Page 33 of Wicche Hunt

He slammed it shut and then got back in, starting the engine and pulling out of the space. “Sorry. We’ll need to do this another time. I’ll drop you off, and then I have to take care of a few things.”

FOURTEEN

Stupid Wolf

“Oh, so we’re lying now? Is that what we’re doing?”

Declan glanced over and then looked back at the road. “What?”

“Pull this damn truck over and tell me what’s in the toolbox.” I turned sideways and gave him a hard stare. Lying was not okay, even if he was trying to rationalize it as protection. “Are you under the impression I can’t take care of myself? That I am not literally made of magic?”

Blowing out a breath, he said, “Let me get us back to my workshop. I’ll pull behind the barn so we don’t have an audience.”

“What’s in the box,” I repeated.

“A dead animal.” He glanced at me again. “It looked like an opossum and an octopus.”

I froze. “Pull over.”

“We’ll be at the workshop in three minutes.” He rubbed my knee.

“I swear, Declan, if someone killed Cecil—”

“You saw Cecil this morning, right? It can’t be him.” He gripped the steering wheel tightly. “The truck is shimmying. I’d appreciate it if you didn’t blow up my truck.”

Staring out the side window, I bided my time. “What the hell is the matter with this pack? It has to be them, right? Daniel and Kenji said members of the pack forced you off the road.” I studied him a moment. “They’re your second and third in the pack, right?”

He shook his head. “It’s not my pack. None of us have standing in the Big Sur Pack now that Kenji and Daniel broke ties.”

“Don’t be coy. You’ll take over as Alpha. Do you trust them? Are they your guys?” We were only a few blocks from the workshop and I was trying not to jump out of my skin. Or accidentally blow up his truck.

“We’ll see.” At my sound of annoyance, he added, “Okay, yes. But I’m not Alpha. Anything can happen.”

Nowthatdistracted me from the octopus. “What do you mean,anything can happen? You said you could take Logan, no problem.”

He shrugged one beefy shoulder as he pulled onto his property. “They’re not known for playing by the rules. If he pulls a gun on me, I’ll be dead and he’ll remain Alpha.” He pulled around the barn and parked.

I punched him in the arm. Hard. “What the hell? If you know he’s going to cheat, you don’t just go and take a bullet to the head. Since when are you Dudley Do-Right?”

“I have no idea who that is, but I can’t remake the pack if I’m as corrupt as their current Alpha. Now, are we checking the toolbox or not?”

“Stupid wolf,” I grumbled as I hopped out of the truck. “Go ahead. Get yourself killed. Big dummy.”

He put down the gate of the truck bed, waited for me to stomp over, and then picked me up at the waist and put me in. Climbing in a moment later, he wrapped his arms around me.

“I’m very hard to kill. Many have tried and failed.”

“I don’t care,” I mumbled into his chest, punching him in the side. Sort of. My heart wasn’t in it.

“I can see that.”

I tipped my head back and glared. “I’m going with you. And then if they try anything, I can curse them.”

He was already shaking his head. “No. I don’t want you there.”

My glare turned a hair more homicidal.

“I don’t want you to see what I have to do.” His hands ran up and down my back.

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