“No,” I murmured back, keeping in step with him.
Wolfe’s growl followed me. Diesel’s grin followed Wolfe’s growl. He loved that I didn’t listen. Infuriating man. I reached Diesel’s side just as he planted himself in front of Dex, arms crossed, stance wide.
Dex went still. Not afraid—cautious. Didn’t he know that Diesel thrived on caution?
“You smell off,” Diesel announced.
“Diesel,” I warned, thinking there were perhaps better ways to do this.
He didn’t even blink. “I’m not wrong. He smells off.”
Dex’s brows lifted. “You mean tired? Or grieving? Or the smoke we walked through to get here?”
Diesel leaned in, sniffed him again, and straightened slowly. “No. I meanoff.Like you’re hiding something.”
Dex stiffened.
The male beside Wolfe tried to take a step forward,protective, but I held up a hand. “No. Let him speak. Diesel won’t attack without cause.”
Diesel scoffed. “Won’t I?”
“You won’t,” I said firmly. “Because I’ll knee you in the balls again.”
He paused…then nodded once. “Possibly.” He turned back to Dex and jabbed a finger at him. “You were at the Pack Council when we were there. You heard every lie they spat. And you walked out without saying a damn thing.”
Dex’s jaw tightened. “It wasn’t my place to intervene.”
“Bullshit,” Diesel snapped. “It’s everyone’s place to intervene when the Pack Council pulls that kind of shit.”
The stranger stepped forward again, and I realized he must be the alpha, but Wolfe held out a hand to stop him.
“My alpha ordered me to observe,” Dex said quietly. “Not speak. Not fight. Not drag Emberfell into a conflict we weren’t ready for.”
Diesel bared his teeth. “You were ready enough to come running here the second they attacked you.”
“We didn’t know that was the Pack Council,” Dex said sharply. “We didn’t know if they were rogues.”
Diesel rounded on him. “And you know damn well those ‘rogues’ are being controlled.”
Silence fell heavy and fast. Their alpha cursed under his breath. Dex’s eyes dropped for half a second, and neither Diesel nor I missed it.
“There it is,” Diesel growled, stepping in closer, close enough that their chests almost brushed. “That look. The ‘I know something, and I didn’t tell you’ look.”
Dex blew out a slow breath. “I didn’t know for certain.”
“Now you do,” Diesel snapped. “So say it.”
Dex looked at me. Not at Diesel. Not at Wolfe. At me.
“The attacks,” he said quietly. “They stopped fighting like rogues. They were organized. Strategic. They aimed for our elders first…then our children.”
Diesel swore violently. My stomach dropped.
“Did you tell Wolfe this?” I demanded, and when he shook his head, I looked over at their alpha. “Why wouldn’t you want us to know this?”
The male swallowed. “Because I didn’t want to walk into your territory and point fingers at the Pack Council without proof. I thought you’d throw us out.”
Diesel laughed. No humor. “We still might.”
