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Despite being cannon-loud, the gun shot wasn’t close. Or, I didn’t think it was close. No glass shattered. The car continued rolling forward, albeit sluggishly, suggesting no tire had been punctured.
But Luke was shifting. My hand grabbed the wheel just in time to steer us over to the shoulder while a wolf erupted out of Luke’s clothes.
“That came from the pack’s direction.” His words in my head were laser focused. “Guns have been forbidden within Clan Acosta since my grandfather’s time....”
And yet another random rule appeared out of nowhere. I wanted to laugh but clenched my lips together since I had a feeling the sound might come out borderline hysterical. I definitely needed a Skinless for Dummies guidebook.
“Lone wolves often carry guns,” Luke continued. “They haven’t been so bold as to use one before though....”
At that point, our mental connection descended into images. Luke needed to be with his pack. He needed to....
I reached across his furry body to yank open the door.
Luke leapt from the car, all grace and power. But he fumbled the landing, his injured ankle folding beneath him. For one millisecond, he lay panting on the pavement. Then he was up and running. Three legs flashing, the fourth tucked up against his gut.
“Take the car,” he told me. “I’ve got this.” Our connection faded as he disappeared beneath the trees.
He expected me to flee. To leave him to deal with a gun-wielding lone wolf—or was that lone wolves plural? I opened my door. Walked on slow human feet around to the driver’s side. Got back in.
In my hand, the phone buzzed. Ten messages. A hundred. Luke had driven us to the edge of the cell-phone zone after all, and now a day’s worth of family worry was downloading in an instant.
Staring into orange leaves, I dialed up the family member I was most concerned about. Didn’t bother with small talk when the line connected. Just demanded: “Are you alright?”
Justice didn’t respond directly. Instead, he spoke to family members I knew had to be there beside him. “She leaves me to gnaw my fingernails raw for a solid day and now she wants to know if I’m alright.”
“Hand over the phone.” That was Bastion, gruffer than usual. “No, wait. Put it on speaker phone. Ask her where she is.”
The sound of their banter eased the tightness out of my chest. And, without that hard clench freezing up my brain, the decision about whether to go or stay grew easier.
I still knew next to nothing about the Alpha’s Hunt other than the implication the process would be deadly. But I knew one thing—hunting involved running and Luke’s ankle wasn’t ready to run.
Plus, there were lone wolves hanging around, causing trouble. Carly’s mental health hung by a thread. And Ruth had enough scars to last her a lifetime.
Added onto all that, I simply didn’t want to leave.
“Well?” Now Justice was acknowledging me directly.
“I’m fine,” I told my cousin. “It’s complicated.”
“Isn’t it always.” That was Grace. My heart warmed...then froze as she added: “With you.”
“Grace.” Bastion’s chiding was gentle. I could picture him raising both eyebrows while Grace rolled her eyes in answer. The warmth of their circle was like a fire drawing me in closer.
And yet...Luke had disappeared into the cold of the forest. He had a pack, yet he trusted none of them.
Except his sister. And me. He trusted me.
I put the car back into drive, the hum of the engine grounding me in the moment. Performed a highly illegal U-turn right in the middle of the road.
“Look, I’m about to lose reception,” I warned my family. “I’ll be here a while. Can you check my messages in case any pelt-related leads turn up?”
Rather than answering, Justice, the lawyer, demanded facts. “Where’s here?”
Bastion, the poet, was uncharacteristically unwilling to roll with uncertainty. “How long’s a while?”
Whatever Grace had intended to interject—if she had intended to interject—was cut off by the car’s forward momentum. The skinless might be medieval, but I had a soft spot for more than one of them.
I pushed the gas pedal all the way to the floor and sped off in the direction of Luke’s bloodthirsty pack.
***
TWO HUMAN-FORM SHIFTERS were waiting for me when I pulled back off at the secluded turnout where Ruth had stashed her car previously. Neither was large enough to be Luke—I could see that from a distance. The taller one carried my sword.
“Where’s Luke?” Ruth demanded as I turned off the engine. She ripped open the door, then angled her body to hide my pelt.
Too late. Michael’s eyes had already widened. Had he understood what he was seeing? I could only hope not.
I strove to relay none of the uncertainty I felt as I hid the pelt beneath my shirt and sent out a mental feeler in Luke’s direction. No waft of cinnamon erupted from my shoulder. No silent words vibrated inside me. I swallowed my combined relief and disappointment then spoke aloud. “He’s not here?”
“No!” Michael stepped up to stand beside Ruth. His eyes were wide and his exclamation points even more palpable than usual when he added: “We thought he was with you!”
Before I decided how to answer, a howl rose behind us. Soft and truncated. Something was happening, and with Luke missing we’d be the ones to handle the fallout.
Which meant I needed information.
“Who was shot?” I asked the siblings.
They didn’t answer, just exchanged a loaded glance. Michael’s eyes slid to the bulge beneath my shirt—I was going to have to deal with his knowledge after all—then fell onto four paws and took off back in the direction the howl had come from.
Meanwhile, Ruth dragged me out of the car, dispensing none of the information I’d requested while reiterating what I already knew. “You can’t shift in front of them, so I hope you can run two-legged.”
She was gone so quickly I barely had breath enough to answer as I sprinted to catch up. “In front of whom?”
Bastion would have been proud of my grammar. Ruth didn’t even notice. Instead, she picked up the pace yet further, deftly holding twigs out of the path so they wouldn’t slap me in the face. “Carl is here to collect Carly.”
“Carl?” I panted.
“Her betrothed,” she said, as if it should have been obvious.
And maybe it was. Had Luke’s niece been named after her intended? The supposition made marrying off a fourteen-year-old that much more vile.
Somewhere in front of us, a murmur of wolf yips cascaded through the autumn foliage. They were keeping the volume low in deference for nearby human habitations and possibly lone wolves also, but the intensity of the sounds sent chills up my arms. “He’s threatening Carly with a gun?”
Ruth snorted. “Of course not. He’s her betrothed.” She vaulted over a log, never once losing her grip on the sword she was carrying. “Do I really have to spell this out for you? The gun shot was a power play. Giving Carly to him now—months sooner than we’d discussed—says we’re too weak as a pack to prevent encroachment. Refusing risks bringing the weight of Carl’s entire pack down upon our backs.”
It was as if Carly wasn’t a human child, just a game piece. Fury rose inside me, as large as the rock arch rising above the trees in the near distance.
We’d almost reached the pack, assuming they were still where Luke and I had left them. And I hadn’t managed to get a handle on the situation we were running toward.
“Ruth, I need more information!” I called after my guide’s disappearing figure.
And this time she turned to face me. Stood stock still and spat out an indictment that I knew in my bones was based on Luke’s chastisement of her when she’d first dragged me here yesterday.
“All you need to know is that the pack obeys the alpha...and the sword maiden.” She dropped my sword, her impending shift filling the air with electricity. “Apparently, it’s your decision how you deal with Carl. Feel free to make up your own rules.”