Caidrik didn’t blink. He just stared at the three of them. His job was to kill all three. That was the answer baked into the laws whether he liked it or not. The wind cut across the field again, cold biting at his ears, but he barely noticed. He glanced at his mother.
She shrugged. “This is weird,” she said. “I don’t know what you’re supposed to do.”
He looked at Taryn.
“You have to kill them,” she said without hesitation. “It’s a pity. The middle one’s pretty cute, but our laws are clear.”
He looked down at Nadia as she slowly stood, her breath puffing white in front of her face. “You can’t just kill them,” she whispered. “They didn’t ask to be kidnapped.”
“What do we do with them then?” Caidrik muttered.
“I don’t know,” Nadia said, voice steady despite the tremor in her hands. “But we don’t go around killing humans, especially when this is our fault.”
Taryn shook her head and stood too. “She’s too soft to be Alpha female. You know what you need to do to protect the pack. If you want, I’ll take the one on the left.” Her eyes flicked toward the men. “Brother Jeremiah’s yours.”
Brother Jeremiah squared his shoulders, hands clenched. “God is on my side, you evil beings.”
“Oh, for goodness’ sake,” Caidrik snapped. “Shut up. We’re not evil. We’re wolf shifters.”
“Evil,” Brother Jeremiah hissed.
An Alpha scent slammed into the air. Caidrik turned instinctively, half-shifting before he caught sight of Seth Volk, the Alpha of the Silver Pack, bounding into the field in wolf form.
“Well,” Seth said as he shifted mid-stride, skin snapping back into human in one fluid motion, “this is just getting more and more interesting.”
“Someone get him jeans,” Caidrik bellowed.
An enforcer reached into the truck and tossed over a pair. Seth stepped into them quickly, barefoot on the ice.
The hair on the back of Caidrik’s neck prickled. “Hey, Seth.”
“Caidrik,” Seth said. “How’s it going?”
“It’s been a weird day,” Caidrik admitted.
Brother Jeremiah coughed, his face turning a mottled red. “Seth Volk,” he yelled, pointing at a bare-chested Seth. He yanked a cross from inside his shirt to hold toward the Alpha. “Heaven?—”
“Shut up, TJ,” Seth said, fastening the jeans. “We’re wolf shifters. We turn into wolves and turn back into humans.”
Brother Jeremiah gaped, his mouth moving like he’d swallowed too much water and couldn’t breathe.
Seth ran a hand through his thick black hair, his blue eyes flashing. “Why did you kidnap these morons?” He turned to Caidrik.
“It wasn’t me,” Caidrik said.
“It was me,” Solomon murmured, stepping closer, clutching the grimoire to his chest. “It’s part of the trials.”
Seth cut a look to Caidrik and then to Luca. “Two of you left, huh?” Obviously, he was well-informed, which only made the whole thing more irritating. Seth didn’t do surprise well. He didn’t do chaos well either. The wind tugged at his hair and snapped at the edges of everyone’s jackets. “If either of you become Alpha,” Seth said, voice carrying clean, “please tell me you’re getting rid of these archaic fucking challenges.”
“Absolutely,” Luca said. “It’ll be my first job.”
Caidrik didn’t bother playing polite. “Since I’ll be the Alpha, I fully plan to change these laws,” he murmured. He didn’t know why, but Seth was sort of amusing. It took a lot to piss off Seth Volk publicly, and he looked like he was two seconds from grabbing Solomon by the coat and shaking him until the grimoire fell out. That alone almost made this worth it. Almost.
Caidrik stared at Seth a second longer and then let his eyes slide to Brother Jeremiah. “Did you call him TJ?”
“Yeah,” Seth said. “We grew up together. We’re old friends.”
That was a bit of a surprise.
