Page 160 of Shadow City: Silver Wolf

“I figured that was coming.” Julius rolled his eyes. “But I want to go too badly to argue with you.”

They’d go back and forth all day if I let them. “Let’s get going. We’ll be safer in the daylight, and we all know Rosemary isn’t famous for her patience.”

“You got that right.” Killian clasped his hands together. “We’ll never hear the end of it if she has to wait long.”

I quickly dressed, and then the four of us made it to the car. Julius followed my directions without any prompting, lying down in the back with a blanket over his body so that he’d barely be seen if Griffin had to roll down his window. Killian took hisnormal spot in the middle row behind me as Griffin got into the driver’s seat.

Once we were all settled, he opened the garage and backed out. Griffin rested his hand on the gear shift when he paused. After a second, he linked with me.They’re asking questions. Are we sure that it’s smart to go there? The last time, we were attacked.

I can’t promise it will all be okay.For some reason, I wasn’t too concerned about what we might face.And this time, we have Rosemary standing guard. Killian wasn’t able to alert us until it was too late. With Rosemary, we should be able to get in the car and out of the subdivision before they get close.

“My pack wants to know where we’re going, like we expected they would.” Killian sighed. “At least they’re asking through the pack bond and not in person.”

Even though Julius should be out of sight, stopping would be risky. “Well, we’ll get there and back quickly. We don’t need to spend all day there.” The longer we stayed, the greater our chances of someone ambushing us, but this was something Julius needed. Between the way he reacted to the entire pack being killed and learning that he’d been stolen, maybe this would be the final turn to get him to warm up to us.

Can I get up yet?Julius linked as discomfort slammed into me.

He always got more edgy when he connected with me telepathically. I guessed if I’d been a rogue my entire life, I wouldn’t be enthused with someone having a link inside my head, either. Back in the day, I’d hated that the pack could have access if I wasn’t careful when I got upset, and this had to feel completely foreign to him.Give us another few minutes to get out of our neighborhood.

As Griffin put the car in drive, six guards stood in his front yard with huge frowns on their faces, watching us pull away. I didn’t need a pack link with them to know they weren’t thrilled.

When we pulled onto the main road that would take us to my former neighborhood, I turned toward the back. “You can get up now. We’re clear.”

Julius’s head popped up, reminding me of the whack-a-mole game Mom and I played together when I was little and she’d take me to the arcades. I turned forward before the smile broke across my face. Maybe things would be all right after all.

The rideto my pack neighborhood took less than twenty minutes. As soon as Griffin neared the entrance, he stopped and waited for Rosemary to give us some sort of sign.

“Where is she?” Julius complained.

And here I’d thought Rosemary was the most impatient person I’d ever met. I’d been proven wrong. “We just got here. Give her a few minutes.”

He groaned as he sat back in the seat.

“And I thought women were dramatic,” Killian deadpanned, and leaned between the seats and over the center console with his fist pointed toward Griffin like he expected a bump.

I arched an eyebrow and glared at my mate as he raised his hand. I warned, “You touch his hand, and you’ll see something dramatic.” I was teasing, but at the same time, I was tired of the sexist comments that somehow got thrown my way.

Rosemary landed by my car door and scanned the area like she was expecting some sort of threat to jump out at her. When she chewed on her fingernail, it put me on edge. She was uncertain and nervous about something.

I rolled down the window and asked urgently, “What’s wrong?”

The area around her eyes tightened as she looked at me straight on. “We have a problem.”

CHAPTER NINE

If I never heard thosefour words again, it would still be too soon. There were so many damn problems—we didn’t need to add more to the mix. “Are there enemy shifters here?” If there were, I was surprised that Rosemary hadn’t started kicking their asses. Maybe she wanted backup; that would make sense.

“I’m not sure ifenemyis the right word.” She gritted her teeth, which wasn’t like her. She normally ran her mouth without regard for what came out.

This change made my skin crawl. Something was horribly wrong. “Just tell us,” I commanded.

She squinted at me, clearly not appreciating how I’d spoken to her, but she pushed it aside. “There are about fifteen shifters walking around your neighborhood.”

“Of course there are,” Griffin groaned. “And let me guess, they have guns.”

“No, they don’t.” She pursed her lips. “One of them has darker silver hair, like Julius back there.”

“Wait...” My mind raced to catch up. “Are you saying one might be asilver wolf? But how? All the links are cold.” Unless…could it be my uncle?

---