Emma nearly tripped over a body. A dead body that was lying face down, bleeding all over the concrete from his neck. Close by were two dead wolves. “Oh, my gosh,” she uttered, nausea curdling in her gut. “Who killed them?”
“Dustin killed those two. Me the other. Emma, we don’t have time for this.” Beast turned and threw her over his shoulder like a caveman and strode across the parking lot to a blue Ford Raptor.
“Whose truck is this?” she asked as he shoved her into it.
Beast didn’t answer until he’d bolted around the other side and climbed in. “It’s mine.”
“What? Why haven’t you been driving then. We’ve been riding around in Logan’s wrecked truck for weeks. Those were bodies back there. Blood. Where are we going?” she asked over the roar of the engine. Her hands were going numb. Maybe she was in shock. “Where is Dustin?”
“Dammit, Beast!” Winter said, banging on the window. He rolled it down as he backed out of the parking spot.
“Are you coming or not?” he gritted out.
“We can’t! I heard the order. I can’t leave this damn parking lot if I tried. Neither can Logan. Beast, I don’t think you should do this. If Dustin’s hurt, you won’t be able to stop yourself from ending him.”
“I’ll stop myself.”
“You won’t!”
“I will! He’s supposed to be crew, Winter. I was wrong. Kane’s wrong. I’m not officially registered so I give zero fucks about an order from an alpha who isn’t my alpha yet. We’ll bring him back.”
“Alive!” Winter screamed as he peeled out. “Promise me!”
But Beast only gripped the steering wheel and snarled. His phone lit up in the console. He immediately chucked it out the window, but not before Emma caught a glimpse of the name flashing across the caller ID. Kane.
“What’s going on?” Emma asked.
“Buckle your seatbelt,” Beast demanded. His face was terrifying right now.
Emma clicked it quietly into place and clasped her hands in her lap. She wore the oversized T-shirt Beast had dressed her in, but no pants, and it was cold. Gooseflesh covered her entire body.
Beast cast her a quick glance and turned the heat on full-blast. “I forgot you are human,” he muttered.
“Beast, where is Dustin?” She was really trying not to have a full-blown panic attack, but Beast was going sixty on a winding and wet road.
“Dustin isn’t what you think he is.”
“A werewolf?”
“Exactly that, but he isn’t crew. He isn’t eligible.”
“Why not?”
“Because he’s still a member of the Valdoro pack. And I don’t know exactly how this is going to play out, but my gut tells me you need to be here for whatever goes down.” Beast nearly went up on two wheels as he jerked the wheel and skidded across the pavement onto a muddy back road.
“Where are we going?”
“To the place Dustin has been secretly meeting his pack for weeks.”
Emma’s heart sank down to the pristine floorboard of Beast’s truck. “No,” she said on a heartbroken breath. “He wouldn’t.”
“And yet…”
“You followed him?”
“Yep.”
“Why?”
“Because like I told you, stalking is fun, and that wily wolf made the game interesting. His pack is the one who hunted Lexi of the Bloodrunners.”
“Air Ryder’s mate?”
“That’s the one. They hunted her, and the Bloodrunner Dragon burned their asses. Ate most of them, but a few of them got away. Far as I could tell, Dustin didn’t join the hunt, and he’s being punished by his alpha.”
“Axton. His brother.”
“Who he still gives fealty to. We would’ve offed his dumbass earlier, but Rowan demanded we let you try to save him. Kane and I have been prepared to pull the trigger on the weremutt as soon as he picked a side.”
“Choose a side? Valdoro Pack or Blackwings?”
“Exactly.”
“And has he? Picked a side?”
“Those bodies back there? They were coming after you, Emma.” Beast cast her a significant look. “They’re dead because he picked you. He chose the Blackwings, too, but he should’ve asked for backup. He doesn’t understand how a crew works.” Beast swerved this way and that, avoiding tree stumps and mud holes in the road. “Or fuck, maybe I don’t understand. I’m used to a pride, and you breathe, bleed, and die for each other no matter what. Winter and Logan should be in the backseat. The fucking dragons should be in the air headed our way. They’re not, so it’s you and me. And Dustin if we reach him before those wolves tear him apart.”
Beast slammed on the brakes and cut the lights and engine. He reached in the back floorboard and pulled a rifle out of the darkness. “Please, woman, tell me you know how to use one of these. You lived in a coven. Tell me they gave you some form of self-defense training.”
Emma realized she knew almost nothing about Beast. This was the most words he’d ever strung together in front of her, and now he had a Raptor, knew everything about Dustin, he’d been Kane’s secret right hand in the crew, and had a really nice weapon that he was currently shoving bullets into.
“It’s a two-seventy. Yes, I can use it fine, but we’re kind of fucked if the rainclouds open up right now. Also it’s really low light, so if there isn’t an artificial source, this is useless.”