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My phone rang as I circled around the peacekeeping grounds and headed back toward Stormwinder’s sweet ride. “Stooge” read the caller ID and my finger hovered over the answer button.
Human or no, I badly wanted to talk to my ex-partner. After all, I could have used some level-headed advice right about then. And despite his antics, my buddy had always been my go-to guy for input in the past.
But what exactly was I supposed to ask this time around? “Say, if you were a werewolf and thought you were likely to rip someone’s throat out, would you sever all ties with the one person willing and able to keep your inner monster in check?”
Because that’s what it really came down to. Yes, some childish part of me wanted to turn Stormwinder into an approving father figure. But a larger, more rational portion of my brain had noticed my relative mellowness ever since the older shifter had come onto the scene. Somehow, the Tribunal member’s civility appeared to be rubbing off and preventing me from taking that extra step between alpha werewolf and alpha asshole.
Unfortunately, my inability to control my inner monster didn’t appear to be the greatest line of inquiry to embark upon with a human whose mind had been blown less than a week prior due to witnessing my transformation from skin to fur. So I let the phone slip back down into my pants pocket...then stopped in my tracks as a high-pitched buzzing impinged upon my pity party.
I was nearly on top of Stormwinder’s limousine at that point, which meant I was only feet away from the other Tribunal members’ vehicles as well. So I didn’t know for sure that the sound was coming from the car Blue-eyes was stashed inside...but I also didn’t know for sure that it wasn’t.
Remote-activated bomb, I concluded as I broke into a run. I’d heard the exact same buzzing during an overseas mission mere seconds before a doorway blew up and took two of my human crew mates out with it. My friends hadn’t been able to pick out the shrill tone and I’d been so busy shaking my head and attempting to figure out why someone was blowing a dog whistle that I hadn’t drawn the obvious conclusion.
I’d lost two friends due to my previous round of negligence. I didn’t intend to make the same mistake twice.
Okay, so I’ll admit up front that my wolf-assisted ears weren’t 100% accurate. I’d once nearly ripped out an old lady’s hearing aids, thinking the transmission between speaker and ear was triggering an incendiary device. But, hey, she was okay in the end, right? And, with bombs, you were always better safe rather than sorry.
“Out, out, out!” I yelled, pounding on the roof of the limousine as I sprinted for the far side. Why was the vehicle parked so that Blue-eyes was located as far away as possible from the peacekeeping grounds? Didn’t Stormwinder consider the fact that an enemy might take this opportunity to strike at his unprotected flank—his beloved youngest daughter?
Before I had time to search for the source of the sound, though, the rear door of the limousine opened to disgorge an irate pack princess. “What do you think you’re doing?” Blue-eyes demanded.
But I ignored her words. Instead, I skidded across the gravel lot, slamming my shoulder into Angelica’s midsection then twisting her torso to become an upside-down mirror image of my own. I wanted the girl’s face against my chest so my back would shield her from any potential explosion.
Finally, pack princess fully situated, I ran flat out down the road away from the potential bomb threat.
The first outburst wasn’t a mechanical explosion, but it did come from an expected source. Blue-eyes was less than thrilled about her kidnapping, so she pounded her fists against my unyielding stomach muscles for a good long while before deciding that words were a better defense. “Put me down, you bumbling idiot!”
“Radio-activated bomb,” I huffed shortly. I was in excellent shape, but sprinting with a living human being dangling over one shoulder was no easy matter. And Angelica definitely wasn’t helping as she attempted to evade my grip and wriggle out of my arms.
Still, I kept going, eyes on the horizon. My feet were tempted to slow, to at least turn and see whether the driver had evacuated safely. But I didn’t think I could trust my charge to keep fleeing under her own volition if I released her body from my grip.
Plus, my wolf said Go, go, go. So I obeyed.
“There is no bomb,” Angelica growled coldly as we neared the first major bend in the road. She was cute, all riled-up wolf within her soft human skin. Still, I ignored her. How the hell could a cloistered pack princess know whether there was a bomb present or not?
Only when a walkie-talkie slid up in front of my eyes did I drop into a trot and take a deep breath. Yep, that sort of doohickey was quite capable of creating the buzzing sensation in my ears that had tripped my internal bomb sensor. At last, my feet slowed and then stilled.
In response, Angelica craned her neck so her angry blue eyes could meet mine, then she pushed a button on the side of the device. “I’m fine, Daddy,” she grated out. “Your stupid enforcer thought there was a bomb inside our car. But he knows better now and he’s about to put me down.”
“Are you sure, Angel?” Stormwinder’s voice was clipped and he sounded far more out of breath than I was. The older shifter had been running, and as I glanced back I could see him cresting the hill behind us.
Seemed like the doting daddy was prepared for chicanery after all.
Our eyes met from a tenth of a mile distant and I let my shoulders slump in apology even as Angelica dismounted from her aerial perch. “I’m sure, Daddy,” the pack princess answered, continuing to speak into the device in her hand. “I need to talk to him anyway, so we’ll come back and meet you. Over and out.”
Then the girl reared back and punched me square in the jaw.
