Page 63 of Hexy Beast

Darius stiffens, but then he immediately relaxes, and for a second I wonder if I imagined his reaction, but before I can ask, he gives me a quick hug and then lets go.

“As much as I love having you naked, we need to get dressed and get a move on,” he says as he strolls over to the moonstone crate. He opens it and pulls out a copy of both of our outfits from the day before—just clean and not shredded, in my case. “The blue moon won’t last much longer, and I have to be back in Arcadia before that happens.”

I don’t miss the fact that he doesn’t say we, but maybe he’s just as discombobulated by the whole werewolf witch as I am and is trying to appear to be the calm one so I can be the having-a-panic-attack one. Fair enough. We have the walk back through the woods to figure it out anyway. And maybe now that I have some shifter abilities the woods won’t fuck with us by moving as much.

A witch can dream, right?

Chapter Twenty-Four

Darius…

It’s late afternoon by the time we enter Arcadia, and the setting sun is just starting to turn the sky shades of orange and red. The lights are on in the stores along Main Street. Everything seems picturesque and perfect, but the hair on the back of my neck is standing on end.

Effie and I walk hand in hand for another block, tension strangling the air between us. Yes, I know I shouldn’t be holding her hand considering the fact that I have to send her away, but I can’t seem to help myself. She tugs my hand at the same time that she jerks her chin toward the window of an apartment above the general store. I get a quick glimpse of a pack member before the curtains are yanked shut.

Then I glance toward the park at the end of Main Street, where only a few days before we’d had a pack barbecue. There’s a crowd of people there, but unlike the other day, no one is laughing or talking to one another. Instead, they’re all standing in an eerie silence, watching Effie and me approach.

It’s a mix of Aetos pack members and more of the werewolves with the same neck tattoos as the ones who tried to jump us in the clearing. I scan the faces, but Aunt Artemis isn’t here, and that sets off warning sirens. My wolf surges to the surface in a heated rush, and my vision tinges with red.

It would feel so good to let him go free, for real this time, not just as a test like in the woods. All the rage, all the frustration, all the want would explode out of me powered by my wildness in a violent shift from man to wolf. What is the point in fighting it? I can protect my pack. I can protect Effie. I can have my way.

I could always have my way.

No one could stop me.

The truth of that—or at least the bone-deep belief that it is true—is what stops me in my tracks, because I know what that leads to. I refuse to be the kind of alpha my dad and my grandmother were.

So I tighten my hold on my wolf’s leash until I’m holding on with a white-knuckled grip. The swirling electric rush of my wildness recedes just enough that I can see clearly again.

Effie, stopped next to me, tightens her grasp on my hand. “How much trouble are we in here?”

I don’t have to think twice about the answer. “A lot.”

In addition to the Council werewolves, everyone in the group is tied to Nikos. My number two, however, is nowhere to be seen. I scan the area once again looking for him, and that’s when I spot Atlas knocked out cold and trussed up with thick rope next to a park bench.

Looks like Nikos got sick of having a go at me only in the shadows and has decided the straight-ahead-at-full-blast approach is a winning plan. He’s wrong, but he’ll find that out shortly—and painfully—just as soon as I make sure Aunt Artemis is safe.

“Oh shit,” Effie says under her breath, obviously taking in the scene and coming to the same conclusion that I have. “What’s the plan?”

“You getting behind me, staying safe, and getting out of here as soon as you can.” Beyond that, I don’t have much beyond kicking everyone’s ass.

Effie looks up at me with that stubborn half smile of hers and shakes her head as she tells me, “That’s not going to happen, Darius.”

I open my mouth to argue (as if she’d ever change her stubborn mind) when Nikos finally makes his appearance, stepping out of the crowd. He struts over to the middle of the street, opening his arms to us as if he’s the alpha and it’s his place to greet pack members who’ve completed the gauntlet race.

I sweep Effie behind me with one arm, keeping my attention focused on Nikos and forcing myself to stay loose so that when he launches his attack, I’ll be ready.

“We were beginning to doubt you’d make it back,” he says. He has a smug grin on his face, but there is no missing the disappointment in his tone.

“Is that why you sent your friends to meet us out there?” Effie asks, stepping forward next to me, getting right into the middle of things despite my telling her to stay back.

Of all the stubborn and impulsive—

Honeysuckle becomes heavy in the air, jerking my thoughts to a halt. That’s when I notice Effie’s hands. They’re clasped behind her back, but she’s waving them in a series of patterned movements—almost like she’s punching in numbers on a cell phone.

I don’t know what she’s up to, but I plan on getting everything under control before she gets a chance to unleash her magic.

“Oh, I didn’t send them out into the woods.” Nikos pivots, looking back at the people gathered around the gazebo. “He did.”