Hunted (Pack of Dawn and Destiny, #1)(6)

I impatiently looked around the park.

Ember had been with me when I’d heard Pip’s whistle. I’d thought she’d be right behind me, but I couldn’t scent her—or hear her, but that would have been hard given the intruder’s never ceasing snarls and growls.

Behind me, Pip squatted on the ground and cleaned her daggers.

The wolf’s wriggling was starting to slow—not because it was giving in but because it was dying from blood loss.

He’s going to die before we figure out what’s wrong with him. The knowledge made a muscle in my cheek twitch with irritation.

“Is the wolf bad?”

Pip and I looked up in alarm as the two kids Pip had mentioned earlier—both girls who appeared to be under the age of ten—peered at us as they gripped the poles of the park swing set.

“What are they doing here? Didn’t they run?” I snapped.

“They did!” Pip snarled right back at me—something no one else in the Pack would have done, or been able to do.

I caught scent of more humans, and to my surprise, I saw a crowd of them had gathered on the sidewalk and were watching rather than realizing this monster could easily kill them fleeing.

Humans.

The rabid wolf slid out from underneath me and snarled as he lunged in the girls’ direction.

Pip shouted and sprang after the wolf, but I was faster.

It’s near death already, and if the humans watch out of curiosity there is a much higher probability of damage. I need to finish this.

Resigned—because I wasn’t going to get the information I wanted—I grabbed the wolf by the neck.

A twitch, and its neck was snapped. The wolf was dead before it hit the ground.

Pip didn’t stop running. She reached the little girls just as the smaller one of the pair asked, “Is the wolf sleeping now?”

“Where are your parents? We should find them.” Pip ushered the girls toward the crowd standing on the sidewalk as I stared down at the dead wolf in disgust.

“Alpha Greyson.” Ember slowed from a sprint to a jog as she left the trees of the forest. Her hair—gathered in neat, tiny braids—swung with her steps, and the glow of the sun cresting through the town made the brown of her skin appear more golden.

When she was about halfway to me, she abruptly halted, and the muscles of her neck throbbed.

I immediately clamped down on the powers I’d loosened to try to make the wolf submit, tempering them to a more reasonable level for the rest of my Pack.

I’d forgotten I’d used my powers.

My powers didn’t work on Pip—one of the pros of her being a hunter. Since I had to keep my powers reeled up whenever I was around anyone else, Pip was the one person in the Pack I could truly unwind around, drop the stiff leader act, and play with.

Pip had never been shy of complaining about this, but at least she had the decency to playfight back.

I need a hobby besides playing with our hunter. But there’s nothing else that’s nearly as entertaining.

Regardless, letting my powers loose like that was sloppy work. I needed to keep absolute control, or I would accidentally nail half my Pack where they stood and not notice.

Without my powers holding her in place, Ember resumed picking her way toward me. “Hector should be here any moment with Wyatt and Aeric,” she said.

“Good.” I crouched down by the wolf, tilting my head as I sorted through the smells that wafted off him.

The reek of blood was pretty overwhelming, but it didn’t entirely mask the scent of must and stagnant water.

“He’s from the Low Marsh Pack,” I said.

The Low Marsh Pack had been named after the geography of their small territory—the bulk of which was swamp. There was no escaping that smell when you lived in it and it festered in your hair—and fur—all day and all night.

Ember peered down at the mottled wolf. “I don’t recognize him, but Hector might. He stays on top of all members of our neighboring Packs.”

I leaned closer to the wolf, sniffing out the faint whiff of foreign magic—which was still there. He was pretty big. Pip—average sized at best, though she was lean with muscle—had done amazing well in holding him off.

“Looks like Pip got a few good hits in,” Ember said. “He would have died of blood loss in a few minutes.”

I glanced at Ember. “She was protecting the humans.”

I still must not have fully clamped down on my powers, because Ember slightly bowed, dropping deeper than she normally would. “Of course, Alpha Greyson.”

I better smother even more of it.

It was always hard for me to tell—I had to restrain them so much I barely felt it myself, which made it hard to judge the exact level. But I didn’t tolerate excuses from myself. Not when my Pack paid for my mistakes.

I slowly stood up as I mentally pulled back my powers even more.

Right as I finished, Hector, Wyatt, and Aeric came striding out of the forest.

Wyatt and Aeric jogged up to Pip, crowding her with the ease of familiarity, but Hector joined Ember and me.

“Alpha Greyson.” He stopped when he was even with Ember and bowed to me before briefly brushing his shoulder against his wife’s.

I watched Pip—with Aeric and Wyatt—shoo the humans a few steps farther away. “Hector.”

Hector leaned over the wolf, inspecting the wounds. “My, my. This seems like a fine mess. I shall alert the Curia Cloisters shortly to this attack, but I’m sure they’ll want a detailed description.”