At the edge of the woods, Dodger kicked out of his jeans, and Vic did the same with his sweats.
“I don’t need your help,” Dodger gritted out. “I can find him.”
“I’m not going for you. Liam will have two wolves flanking him. Delta’s got Nory. Tabian and Bridger are together. The blood near the door isn’t ours. Delta killed one of them that was going for Nory. One of the males. Between her and about a dozen bullets in his body, the fucker didn’t stand a chance.
“I should’ve been here,” he gritted out.
“Yeah,” Vic murmured in the instant before his body popped and cracked and was destroyed into somethingother. Vic’s wolf trotted into the woods, and Dodger closed his eyes and embraced the pain. His Changes weren’t as fast as Vic’s. They never had been.
He just needed to be near his Alpha. He needed to be of service. His wolf needed to assure himself that every wolf here was all right, and Liam most of all.
That Alpha really was going to have to Turn Nory. She couldn’t remain human in a Rogue Pack.
It would never work. She wouldn’t survive this life for long.
A wave of anguish washed through him as he bolted through the trees, following the scent of his Alpha’s wolf.
Destiny wasn’t Dodger’s. She couldn’t be. Just like Nory, she would be a target, and he couldn’t do that to her.
Destiny was good. She had a future. She had a new job and a good family and she was solid.
She had been through enough.
The timing was fate. What else could explain this attack? The day he starts letting himself slip into a relationship with a human, his Pack is attacked? And Vic was right. This felt like a warning. It felt like the lead-up to something bigger.
Dodger cared. Fuck, he cared. He didn’t know why, but that human sang to him like a siren, and he couldn’t imagine her blood painting the snow here.
Couldn’t.
It would kill him.
He had to set her free before they got too deep.
Chapter Seven
Destiny checked her phone for the zillionth time today.
HerI’m home safetext had gone unanswered. From the looks of it, Dodger hadn’t even read it.
She puffed air out of her cheeks and tried to focus on what her dad was saying.
“Did he mention the new Alpha’s name?” Dad asked. He’d looked troubled since she’d told him how she and Dodger had ended last night.
“No. I didn’t ask though. Well, honestly, he clams up a little about his Pack when I ask questions, so I don’t know if he would’ve answered anyway.”
“Well, Bug, that’s not necessarily a bad thing. If he was spilling his guts about his Pack, I would be worried. Loyalty is important.”
“Not just to werewolves,” she pointed out.
“I didn’t say that. Loyalty is just as important for you. If he’s telling an almost-stranger everything about his Pack on your first date? I would be concerned he is using it for clout, or to impress you.”
She curled her knees up to her chest and relaxed back in the outdoor chair on her parents’ back porch thoughtfully. Dad was out here in the snow grilling about twenty pounds of chicken for easy meals at his job for the next couple of days. Rain or shine, he was on that barbecue grill every few days. He’d been like that since she was a kid. He was out here in a dang T-shirt, while she was bundled in the clothes Dodger had bought her last night, and a blanket over her lap.
“He didn’t feel like a stranger,” she said softly.
“Yeah, well that is the pull of a werewolf. We can make you feel however we want to.”
“It didn’t seem like a game though, Dad. It was just…easy. Other than when he was pushing me away from asking too many questions, it felt like I’d known him for months.”
