“We need one alive,” I reminded him.
“You better keep that one then,”he told me almost jovially. “Everyone else is dead.”
Goddess help me.
The last one fell. My teeth were around the throat of the last living one, which really pissed me off that Killian and Diesel got to clean up, while I had to babysit this one.
Stepping back, I shifted to my human form. Killian and Diesel did the same.
“Brand?”
“I think we’re clear,” he confirmed. “Patrols are checking in. I just need Axel.”
“Axel?”I called through the bond.
I heard the surprise as he answered. “Wolfe? You have Diesel?”
“You heard the wild howl and thought it a coincidence?”I joked. “Are you okay?”
“Tired, Alpha. Tell Brand my phone got smashed. My patrol only lost one.”
I relayed the message to Brand and then turned my attention back to the shifter on the ground. “Shift.”
Killian stepped back in confusion. “How…”
His uncle looked back up at us, spitting to the side. “Kill me now, I won’t give you a thing.”
“Jericho.” I didn’t take my eyes off him.
“How are you disguising your scent?” Diesel asked, crouching down and sniffing. “Can you smell it, Alpha?”
I inhaled deeply. I’d known this wolf for years, huntedwith him. He wasknownto me. My pack. I sniffed again. “Cut him.”
Diesel sliced along his leg before Jericho even had a chance to jerk away. His blood spilled on the grass, and we all breathed in.
“What is that?” I asked Diesel. “It’s…peppery?”
Killian huffed in disgust. “It’s pepper root.” He shook his head and fixed his gaze on the tree line. The smoke was still churning, but the smell of fire was fading. “Grandmother used to tell me that it set the blood on fire for those who wanted to be the best hunters. But it burned.”
“Burned your blood,” Diesel said, looking down at the traitor in front of us. “Burned your blood, burned your eyes and burned the goodness out.”
“You’ve been taking it for a long time,” I realized. “It’s been years since I went on the hunt with you.”
“You betrayed them again,” Killian said quietly. He looked over at me, his eyes hard. “Kill him, Alpha. He won’t tell you anything.”
“I’ll use my Will.” I kept eye contact with Jericho and saw his satisfied smirk.
“You’re not my alpha. I don’t bend to your Will.”
I looked at my two betas. “Go,” I told them. “Tell the others to start counting the dead. Any survivors of theirs, I want them separated and ready for questioning.”
“Alpha—”
“Killian.” My voice was soft. “Go. I got this. He’s a traitor, but he’s still blood. Go be where I need you. I don’t need you here.”
He hesitated, just for a moment, and then he spat on the ground to the left of his uncle. “Make it hurt, Alpha.”
Diesel raised an eyebrow. “You can fuck off if you think I’m leaving.”
