I heard them debating what to do with his body, my wife, the voice of reason. I almost snorted out loud. Then I heard Thalia make a joke. A fucking joke. I felt the males around me, sensed their emotions—relieved but furious, just like I was.
But my attention remained on Rowen, her hand rubbing her thigh, unaware that she was still bleeding, probably.
I stepped out and confronted them. “And what’s your excuse, princess?”
Rowen turned, eyes wide, standing there naked and unapologetic, blood on her body, breath sharp, eyes blazing. Thalia and Adair flanked her, chests heaving as if they hadn’t fully processed what they’d done.
Diesel and Killian walked out from behind me, both still in wolf form, stopping on either side of me.
I took a long hard look at the scene—the corpse, theblood, and the three she-wolves standing like a wall between me and revenge—and I let out a low murderous breath.
“Alright then,” I said, voice rough. “Someone want to explain why I woke up after being drugged unconscious?”
Rowen lifted her chin, defiant even streaked in Axel’s blood.
Thalia muttered, “We…handled it.”
Adair nodded. “Handled it very well, actually.”
I stared at the three of them. Too furious to speak. Rowen stared right back.
My jaw flexed. “Rowen?”
Her eyes didn’t waver. Not for a breath. Not for a heartbeat. She walked toward me, slow and deliberate, the moon catching the blood on her skin. “Myexcuse,” she said quietly, “is that you’d have broken something good inside you to get to him.” She stopped in front of me. Close. Solid. Unafraid. “And I wasn’t losing you,” she finished. “Not for him.”
Cody had circled the area and walked up behind his wife; she didn’t even realize he was there. He tapped her on the shoulder, and Thalia spun around with a cry, then stepped back when she saw how furious he was.
“Cody…”
“Youdruggedme?” he said, stepping closer. He delivered a vicious kick to Axel’s body as he passed. “You ran for miles, you haven’t eaten, you haven’t drunk anything, you’repregnantwith our child, and then you take on him—not even at full strength?” Thalia moved to protest, but he spoke over her. “You are not at full strength, you are weak from hunger, lack of food and sleeplessness, and all you have to say to me is ‘Cody.’Cody? Like I’m the one who’s made a mistake here? Are youfuckingserious, Thalia?”
Rowen glanced at me, worry in her eyes.
My hard stare made her eyes widen even more. “What he said.”
“We did stop,” Adair said. Four wolves stared at her, and she wisely shut up.
“You’re bleeding,” I told Rowen, my voice cold. “All of you are, shift and heal.” I turned away, but her hand caught my arm, trying to pull me around; I didn’t budge.
“Wolfe—”
“I said, shift and heal.” I didn’t look at any of them. “It’s a long run back to the Hollow. There is still an enemy out there, or have you forgotten that too?”
Silence was my answer.
“Have you seen him?”Diesel asked.
I had. “And they saidwewould lose ourselves.”
“I’m not carrying him,”Killian told me. “I don’t want to touch him.”
“I’ll do it.”I didn’t wait for a response. I grabbed Axel’s hind leg—what was left of it—and started dragging.
His body scraped over roots and rock, leaving a ragged smear behind us. Branches tore at what little flesh he still had.
Which pleased me. He didn’t deserve a body left to mourn.
The three women shifted back and followed behind me silently. Diesel stalked at my side, a dark shadow with his ears flattened—equal parts furious and impressed. Cody, similar, on my left, and Killian trailed last, eyes cold and watchful, making damn sure nothing tried to take Axel’s corpse from me before we were ready to show it.
