Page 29 of Bold Mercy

“No,” I interrupted quickly. I just wasn’t ready for him to say the S word in front of Rick and Joe. Not yet. Just…not yet.

“I’ll meet you there,” Joe said. “You know I’m hunting with you, right?”

I sighed, somewhat regretful that he was human. “I’ll leave you in the dust, Joe.”

He grinned and hefted his massive machete. “I know. But I’ll follow you, Kait. And if you’re lying half-dead in a dark trench somewhere, I’ll find you. Eventually.” He lost his grin. “I swear it.”

“Dammit, Joe,” I whispered, as weepy as an old lady. I clasped Rick’s hand for a few seconds, then climbed into the car. I needed to get to the woods of Shadowfield, shift, and get my emotions under control. I didn’t tell anyone to be careful. Avis would take some time to regroup, I was nearly certain. She’d clawed me up, it was true, and badly, but I’d damaged her, as well.

Vampire—sort of—or not, she was going to need some time.

No one said a word all the way back to Shadowfield. I stared out the window as Eli drove, my stomach hurting as I witnessed my beloved city being battered by evil. I clenched my fists, suddenly raging. I was tempted to tell Eli to stop and let me out, but he’d have argued, and besides, I wanted to be with the alpha when he saw his dead wolf.

In my old pack, it wouldn’t have hurt my alpha to have lost a wolf. It would tear Jared up. And I would be there with him, though he might not want me to be.

He was waiting when we pulled into Shadowfield, standing with a long line of wolves behind him, waiting. Eli parked my car, and when I didn’t move, he surprised me by patting my knee. “It’ll be okay, Kait.”

“One of our wolves is dead,” I murmured. “That’s not okay.”

“It wasn’t your fault. Jared won’t blame you.”

I pointed my chin at the wolves behind him. “They will.” I met Jared’s stare through the window, and though his expression didn’t change, his lips tightened and his eyes went so carefully blank that I knew he was hiding an enormous amount of emotion.

Zach stood beside him, frowning, and then he broke from the little crowd and walked toward the car. Jared didn’t try to stop him.

Eli opened his door. “Come on. You can help me carry Brian to them.”

I jerked my head around to look at him, my breath whooshing out. “I can?”

Wyatt and Avery had already left the car and stood at the back, waiting by the hatch. I wanted to help Eli carry Brian’s body to their alpha, but that wouldn’t have been right. I didn’t know him, not really. I wasn’t his friend. Wyatt and Avery were.

“Let them take him,” I said.

He nodded. “Jared is right. You’re a good person.”

Eli and I bracketed the two warriors as they carried their brother to the alpha, and Zach halted before he reached us to watch us come. There was a question in his eyes, and I gave him a nod to let him know I was okay, despite the way I looked. And even before we reached the knot of wolves, I could hear the soft cries of a woman.

“Bring him inside,” another woman said.

Jared stared down at the body for a few seconds before nodding. “Take him home,” he told Wyatt and Avery. “Eli, Kait. With me.”

Zach didn’t ask if he might accompany us—he simply walked beside me, his shoulder brushing mine, offering his support, should I need it. Jared didn’t take us to his house but to his office in the admin building.

The room was bright and warm, but the pall of death and rogue vampires hung heavy in the room. Finally, Jared looked at me. “How did he die?”

“I wasn’t there,” I said. “I was battling Avis Vine in another location.”

He scraped his cold stare over my wounded face. “Eli,” he said.

Eli tensed. “I wasn’t there either,” he said. “I was chasing after Kait. I attempted to protect her and failed to protect the ones who needed it a whole fuck of a lot more than she did.”

Jared narrowed his eyes and took a step toward Eli, his rage flaring to life. Both men were hurting, and both of them would express their pain as anger.

Damn wolves.

I did something then that I shouldn’t have done. Knowing didn’t stop me from doing it, though. I got in the middle of a couple of angry, powerful wolves. “Listen to me,” I said. “Brian’s death was the fault of the bloodsucker who killed him. Not yours, and not Eli’s. And from now on I’m hunting alone.”

Jared’s pupils contracted and for a second, there was such blackness in his eyes that I believed he might start killing people—starting with me—and not stop. “Do not,” he bit out, “get between me and my wolves.”