“Threes for us too,” Cove said. “Left tunnels. Anyone is hurt, someone helps them find the way out. No one goes alone.”
“Follow this.” Ricky gave a little tug on the connections. They flared bright, hot, and burned a clear path to her.
There was no way any of us would miss seeing or feeling that, no matter how deep or twisted the path became.
“Can everyone feel that?” she asked.
The weres made affirmative noises, and Elmer, Pamela, and Josie all said yes.
“Brogan, Lula?” she asked.
“We felt it,” Lula said.
“Good hunting to you, friends,” Ricky said.
Her heart, Lu’s heart, and all the others, beat faster, eager for the hunt. That energy zinged through all of us, building.
“Brogan doesn’t have friends,” Danube said. “So I hear.”
A few of the weres still in human form chuckled.
“I’ll be your friend,” Danube said, as he strode past us.
“I’ll be your friend too,” Josie said.
“I don’t want anything to do with you,” Elmer said.
Pamela laughed and shoved her grandfather forward.
Val came up beside me.
“Don’t say it,” I said to him.
“Well, I was going to say I already am your friend, but now that Danube likes you, I’m rethinking our entire relationship.”
“We don’t have a relationship.”
“I’m practically a brother to you.”
“No.”
The handful of the weres in human form stripped out of their clothing and shifted into wolf.
“Good thing we aren’t alongside a road,” I muttered. “Good thing we aren’t out in the open, in broad daylight or anything.”
Lu huffed a laugh, as we strode across the road, a flow of wolves streaming ahead of us, around us, and still more behind us.
“I saved Lula,” Val said.
I finally looked over at him. He was floating along, matching our speed, a determined look on his face. He looked at me. “I did.”
“I know. I didn’t thank you.”
A small smile hooked his lips. “No, you did not.”
“Thank you.”
“You are welcome. I like her very much. And I have a rather unhealthy hatred of the Hush. I couldn’t, and would never, let them hurt her.”
