Page 75 of Rabid
But Britton was supposed to meet us here so he could confirm how many wolves are guarding Presley and show us where she’s being kept. Tyran spoke to him just four hours ago, and we’ve been at our meet point now for almost thirty minutes, but...no Britton.
The woods are quiet, the canopy of trees covering us beneath the moonlit night, though the still shadows do nothing to ease my worry. If anything, the woods soundtooquiet. My wolf doesn’t like the smell of it either. She likes the scent ofherwoods, back at Ruin Falls. This place, this land, it’s been tainted by Burke’s presence, as if even the mulch in the dirt and the leaves in the trees have been altered and poisoned by him. I grew up in these woods, spent most of my life wandering between these trees, but there’s absolutely nothing about this place that feels like home anymore.
A Ruin Falls wolf moves through the shadows to approach us. I watch until the moonlight highlights his face and recognize Brody.
“Any news?” Tyran asks him quietly.
“Alpha, the leak wasWarrik,” Brody says with an irate expression on his face. “It seems before the reckoning, he was making some moves. He was trying to leave and join Twin Rivers pack, and to earn his spot, he was supposed to hand over information...and Luna.”
Rage heats my blood and makes me snarl. I wish there was a way to bring the betraying wolf back from the dead just so I could rip him apart and kill him all over again. I can feel the same fury bleeding through my mate bond, and Tyran’s eyes are hard, the tic in his jaw working overtime.
“He died too easily,” he seethes, and I nod, breathing through the haze of red that’s trying to drop over my vision.
“At least he’s dead. That’s one less problem we have to worry about now,” I remind him.
Tyran nods, dismissing his beta with a wave, and returns his angry gaze on our surroundings.
“You’re sure this is east of the main pack house?” he asks me.
I nod, and even though I’m basked in darkness, I know he and Kier can see me. “Positive.”
He lifts his nose to the air again, and I do the same on instinct, but there’s no sense of Britton anywhere. He never came this way.
The wind is on our side, blowing at us and the wolves below. It’s just Tyran, myself, Kier, and his Second up here for now. As a precaution, Tyran and Kier had the rest of their pack members spread out below us. The betas are so well-trained that I can’t sense them at all, even though I know wolves are crawling over this forest behind us, split up in groups as they keep watch and wait for signals.
“We need to move in, Tyran,” Kier says from where he and his Second are crouched to our left. “We can’t afford to waste time. The longer we sit here with our thumbs up our asses, the more chance Twin Rivers has to pick up our scent.”
“Burke’s betas don’t come out this far to do their territory checks,” I say quietly.
Kier shoots me a disbelieving look, eyes flashing in the dark. “This is his land, isn’t it? Why wouldn’t he have his wolves check it and mark it?”
“He’s cocky,” I explain. “Not to mention lazy. He doesn’t run perimeter checks himself, and his betas know they can get away with not crossing the river every day. They all think the water is a deterrent and only check up to one side of it.”
Tyran moves from his crouched position beside me and stares off between the thick trees. At first, I think he’s listening for something, but when he runs his hand through his shoulder-length brown hair and frustration flows into me from our bond, I understand what’s up. “I don’t understand. Britton should be here. Something’s wrong, I can fucking tell.”
I grab his chin and turn his troubled eyes on me. “Britton is your Second, so he knows what he’s doing,” I say, because there’s no way anyone is ready to consider the alternative, that he was somehow killed by Burke or his betas. “If he’s not here, then it’s because he couldn’t make it safely without being followed. So, what do you want to do?” I ask, looking at him steadily, hoping that my calm determination will ease him.
He’s been on a razor’s edge of madness since the moment he found me stabbed, and the hits have kept on coming. Presley being taken, Britton alone, the only one that could follow her. And now his pack, hisfamily, is here, putting themselves in danger. But I know that my presence is making things even worse. I sense that furious anxiety in him like an exposed live wire, which is why I’m making sure to keep my promise and stay glued to his side.
Tyran looks at me, and after a second, he lets out a breath and nods. “Alright. We move forward,” he says to Kier.
A resolute demeanor settles over him. “Vicious, do you think you can get us to the same place Burke held you at after you attacked him?”
A flash of the cold concrete cell and the dented metal door shiver through me. My memories of that night are hazy from the damn tranquilizers, but I force myself to look through them step-by-step to try and pick up on any hints of where it might have been.
It was definitely underground and close to the main pack houses. I was out of it, but they carried me for a bit before the pack was suddenly there hurling things at me until they shoved me into the van. I certainly never knew about any concrete holding cells being built on pack land, but I think I can figure out the general location based on what I remember.
“Yes,” I tell him with a determined nod.
I start to track silently through enemy territory, leading us up to the thinnest part of the river where we cross. Tyran and Kier said that Burke will be expecting us and that he’ll have tricks up his sleeve, and I find myself holding my breath as I wait for him and a flood of warriors to come pouring out of the darkness at any moment. My wolf is practically keening inside of me, begging to be let out, but it’s not time yet.
We seep into Twin Rivers territory, making our way past through the shallow parts of the river until we get to the other side. I’m shocked by how well the packs move, as though all we are is shadow. It makes pride and goose bumps crawl all over my skin, and my wolf’s savage need begins to warm my blood as we get closer and closer.
“I know what that look means,” Tyran declares quietly as we move like wraiths over the flat land.
“What look?” I deflect as I stop and suck in a deep lungful of air, looking for the scent of Burke, betas, fear, and me all in one place.
“You’re getting amped about going a little feral on your old pack.”
