Page 81 of Shadow City: Silver Wolf

"No problem. Now, we need to figure out our next steps." Rosemary's jaw twitched.

"What do you mean?" Griffin wrapped an arm around my waist. "I'm taking her home where she belongs."

Rosemary huffed. "She was just attacked there yesterday. She's not safe there, or at work."

"I'll get more guards." Griffin puffed out his chest.

Rosemary lifted a hand. "Oh, because that wentsowell yesterday."

Great, they were already arguing, and it hadn't even been a minute. "She's right." I faced him and touched his shoulder."Going back to your or Killian's house isn't the best idea. They know where I’m staying, and they have a lot of manpower."

"Then we’ll go to the alpha house in Shadow City." Griffin intertwined our fingers. "That's the safest place you could be."

"Not while we don't know who’s behind all the attempts to capture me. It could be someone inside the city." We had no clue who we were up against. "Before we alert anyone else that a silver wolf is alive, we need to figure out who's hunting me." A chill ran down my spine.

I truly was being hunted.

"She's right." Rosemary nodded. "I know for a fact that Azbogah and his angel backers wouldn't be thrilled about her existence. We need to focus on one problem at a time instead of having everything come to a head."

Her words resonated with me. "We need to go where this whole thing started." My heart sank, but there was no getting around the truth.

"What do you mean?" Rosemary arched an eyebrow.

"My pack was…slaughtered." My voice broke, but I managed to keep it at least somewhat together. "That's how I ended up in Shadow Ridge, to begin with. My pack home is where we need to start."

"Are you sure about that?" Griffin cupped my face, ignoring the dark angel beside us. "I'll station fifty guards in front of our door at all times if that's what it'll take to keep you safe."

"But that's the thing." His concern warmed my heart. So much had changed between us in a short amount of time. "I wouldn't be truly safe. I'd be more of a prisoner." I refused to live like that, which meant I had to face my biggest fear. "For our future, I need to go back to the pack neighborhood right outside of Chattanooga and see if anything was left behind. The answers may be in the past."

My stomach revoltedthe entire way to my family home. Rosemary was going to meet us there later after checking in with her family, and Killian would be there a few minutes after us.

The memories of that day were crisp and clear. The sound of the guns firing, all of the dead bleeding out on the ground, and my own father being attacked while I slipped away to safety; nightmares that still haunted me whether I was asleep or awake. For the past month, with all the death and heartache that had come my way, a reaper might have been following me around. I’d heard that there were a few that got involved when life became unbalanced, but there hadn’t been any signs, so that wasn’t plausible.

"Are you sure about this?" Griffin's hand tightened on mine. "We don't have to go back there, or I could at least have some people go first and check everything out."

"No. I bet they gave up on me coming back, but we’ll be careful, just in case." Hell, I’d never expected to willingly go back. "And the more people we alert to the plan, the more likely the wrong person will find out. If we want to see if something was left behind, going now is our best bet."

Griffin took the all-too-familiar turn that bent around a section of woods leading into the pack neighborhood. The bright sun sparkled in a cloudless sky, almost as if the past few days had all been just a nightmare. But the pain that gripped me as I prepared to see the death and destruction I’d left behind reminded me that it was, in fact, reality.

When the neighborhood came into view, I sucked in a breath…and couldn't believe my eyes.

CHAPTER THREE

"I... I don't understand."My brain was still fuzzy, but that wasn't the problem. I scanned the road leading into the pack neighborhood—there wasn't a body in sight. From what I could see, each modest brick house looked untouched, as if the slaughter had been only a dream.

The image of that day blurred with today, and I shook my head, trying to keep a hold on reality.

Griffin clutched the steering wheel, his knuckles turning white as he slowed the car just outside the pack neighborhood. "What’s wrong?"

I bit the inside of my cheek so I wouldn't laugh. The question wasn't funny, but I was teetering on the edge of insanity, which unsettled me. "That day…there were so many bodies." They'd littered the ground every ten feet, if that. "Where did they all go?"

"Do you think there could be survivors?" Griffin pulled over to the side of the road under the shade of several large oak trees grouped together at the edge of the woods and stopped the car. "Maybe they were able to fight back after you left."

His words gave me foolish hope that I had to squash down. "No. I don't feel any pack connections. If there were survivors,I would know." I got out of the vehicle, leaving the door open. A cool spring breeze stirred around me, carrying the familiar scents of magnolias and redbuds of my home.

"Should we head back?" Griffin asked.

"No, going back to Shadow Ridge won't be safe." We'd already had that conversation, but I understood his instinct to go somewhere he knew. "This is the safest place to be." At least, for the moment.

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