Ghost (The Halloween Boys #1) (34)
Onyx arranged the logs in a triangle. “How about you both quit bickering like an old married couple and we actually settle on a game plan for how we’re going keep Blythe safe when we can’t find this asshole. Oh, yeah, that’s what Wolf and I were doing while you were off playing dress-up and having a dance party all evening.” Onyx’s typical joking was edged with a sharpness he didn’t display often. The reason why he was so sharp, I didn’t even want to think about.
I picked up a stone and threw it into the dark woods, wishing I could punch something instead. “I don’t have time to argue with you clowns. Blythe is mine. End of story, so paws and claws off. Both of you.”
Wolfgang crossed his burly, tattooed arms and stared me down like he was dying to challenge me but resisting. Onyx simply looked up at me as he leaned over the fire and blew a breath. Green fire erupted, dancing on the logs and simmering into a blazing orange inferno. “So you’ve claimed her then?” he asked carefully. Ever the attorney.
“No, I haven’t claimed her. I’d never do that. It wouldn’t be fair to anyone, least of all her, and she’s been through enough.”
Wolf huffed. “If you haven’t claimed her then she’s fair game.”
I stalked over to him, popping my knuckles on the way. “No, she’s fucking not,” I spat. He stood, puffing out his chest. Onyx jumped between us, placing a flaming hot hand on each of our chests. Suddenly peace and clarity washed over my senses. I was seventeen and back on the farm, skipping rocks in the creek. My heart rate slowed, and I watched as Wolf’s shoulders relaxed. “Both of you calm down, shit.” Onyx dropped his hands and went back to his fire tending. “We have bigger things to talk about other than dick measuring tonight . . . and how I’m going to be the one to fuck her and not either of you.”
Wolfgang and I both shot to respond, but he only waved us off with a hand. “You two are calm as sleepy kittens right now. Don't try to pretend otherwise.”
“We’ve talked about you using your abilities on us,” I said softer than I meant. I wanted to kill them both. I wanted to want to kill them both. But his stupid emotional manipulation would last for at least twenty minutes. On a human, much longer.
He huffed in amusement, poking a stick at the flame. His eyes glowed green in the orange light, and my thoughts briefly drifted in his direction. We might have made some sort of sense together, Onyx and me. We’d explored it for a few nights here and there over the years. But we always landed somewhere between friends and more. We were both comfortable there and I wasn’t looking to change it anytime soon. Plus, all my cock could think about at the moment was Blythe. That seemed to be my friends’ affliction at the moment as well. Something about this girl had a chokehold on us all. It’d be best if we killed this guy and sent her on her way so life could go back to normal. We could all go back to punching the shit out of each other and being your average serial killers by day and . . . whatever by night.
“You found something,” I stated, knowing the tension around Onyx’s jaw only appeared when he was pissed off or worried.
“I pulled every security camera from surrounding towns and ours. Though as you know, our technology in Ash Grove is . . . temperamental. A truck registered to Simon Seth Glen stopped outside Candor about a month ago. Footage at a truck stop shows . . . Well, just fucking watch it.” Onyx passed me his phone, and I held it up so Wolf could see over my shoulder. I wasn’t about to go sit next to that asshole right then, calming, peaceful emotion energy or not. Tapping the screen, the black and white security camera footage rolled. A truck pulled up next to her car. The door opened. Wolf’s presence loomed behind me as he rose from his brooding rock and walked closer, leaning in over my shoulder. “You need a shower,” I muttered.
“You need to get laid,” he growled.
He wasn’t wrong.
A boot appeared outside the truck and then—
The footage blipped forward, the truck door closed now. “What just happened?” I asked, looking to Onyx for an explanation. His stare remained fixed on his beloved flames. “Keep watching.”
A girl walked out, clutching a duffle bag. Blythe. Something moved behind her. I squinted to look harder.
Wolf grumbled low. “What the fuck?”
We could only make out the faintest imprint of a gray shadow. She fell and heat rose in my ribs, and I gritted my teeth. She scrambled up, clutching her side, running to her car. She sped off moments later. Wolf snarled behind my ear, a deep, feral and terrifying rumble. I clutched the phone until my knuckles were white. The shadow stood unmoving in her wake. As fixed as a carved statue. Then suddenly, it spun, shooting toward the camera with lightning speed. The camera jostled and then went blank.
Onyx’s peaceful demeanor concealed his rage. His anger tasted like a shot of scotch. It was all I could do not to slam my friend’s phone into a nearby oak. “How?” I demanded.
Onyx simply nudged a crackling log with his fireproof hand. “I don’t know. But it looks like Judas was right all along.”
I glanced back to get Wolfgang’s reaction. Only, the massive silhouette of a wolf greeted me, pacing along the tree line. His desire to kill was so strong right now it threatened to inebriate me. God, the taste of murder was rich and lush. Like a perfectly cooked filet mignon. “It’s not possible. He can’t be. Blythe’s stepfather is mortal. You saw his criminal record.”