Page 149 of Shadow City: Silver Wolf

Despite the horrible situation, his response made me smile. There was a little bit of Carter’s smart mouth in him after all.

The sound of fluttering wings notified me that Rosemary was near. She tapped on my window, and I rolled it down.

She crossed her arms as she glared at me. “What the hell is going on? You’re sitting in the middle of the road, stopped after midnight, not far away from a school crawling with Shadow City and Shadow Ridge guards.”

“Shadow City?” Griffin leaned back against the headrest. “I figured it was only Shadow Ridge.”

That could mean they were looking for Griffin. “What do we do? We can’t show up with Julius as our prisoner and Killian injured.”

“I’ll take Julius with me to Griffin’s.” Rosemary rolled her shoulders as she prepared for his extra weight. “And I’ll heal Killian. As long as you have an extra shirt, we should be good.”

I kept forgetting she could heal. “Are you sure? You’ve been sticking your neck out for us a whole lot more than I could ever ask of you.”

“That’s one reason I don’t mind doing it.” Her gaze softened, and her beauty became even more breathtaking. She was so gorgeous that someone should have erected a statue of her. “You embody everything Mom told me about silver wolves, and thus, it’s an honor to help you.” She cleared her throat, seeming uncomfortable with her moment of vulnerability, and yanked open the back door on the passenger side. “Pull your shirt off,” she ordered, and leaned over Randall toward Killian.

“Uh...” Killian seemed baffled for a second, and he swallowed nervously, still looking a bit green. He moved toward her, lowering his voice as if that would make any difference with all our supernatural ears. “I mean...I’m not saying no, but is now the time? Maybe a date first—”

Uh...does he have a thing for Rosemary?I snorted, somehow keeping the noise solely inside mine and Griffin’s heads.

Griffin’s shoulders shook, and his amusement flowed into me.Not that I’m aware of, but who knows? I’ve never heard him say something with so much sincerity.

I knew they’d gotten closer, but I hadn’t realized it had come to this.Normally, races stuck to their own kind, but the thought of those two being together didn’t bother me. They’d make a great team.

“Oh, dear God.” Rosemary’s eyes sparkled with humor before her perfectly veiled expression snapped back into place. “Didn’t you just hear that I’m going to heal you? Your shirt is drenched with blood, and it works faster if I touch the actual wound.”

Killian laughed loudly and winked, but I suspected he might be trying too hard to convince us. “Of course. I totally knew that.”

He slowly removed his shirt, and Rosemary made a point of locking eyes with me as if she were making sure we knew that she wasn’t watching him, which seemed odd.Something has to be going on between those two.

“Damn it.” Killian groaned as he pulled the shirt over his head. “That still hurts a lot. Shouldn’t I be healed more by now?”

“They laced their bullets with wolfsbane,” Julius muttered. “To make you die more painfully.”

Great, we had sick,sadisticassholes hunting us. No wonder Killian still looked shaky. I shouldn’t have been surprised—theydidwant to capture me to either force me into birthing babies or kill me. Little did the general wolf population know that silver wolves reproduced at a slower rate. That was one reason why Dad and Mom had only me...and, well, Cyrus. Even the males were affected by a low reproductive rate. A regular wolf could birth a baby a year, but it took a silver wolf ten years, if not longer, to conceive once we began to try, and our window of fertility was drastically reduced, as well. Realistically, Griffin and I would most likely have only one child, two max. My pack had been the only one in existence, and we’d kept how little we could reproduce a secret. We were already living in hiding since we’d always feared people would hunt us for this exact reason—to manipulate us and use our strength and magic against everyone else to control all the races.

Dad had told me that we were gifted by the moon to not only be stronger but to also make us pure in intent. Great power comes with responsibility, and magic had a way of balancing itself. Silver wolves would never want to rule over the supernatural world because we wanted the best for everyone, not just ourselves or our race.

“Lovely,” Rosemary retorted as she placed her hands on Killian’s wound. Her hands glowed an iridescent white as she pushed her magic into his injury. “Thankfully, that won’t impact my magic.”

“Oh, thank God.” Killian sighed as his body began to heal in earnest. “That was almost unbearable.”

She kept her hands on him for a few more seconds, then dropped them and stared at Julius. She commanded, “Get out. You’re coming with me.” Glancing at Griffin, she added, “And get the hell out of the middle of the road. You’re lucky no one else has come through here yet.”

“It’s the middle of the night.” Griffin lifted both hands. “We should be good.”

Julius blew out a breath and squeezed past Randall out of the car.

Rosemary still blocked most of the doorway, proving I was right to trust her to take the silver wolf. She knew that if she moved even a foot too far away, Julius could take off. Yes, she was fast, but on a full moon, he could outrun her. Thankfully, she could outfly him, but she needed to stay close and always on alert.

When he climbed from the SUV, she grabbed his arms and took off toward the sky. “I’ll meet you at Griffin’s!” she called, but they were out of sight before I could respond.

I watched as Sierra climbed into the far back seat by Killian then started digging through the trunk as Griffin followed Rosemary’s instructions, pulling to the side of the road.

“Here. Please.” Sierra tossed Killian a shirt and covered her eyes with her hands. “You’re like a brother to me, and I prefer you clothed.”

I cringed, trying to keep my eyes averted. Killian was an attractive man, but I viewed him as family now. And no one wanted to see their brother naked.

“Me too,” Griffin deadpanned and winked at me, trying to help with the emotions he could feel brimming inside me.

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