Perhaps the sorcerer could help me. I didn’t have a phone number for him, but I did have his mark. That’s what it was supposedly for, right? Keeping him in touch?
I bared my forearm, and ran one finger along it thinking dire thoughts. I dug a fingernail into it, thinking maybe it needed pain to activate. Nothing. I had no idea if it worked or not.
Looked like I was on my own.
I wasn’t prepared to be on my own. I had no weapons, since I’d left those in my car. I had no idea how to defeat the draugr beyond a vague plan of wrestling it back into its grave. I had my doubts as to the effectiveness of that method, even if I could figure out which grave was his.
Stop panicking, soldier. We’re still alive. We just need to make it out of the cemetery and back to some sort of highway. From there, I could get back to Elements. I actually wasn’t too far from it. I just needed to move quickly and carefully and everything would be all right.
I rounded a set of tombstones and came face to face with two wolves. I froze.
Ever unexpectedly come face to face with a predator in the wild? The great wide beyond is its territory, and you know if you move—if you even breathe wrong—that it might be the last thing you ever do. Still, you can’t help but stare at the majestic beast in front of you, hyper-aware that something so fierce and wonderful can exist in this world.
Coming face to face with the wolves was kind of like that. Time slowed, coming almost to a standstill. Then, in the next moment it sped up.
One of the wolves changed, its form folding in on itself as the fur receded, leaving a man crouched in its place.
A naked Brax stood.
He’d got my message. Thank God.
“What are you doing here?” he asked.
Or not.
Wait, if he didn’t get my voicemail, why was he standing in front of me naked.
“I told you everything in the voicemail. Didn’t you listen to it?”
He gestured at his naked body. “Do I look like I’m carrying around a phone?”
Males. Always picking the absolute worst time to display sarcasm.
“What are you doing here if you didn’t get my message?”
No, wait. He’d said something about going hunting. I closed my eyes. Of course, he hadn’t waited. Why would he do that? He was a big alpha male capable of subduing monsters with a single irate glare. My mistake.
“We’re patrolling. I have several teams in the area scouting out the draugr and possible hideouts.”
“I thought you said you’d give me a little time to get the proof you needed.”
It was getting hard keeping my eyes trained on his face. All that naked flesh, covering miles of ripped muscle, had a way of distracting a person. He was most women’s wet dream, cut in all the right places with sharply defined ridges. Guess all that running around on all fours had a nice effect on the body. If all werewolves were built like this, I might want to rethink my policy on fraternizing with beings from the otherworld.
“That was hours ago.”
Bullshit. For him to have time to set up patrols and actually deploy them meant he would have had to act shortly after my call. I wouldn’t be surprised if he’d already been on the move when I called him.
It didn’t matter. It was what it was and no amount of recrimination would change that. He acted, and we now had to deal with the situation as it was.
“It doesn’t matter anymore,” I said. “I figured out who’s behind all this. Do you know a witch named Angela?”
He looked down, frowning thoughtfully. It looked like he didn’t. That might make convincing him a little more difficult.
“She’s friendly with one of your wolves. The one named Victor. He’s the guy who threw a fit in the middle of our conversation in your kitchen and accused me of setting all this up.”
A growl so low and vicious that it was almost inaudible came from the wolf standing behind Brax. My eyes fixed on Brax. His face had gone grim and still at the sound of Victor’s name. His eyes slid to the right.
I followed them, my breath catching at the sight of a pair of milky eyes peering out at us from the shadow of a tree.
