Page 5 of Shadow of Death

I lifted my head, trying to pinpoint the direction. I should let it go. Kicks and I had finally come to a sort of truce. We weren’t singing camp songs and roasting marshmallows every night, but we weren’t at each other’s throats either. It was sort of a gray area, but I’d take it.

I tried to ignore the scents, knowing that Evangeline and Crackers could handle things if there was a problem. There were always shifters running patrols of the pack territory perimeter.

Then I caught sight of Crackers heading toward Evangeline with a hurried pace, lines clear on his forehead. Those two co-managed the pack whenever Kicks wasn’t here. Whatever was going on had made him walk a little faster than normal.

Don’t do anything stupid or rash until I return…Those had been Kicks’ last words.

There was nothing stupid about helping out during a threat when I was the deadliest person in this pack.

Evangeline wouldn’t bring the threat to my attention. It wasn’t how pack dynamics worked. They had a system, go-tos. I hadn’t been around long enough to be on that list, even though I could probably neutralize a threat better than anyone here.

I headed their way. Crackers and Evangeline both looked at me as I joined them.

“I know there’s a problem,” I said. We didn’t have the time to pretend they were talking about something else. If this was a dry well or a spoiled crop, I might’ve tried the fake ignorance for a few minutes. But there were humans in our territory, enough that I could smell them.

Evangeline parted her lips, looking as if she doubted her ears.

Crackers just came out with it. “You do?”

I hadn’t exactly tried to hide the changes in me, but I hadn’t broadcast them either. There never seemed to be a good time to yell out,Hey, I have something dark growing in me and now I can hear and see better than even you guys. It just never seemed like good small talk, something that should be blurted out over pancakes.

“I can sense them but I don’t have details. I’m assuming the patrols do. What are the reports?”

The two of them looked at each other. Evangeline eventually shrugged, and Crackers nodded.

“There are two separate groups of humans approaching, one behind the other, probably about twenty in total,” Crackers said. “They’ve got guns and are so heavily armed that they don’t appear to be coming to see if we’d like to trade.”

“No. Heavily armed is ‘we’re coming to take.’” I took a deep breath. “Coming in from the east?”

They glanced at each other, looking a little rattled.

Evangeline nodded. “We’re deciding on who to send, but since there’s so many, we don’t want to deplete the pack in case it’s a trap.”

“I’ll go handle them,” I said. “While I’m gone, get the kids and round them up in the schoolhouse. Set Magnum and a few others on guard. We don’t need them running off into the woods until this is handled. Spread out and make sure there aren’t any other groups nearby.”

Evangeline’s mouth hung open. Crackers looked back and forth from her to me.

We didn’t have time for them to come to terms with this new me.

“Where are Buddie and Rastin?” I asked, although I’d already sensed them close by.

“Right here,” Rastin said, Buddie close on his heels. Any hint of a conflict was like shooting out flares—he was drawn to a fight like a moth to a flame. It might’ve been the only thing he liked more than women although it might’ve been a tie. Hereallyliked women.

“You two want to go take a walk with me?” I asked. “We need to have a chat with some people heading this way.”

“Sounds like fun to me,” Rastin said. Buddie shrugged, not looking like he cared whether he went or stayed.

“We’ll be back,” I said to Evangeline, who was still trying to determine what she was supposed to do in this situation.

“You sure about this?” she finally asked.

“Positive.” I nodded.

“Here, take this,” Crackers said, tossing me a short-range radio.

I caught it with a nod and headed out.

“You’re not nervous at all, are you?” Buddie said as we neared the edge of our territory and I took the lead.

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