Page 98 of Scars of the Sun
Another car drove up, the engine growly and smooth. Confused about the scents that came with it, I looked over my shoulder to find Tyler shooting out of his challenger, along with that blond Wolf I almost killed.
“Oh my god!” The non-shifter Wolf ran over, rivers of tears running down his face. He dropped down beside Ramona, but before he could put his arms around her, I bared my fangs in warning. Ramona had assured me that he had no desire for her, but forgive me for being a little on edge.
The guy blanched, andTylerplaced a pale hand in his blond locks andhissedat me. What the fuck was going on? “W-we saw the smoke, and I just felt something was wrong. What can we do?” He looked from my mate and I to the Leader, his mate, and the older human.
Instead of answering that question, I turned back to Orion. “Where’s the rest of the pack?”
His jaw tightened, and he looked over his mate’s head on the scene before us. “Here. Or somewhere safe and protected.”
I didn’t comment on him keeping the details of their whereabouts from me. Instead, my mind was clearing and whirling with possibilities. What would I have done if I were still an enforcer when a Pack Leader refused to cooperate? Be irritated, for one. Intimidate, which was obviously what this was. Then, hit them where it hurt most. Which, for proud Leaders, typically wasn’t threats to their own wellbeing.
“We—”
“Leader! We got one!”
CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
RAMONA
“Leader! We got one!” Harrison ran from the forest over to us. His dark hair was disheveled, and he was missing a shirt, but he drew everyone’s attention.
Orion nodded and looked down at Sylvie’s face, held in his hands. She seemed to be back to her normal self, staring up at him with wide, trusting eyes, and he nuzzled his nose against hers. Roz, who I’d met once before, gave Sylvie’s back a few more pats and started to back away. “I’mma handle these nosy neighbors while y’all take care of things.”
As she marched over to the humans that were trickling away, I gathered to my feet and helped Río to stand. He leaned on me a little too much for my liking, but I steadied us both until he rose to his full height. I watched as he took a deep breath, and his face smoothed into a cold mask. His lids lowered a bit, his mouth became a flat line while his shoulders relaxed. Was this how he’d been in his old life? Where he killed and was abused by the people that should’ve been the kindest to him?
Our little group followed Harrison into the woods, running with Orion and Sylvie in the lead right behind him.
Up ahead, there was a circle of three naked Wolves with another shifter on the ground that was dressed in a suit andalready roughed up. He smelled feline, like the pine and wind of a mountain lion. His lip was already busted, his eye already swelling and blackening, but he just smiled when my brother stopped and stood over them.
“Should’ve agreed to the terms, dog.” His mousey brown hair was pulled back into a short ponytail that was dirty and bloody. Ana, the blonde Wolf Vera had tried to taunt me with those weeks ago, crouched and punched the mountain lion in his other eye, and his head thumped against the forest floor.
O raised a halting hand at her and the pack members that were snarling and ready to rip the shifter to shreds. By the barely-suppressed frenzied energy around all of them, they’d tracked this member of the Serafim Group down. Herding and hunting him and now ready to sink their fangs. Even I felt restless looking down at the mountain lion, wanting to join in.
Río, myself, Harrison, and Delaney and Tyler stood a few paces away, though.
Orion crouched, and completely in sync with him, the Wolves did too. They grabbed the shifter’s arms and legs, holding him down so that there was no escape. “Where are Catalina and her brother?”
He managed to tilt his head, though. Around Ana, I saw his deep blue eyes land on Río. “The traitor? You have him right there.” I tried to step in front of Río, growling at the accusation, but his arm around my waist held me at his side.
“No. The other one. Where are they?”
The mountain lion just grinned a bloody smile, which was met with the deepening of Wolf snarls and snapping of fangs. Río stiffened around me, and his voice cut through their rage, “Leader. Who is protecting your house?”
In confirmation, the mountain lion began to chuckle. At least long enough for the raspy sound to release into the air before my brother bent over him to rip out his throat with his teeth. Bloodsplattered over his pale skin and the bare forms of the Wolves that were still holding him down. Orion spat out a mess of blood and flesh while his pack was still waiting for his permission to take the spoils of their hunt.
My mouth watered as I watched the last twitches of the body on the ground, but Orion’s Leader command snapped my mind to attention. Sylvie wiped a hand through the blood that dripped down his chin and muttered almost inaudibly to herself before dragging her tongue through the bright red.
“We’re going to the cabin. We’ll run faster through the forest,” his glowing green eyes landed on me. “All non-shifters go to Tina’s. Meredith should already be there with the pups.” I wanted to object, but the disobeying words literally wouldn’t form without a strong feeling of dread passing over my mind.
The Wolves around us started to shift, and the agitated air cranked up even higher. Río’s arm unwound from my waist, and I watched, stunned, as he plucked his contacts out of his eyes and threw them to the ground. He handed me his phone and keys, and a jangling beside us proved Orion was doing the same to Sylvie. Not even taking the time to undress, my mate joined the others in shifting, the visceral sound of bones popping and skin rippling even louder, now. It made my own body jittery and frustrated. My Wolf recognizing her pack but unable to take part.
And I was fucking pissed.
Río must’ve sensed that too, because his Jaguar with fur dark like the depths of the forest around us nudged my chest toward Delaney and Tyler to my right. Orion was doing the same to Sylvie who was outright arguing with him. It should’ve been comical, her going back and forth with a Wolf that only grunted back at her, but they seemed to understand each other just fine.
Tyler spoke up. “We need to let them go. I’ll drive.”
Sylvie gave Orion one last frustrated kiss on his head, smearing blood on his white fur. Still simmering with anger, I did the same to Río’s and whispered in his ear. “Be good, and don’t fucking die. Te amo.” He licked the scar on my right arm before darting toward the trees with the five Wolves, prepared to take on his family.