack never found over the past few years. I’ll get to a bolt-hole and stay there until tomorrow.”
“That’s… crazy,” the blond guy said.
“What’s your name? I can’t keep calling you blond guy in my mind.”
“Patrick,” he said, holding out a hand. I shook it.
“Okay Patrick, call me Flor.”
He laughed. “You look more like a Will than a Flor right now.”
I winked at him and said in my best Southern drawl, “Yeah, but I clean up real nice.”
“I’ll bet you do,” he agreed. “All right, I’m going to give her cover so she can get away. Who wants to fight me for a distraction? Joaquin?” He motioned to the solo wolf, who had returned alone to the inner circle of shifters.
Closer now, it was almost impossible not to stare at the stranger. He wasn’t massive and burly like some of the Enforcers, but he had an aura that was every bit as dangerous. He radiated a sort of cold awareness, and I shivered.
But he didn’t frighten me, though I couldn’t meet his eyes, which was odd. That had never happened before, not even with my own Alpha. I could feel his midnight gaze on me, though, taking in every detail of my appearance. But not judging me. Not condemning my appearance, my smell, or my lack of rank, though his lip curled as he took in my ear tag.
“Joaquin?” Patrick repeated. “When the time comes, will you help me distract everyone?”
“Gladly,” he answered, and gave me an odd, courtly bow. He moved so fluidly, it was like gravity didn’t have the same hold on him.
Somehow, then he’d closed the distance between us and was holding my hand in his. He smiled, dark eyes flashing red for a split second, and leaned over my hand, giving it a soft kiss. It made my insides feel… strange. Not necessarily in a good way. But not completely bad either. My whole body felt cold, except for my core, which burned with a peculiar fire. I clenched my thighs together, and the heat intensified.
What the heck’s going on with me?
