Pathetic.He’s right to fear me. I am retribution.
I step toward the remaining trafficker. He’s looking around wildly, desperate for an escape route, but there’s nowhere to run. Instead of removing his guts and spreading them across the floor like I want to, I plant one massive paw against his throat and pinhim to the ground. The color of his face changes depending on how hard I push. Pink, red, purple. When a blood vessel shatters in his left eye, I’m disappointed. He’s no match for me.
Callum curses behind me.
“Chill out. You're going to do brain damage.” He smacks me in the flank. My lion considers taking a bite out of him to teach him respect, but ultimately, we decide against it and flick him with our tail instead.
I reluctantly let up on the remaining shifter's throat. He’s out cold now, fresh blood and bruises mottling skin coated with old layers of dirt and grime. The women in the corner are weeping hysterically, terrified by the violence I just brought down on their behalf.
They’ll get over it . . . Probably.
“We need to get out of here.” Callum studies the inside of the barn with narrowed eyes. “This is just a drop point. Let’s help these women, then we’ll take this guy back to the compound for questioning.”
He’s in boring problem-solving mode now, so I just chuff in agreement, giving the shifter one last shove. I accidentally draw blood.Oops.I lift my paw gingerly, lick it clean, and then transform back into my human form.
Cal tosses me my clothes, and we make quick work of checking the barn for anything we may have missed. There’s nothing much here, just a few guns, some small wads of cash, and a handful of loose pills. I’m most interested in the abandoned masks, which we bag up.
“We’re here to help you, give you some safe options...” I hear Callum say as he gently leads the women out of the cage. I leave him to it. Of the two of us, he’s not quite as frightening, plus he’s got influence at his disposal if they start freaking out.
While he’s reassuring them they’re safe now, I stuff the prisoner into his new home, the electric dog kennel, and load itinto the SUV. He’s still out cold, but he’s in for a rude dose of karma in a few hours.
Payback’s a bitch.
Two of the women ask to be returned to the same town they were taken from. We offer to relocate them somewhere safer, but they both say they'd be more comfortable where they came from. I don't get it, but I'm not here to argue. The third, the alpha’s niece, asks to use my phone. Her pack promises to pick her up from the bar.
Cal helps them to the car, handing them blankets to wrap around themselves. I try to be patient with their slow progress, but shit, I’m ready to go.
Once they’re settled, I torch the barn and we head out. Hopefully, this will send a message to the traffickers they won't be able to ignore.
Now that my adrenaline is wearing off, I can’t ignore the throbbing in my chest any longer. The unsealed bond isn't happy with how far I am from Sheena.
It also isn’t thrilled with how the female wolf shifter in the back seat keeps touching me. If she weren’t traumatized, I’d shut that shit down real quick. I don’t want to make her night any worse by biting her head off. But when she runs her hand over my shoulder for the tenth time, I’ve had enough.
“I’m taken,” I bark.
She recoils like I slapped her, a slight pout curling her lips. Her disappointment doesn’t last long, though. Within five minutes, she’s staring at Callum like water in the desert. He narrows his eyes at me in annoyance, but I just shrug, returning to my thoughts about Sheena and our bond.
It's way too soon to even think about making it permanent, especially since I haven't figured out how to explain the whole mate thing to her yet. I'm worried the ‘until death do us part’ bit will freak her out. If I just come right out and ask her to seal abond more permanent than marriage, she’s going to run for it. I wouldn’t blame her if she did.
I’ve only heard of one or two mated pairs in the world, and they're ancient even in supernatural terms. That's another thing we haven't talked to Sheena about. Most of us live a few hundred years with aging slowing dramatically somewhere in the mid to late twenties. How do you even bring that up to someone who fears their future more than anything else?
I rub my chest with the heel of my hand, trying to ease the ache. It doesn't help. The throb has been getting worse since we left, and I can only hope it's not this uncomfortable for Sheena. Callum glances at me a few times with concern, but I know he won’t say anything in front of strangers.
When we finally pull back into the bar parking lot, the two smaller women vanish into the night within seconds. Not a word of thanks, but I can't blame them for being jumpy. Prey shifters have to be careful at the best of times, and these two have more reasons than most to avoid more powerful creatures.
On the opposite side of the spectrum, the wolf pack’s representative won’t shut up about how thankful he is, clapping Callum on the back half a dozen times as he bundles the alpha’s niece up into their tricked out Jeep. I choose to stay in our SUV. I’m hurting too much to care if it makes me look like an arrogant dick.
Once Cal slides back into the driver’s seat, I sigh with relief, ready to go. He puts his hand on the gearshift, then lets it fall back to his lap, turning to face me.
“We’ll need to hunt the bar owner down eventually,” I say before he can speak. “There have to be consequences for selling out.”
He nods, but I can tell by the stubborn glint in his eyes he won’t be sidetracked.
“You're hurting.”
I grunt an affirmative, and he puffs out a loud breath.
“They’ll be able to tell, Gideon. It will bring up questions we aren't ready to answer.”
