Page 47 of Chased

“Oh, sure,” Cisco said. “Don’t mind us, and our ritual, and any of our family stuff.”

That was unfair. He’d dedicated most of his life to them, and now he couldn’t even talk to a girl without getting a raft of shit. “I’m just hanging out with her. Fucking get over it.”

They were all growling by the time they got to the main gate. The guard waved them through, and Cisco drove in and headed for the access road up to the Big House, where Sugar was waiting for the prisoner.

Either to interrogate him, torture him, or eat his flesh. Sanchez wasn’t sure and didn’t really care.

He just wanted to get rid of the fucker, and then get rid of his fucking cousins. In no particular order.

“Light’s on at Madison’s,” Matéo said as they passed by. As if Sanchez couldn’t see that. “Maybe she already has a date.”

“Fuck. Off.”

It seemed to take forever to get up to the Big House, though it was only about five minutes. As soon as the truck came to a stop, Sanchez said, “I’ll deliver the prisoner. You two get out of my face. Go hunt something and get rid of your damn attitudes.”

He knew why their wolves were on edge. They’d been on edge a lot lately, ever since he started spending time with Madison.

He understood that they depended on him, but fuck. Did he have no right to a life at all?

Cisco muttered, “Well, we wouldn’t want to be in the way.”

He pulled off his clothes and tossed them in the back of the truck. Matéo followed.

“You gonna catch up?” he asked.

Sanchez growled, “I’ve had enough of you two for one day. Go on.”

They hesitated another moment, and then Changed and bounded off into the woods. For a second he felt bad. He’d said what he always said to them when they were being a pain—he wasn’t a soft smooshy guy, for fuck’s sake.

But he somehow felt like this time, he’d done the wrong thing.

Vixen, finally free and terrified of being hunted, headed straight for the garden and an abandoned burrow they’d found there.

It was regular rabbit-size, not shifter rabbit-size, so they didn’t fit. But they could fix that.

Dig. Hide. Dig. Hide.

The garden hadn’t been worked for a few years, but the ground was still pretty soft and easy to dig. It felt nice to be going underground. Dark. Safe. Comforting.

Until she heard the wolves coming down the mountainside. No need for them to hide. They were yipping and baying and announcing themselves at the top of their voices, like the predators they were.

She froze for a second, making sure of their direction. They were heading right for her. She tore at her unfinished burrow, digging as hard as she could, but it wasn’t deep enough. They could get to her.

She heard the change in their calls, instinctively knowing they’d picked up the scent of prey.

Not me, please not me, not me.

And then they were there. Crashing through her garden, flushing her out.

Hunting. Hunting her.

Terror took over, and Madison ran.

After Cisco and Matéo took off, Sanchez breathed a sigh of relief. His cousins were his family and he loved the dickheads, but wrangling them when their wolves were on a tear was always exhausting.

Somehow, the older he got, the harder the bad days became. At this rate, they’d all go rogue before he was forty.

Walking around to the truck bed, he unhooked the bed cover and dragged the prisoner over the side, struggling all the way.