His grip was loose, even though it was holding me aloft. It wasn’t threatening or harmful. He gave me a look that pretty much asked if I was going to behave, and I nodded. He put me back on the ground. My fist connected with his jaw as my knee connected with his groin.
He laughed. The man was insane.
“You’re a dick.”
“Never claimed to be different,” he said with a grin. He looked me over, taking in my dark cargo pants and tank top. “Why aren’t you in a robe? Thought you were a druid?” He lit a cigarette.
“Why aren’t you with your alpha?”
“Your alpha is being reckless. I don’t agree with his decision. Then I felt you drowning in the spiritual plane and had to come and get you.”
None of that made sense, yet it made perfect sense. “Tell me without telling me that you’re a druid, or a shaman.”
He snorted, blowing out smoke. “I’m just a shifter, Rowen.”
“You just told me you came and got meon the spiritual plane. Normal shifters can’t do that.”
He took a drag of his cigarette. “Most shifters are lazy. Lack ambition. Sad really.” He turned and opened the tentflap. “C’mon, you need to see what your husband’s doing. He’s being…accommodating.”
The wordsWolfeandaccommodatingshouldn’t be in the same sentence. I felt a shiver run down my spine at the thought of it. What was worse: Wolfe being nice to people or Diesel thinking he was acting recklessly?
“What’s happening?” I asked him as I followed. “Who was at the southern boundary?”
“Emberfell Pack.”
I frowned. “We saw Dex at the Pack Council. Why is he here?”
“Fantastic fucking question, could you get your husband to explain it to us both?”
“I see, it’s like that, is it?”
Diesel stubbed his cigarette out on his palm and pocketed the stub. “They’re seeking refuge.”
“Why?” I thought about it. “They’re a small pack. We have very little to do with them. Who are they running from?”
“That’s the question they haven’t answered to my satisfaction yet,” Diesel grumbled.
“Who did they say they were running from?” I pressed as I followed him.
“The Pack Council.”
I scoffed. “Bullshit.”
Diesel grinned at me. “Andthat’swhy you’re coming with me.”
Wolfe and a shifter I didn’t know were just at the edge of the boundary as we arrived.
Dex barely had time to finish speaking with the male with Wolfe when Diesel and I stalked out of the tree line,and I saw three very different reactions. My husband looked resigned, Dex looked anxious, and the third one looked…interested.
Great.
I glanced at my companion. His shoulders were stiff, his jaw grinding, and his eyes narrowed enough to cut bark off a tree.
“Absolutely not,” Wolfe muttered under his breath.
But Diesel wasn’t heading for Wolfe. He was heading straight for Dex, and unfortunately…I was going to be dragged into whatever disaster was coming.
“Stay behind me,” Diesel murmured, lengthening his stride.
