Page 47 of Midnight Whispers
A wolf shifter did this, and not that long ago.
Cass hadn’t heard screams or any sounds beside those of the forest. He would have if Krieger had expected the attack, but he’d been caught off guard.
Cass didn’t have very long to contemplate why Krieger was a victim instead of the perpetrator. Whoever killed Krieger was nearby.
Cass shifted to his wolf and crouched down. If someone had been watching him, he had already exposed himself. If the killer had a gun, Cass had less of a chance of getting shot by staying low. Cass might hear someone coming if he stayed still.
He didn’t have to wait long. He heard movement in the forest. The crunching of snow and the wolves moving through the brush came first. And it wasn’t just one wolf. If Cass were to guess, he’d say there were at least eight, maybe more, and they surrounded him.
The alpha was in human form but he wasn’t clothed, so he wouldn’t stay that way for long. “You’ve become a liability, Cass. Between Leo’s sloppiness and you discovering the truth, you’re trying my patience.”
So, Miller lost his patience with Leo and blamed him for Cass and Iven’s investigation going in the right direction.
Cass shifted to his third form. He’d have a better chance of surviving the attack. When the alpha was done talking, he’d call for his henchmen to carry out the punishment. And that’s exactly how Miller would see it, not as an attack on an innocent person but as a pack member needing to be punished.
“You needed to be loyal to the pack first. Not the sheriff. He’s a warlock. Not a part of your wolf family. I should have counted on you to fudge the evidence, at the very least, but you won’t do that.” The alpha sniffed the air. His expression turned to disgust. “I can smell sulfur on you.”
Cass growled, his hackles raising.
“You mated one of them. The sheriff’s son?” The alpha shook his head. “You should have picked a wolf.”
The alpha raised his hand and brought it down as if it were a guillotine. It signaled the start of the attack.
Cass braced himself for it.
All he had to do was stay alive long enough for Iven to come.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Riley recognized the area. It was where he’d run out of gas and where he’d met Cass for the first time.
Cass’s car sat on the side of the road. They parked behind it. His dad didn’t shut off the engine.
“It’s important that you listen to me.” Fear underlined every word Dad spoke. It put Riley on alert more than what he said.
Riley nodded.
“Wolves protect these lands from outsiders. Like us.”
“Like you, you mean.” Riley tapped on his neck. “If Cass’s bite didn’t get me in the club, nothing will.”
“Cass’s bite should have made you a pack member, but the alpha is old school. He wants to approve every mating. He wouldn’t have approved of you simply because you’re a warlock.”
How fucked up were these people? “So much for living in the land of the free, huh?”
The corner of his dad’s mouth lifted in a half smile that made most people look as though they had a stroke. But Dad could pull it off. Since Riley looked so much like him, he wondered if he looked as good doing it also.
“The point is, the second we step onto pack land, the pack might take it as a challenge.”
“Even though we’re here to help Cass? Cass could be in danger.” Riley hadn’t thought about what might have happened or why his dad would ask for his help, even though it put Riley in danger. Obviously, the threat to Cass was far greater, or he wouldn’t have said a word.
“The alpha isn’t a reasonable person.” Dad’s tone suggested Riley should have picked up on that.
“Right. Okay.” Riley reached for the door handle, but his dad stopped him before he could exit the vehicle.
“Promise me something.”
Riley wouldn’t promise anything unless he knew what it was first, and Dad must have known it because he tightened his hold on Riley’s arm.
