Cry Wolf (Wolves of Angels Rest #7)(28)

Diesel sauntered closer. “Something wrong with his strategy?”

“Yes.” She sighed. “No. Just the fact he has to have a strategy is what’s making me mad. We don’t deserve this. And those poor shifters taken by the Kingdom Guard deserve it even less. And I’m just…”

“Scared,” he finished.

She peered at him. “Are you?”

He shrugged. “It’s what we did for a long time. Kane too, although he got out before us.”

“I’d left town before he joined up, so I didn’t know then that I had to worry.” She wiped a hand across her cheek, leaving a smear of grease. “I feel like this is partly my fault.”

Diesel stiffened. “How’s that? Are you kidnapping shifters to experiment on them?”

“No.” She drew out the word uncertainly. “But because of me, Kane started talking about how the wolves of Angels Rest need to change, how we have to find a new way of surviving and thriving in today’s world. If that isn’t an experiment on shifters…”

He considered for a moment. “Even LT and Malachi don’t know this, but my brother was rogue. He never mastered the wolf, and he couldn’t control the change. Everywhere we went, neighbors’ chickens would be savaged. Cats would disappear. Dogs would go insane when my brother walked by, even when he was upright and at his most benign. When he bit a little girl, our old alpha sent a warden to ‘take care of the problem’ since my father wouldn’t. My brother was only nine years old.”

Maddie touched his elbow. “That’s awful.”

“That was pack law. And not necessarily wrong. My family fled, and we managed to stay a step ahead of vicious dog lawsuits and pack wardens for years. If shifters weren’t so afraid of being discovered, would there have been another way for my family to get help, for my brother to live? I don’t know, but I admire Kane for wondering.”

Maddie released him to wrap her arms around her middle. “But what if our wondering—reaching out to more humans, connecting with other shifters—attracted the Kingdom Guard’s attention?”

Diesel shook his head. “Those bastards’ experiments aren’t anything new. We’ve found evidence of vanished shifters long before you and Kane chose each other, and their techniques are too far advanced to have been achieved overnight.”

She kicked the ATV again with less spirit. “You’re not making me feel any better about what Kane and LT are doing.”

“If it’s any consolation, the Guard have worked really, really hard to do terribly dastardly things in secret, but mostly, we’re just going to go in and f*ck them up. And in some ways, that’s much simpler.”

She stared at him. “I’m not sure that should make me feel better either.”

He gave her a toothy grin. “But it does, doesn’t it?”

She huffed. “You didn’t hunt me down to listen to me whine, so what’s up?”

Suddenly feeling like the stupid f*cker Mal had said he was, Diesel looked at the ATV. “What are you trying to do here?”

“Attach a rocket launcher that won’t rip the roll bar right off.”

He whistled softly. “No wonder Kane loves you.”

She snorted. “That’s what LT said. You guys need more time back in the world, file the rough edges off those dog tags.”

“Yeah. Speaking of that…” He examined the framework she’d soldered together. “Let me help.”

Side by side, they muscled up a second steel beam to brace the hardware his visit to Vegas had funded.

“Gotta love preppers,” Maddie said. “Leela and Bastian are mastering the night vision drone so we’ll know right where to aim this crazy thing. Now if I could just get you to stop dancing around whatever question brought you out here…”

Unable to let go of the bar he was holding, Diesel ducked his head to hide the heat he felt bloom across his face. “I know this isn’t a good time.”

She waited, but when he didn’t go on, she said, “Later might be worse. Willow might not wait this time.”

He jerked his head up. “Who told?”

She huffed out a breath. “Gung-ho soldier scores a treasure trove of weaponry and instead of woo-hooing, he’s all broody and scowly? Gotta be a girl.” She studied him. “What have you told her?”

“Nothing. Just that I might die tomorrow.”

“Niiiiice. That must’ve won her heart.”

He grimaced. “At least I got laid.”

Maddie punched his shoulder.

As if the blow had knocked the truth from him, he said abruptly, “I told her because I was too weak not too.”

“It’s not weak to share your feelings,” Maddie said.

He gave her a look.

She laughed. “Sorry. My mistake.”

He scowled at her. “And you were so psyched to find out Kane was a werewolf?”

That sobered her up. “It was a shock,” she admitted. “But if my other choice was not having him at all…”

“I’d be taking everything from her.”

Maddie frowned. “After she mastered her wolf, she could still sing.”

“Right. Just take a mysterious leave of absence from being a Vegas star. It could wreck her career. And what if she doesn’t want the wolf at all? What if she chooses but doesn’t survive the change or can’t control it like my brother? What then?”