Which raised the question: how had Marcos gotten his sister? Had she run away like Zayn had? Had Marcos found where the wolves lived? Had she been out hunting and gotten taken?
I slowed down as Zayn's scent got stronger. I couldn't smell his sister's, so it was possible he had hidden out somewhere while the sky had opened up.Luckily, the rain had let up not long after we had exited the cave.
More scents hit my nose, and I stopped, moving behind a tree to shift. Sullivan did the same and moved in close to me to stay hidden. I was very aware that his dick was dangerously close to touching me.
"I smell at least ten wolves." I kept my voice at a whisper. "I can mask my scent, so I'll go see what we're dealing with."
"You aren't going alone." Sullivan grabbed my arm as I started to move. "Did you forget you're a fox and would be a tasty treat to a lot of wolves?"
I rolled my eyes. "I’m faster than any wolf. If you come with me, they'll smell you and know we're here for Zayn."
His brows furrowed in confusion. "You know these wolves?"
I shook my head. "But I think it might be Zayn's family and other families that choose to live as wolves. Zayn escaped them."
"Well, now I'm definitely not letting you go alone." His jaw clenched and he let go of my arm. "What if this is a trap?"
"It's not. You didn't see the state she was in, Sully. They weren't feeding her enough and were beatingher." He sucked in a breath and looked away from me. "What?"
"I don't let anyone call me that." Sighing, he shut his eyes for a moment before looking back at me. "But I liked the way it sounded coming from your lips."
His eyes moved to my lips, and my breath caught in my throat. I wasn't naïve enough to think that something wasn't going to eventually happen between us. He'd watched me with Kingston, and Kingston had pretty much put his stamp of approval on the whole thing.
Whatever that meant.
Now wasn't the time for a naked make-out session behind the tree, as much as my foxy bits wanted to. "I'll be back."
I shifted, and Sullivan cursed under his breath as I ran past him. I made sure my tail brushed his thigh, and he cursed again. There was no reason for me to tease him like that, but my fox had other ideas.
She wanted him—all of them—which was interesting since we were different species and all. I would have thought that part of me would abhor the fact I was sleeping with wolves, but instead, the feisty vixen wanted to come out and play.
I don't know why I was so surprised. It wasn'tlike there were any male fox shifters around. Those that were still around were older. There hadn't been a fox shifter born since me, and even I was an anomaly since I was only half fox.
The small population of foxes was my own kind's fault. A human and fox shifter could not produce a fox shifter. Foxes had stopped caring who they mated with, but it wasn't like there had been a big population in the first place.
Wolves, on the other hand, were like the rabbits of the shifter world. Every time I turned around, there were more wolves added to the database. There was even a dating app.
My mind returned to the task at hand, and I sniffed the air as I got closer to the wolf scents. Despite all the traveling we had done and how my morning had started, I had a lot of energy, thanks to my nap and the food we had eaten. It made it easy to conceal my scent.
The sky was already darkening from the setting sun and the mountains blocking its rays. Even though we could see in the dark, the darkness did provide some cover. Even our animals' eyes sometimes played tricks on us, and I hoped if I was spotted, they would think I was another animal out and about.
The clearing up ahead didn't look too big, and I moved carefully through the remaining trees to get a closer look. I found the perfect tree to climb with a clear vantage point to view the small establishment that was set up in the area.
There weren't houses exactly, but there were structures that had been built. They had three walls with a roof and a flap of animal hide, giving a small amount of privacy.
Zayn had told me there were four families, and there were four clusters of the wooden structures that were no bigger than half the size of a small bedroom that would be in a house. They might not have liked being in their human forms, but they still liked some luxuries, like a stable shelter. But the wordluxurywas putting it nicely.
There wasn't a lot of movement, most likely because they were taking shelter from the storm that had just rolled through, or they were out hunting since the sun was going down.
I moved to a different branch in the tree, careful not to make any sounds. At least if they heard me, they would think I was a random animal.
The saddest howl I'd ever heard came from one of the shack structures. I hadn't heard Zayn's howlbefore, but somehow, I knew it was him and my heart leapt into my throat.
When there was no movement after his sorrowful song, I climbed out of the tree and made my way closer, hoping it would be easy to get him out of whatever predicament he was in. Zayn and his sister's scents were strong, meaning they were both there. Other wolf scents mixed with theirs, but I could tell no one else was in the area. They'd left them unguarded, not thinking anyone would be coming after them.
Zayn was lying with his head resting on his paws. They'd locked him up like he told me they had done before when he tried to escape. As I rounded the side of a shack and got a clear view inside, I could see Zola was chained up too, with one around her back foot and one around her neck.
Zayn's eyes widened as I darted into the shack and tried to keep myself concealed behind the small drape that was covering half the entrance. It provided some privacy, and if someone happened to return, it wouldn't be immediately obvious there was an intruder.
