Screams and breaking glass had woken Garridan that night. The wolves had already surrounded the village. They had been smart about it too. They knew which house to hit and had killed the leaders first. Garridan hadn’t known any of that at the time, though. He’d just fought next to Samuel for what had seemed like several hours, trying to take out as many as he could. He had killed a wolf and turned to another when he’d seen Samuel go down. Garridan had been close enough to whip his tail around, knocking the wolf, who was just getting ready to shift, off his feet. He went over to Samuel, staggering just a little in his exhaustion. Garridan had shifted and checked his best friend’s pulse, but hadn’t been able to find one.
Garridan had roared even as he’d shifted back. He focused on the wolf, who had been trying to get back up, but Garridan whipped histail around again. The wolf shifter had fallen to the ground, landing hard on his ass.
Garridan had blown out a breath of air in warning, moving the guy’s hair around his face. Garridan had been going in for the kill when the wolf said, “They made us do it. Please. I have children.” Garridan had been too far off the edge of grief to pay attention. The kill had gone quickly. It was over before the wolf could say anything else.
Jeanette had come running from the house screaming when a wolf had come out of nowhere, its thick jaws wrapped around her neck. Her eyes grew wide just as her body went limp and she fell to the ground. She was dead before her body ever hit the grass.
Garridan’s jaws had wrapped around the wolf’s head and nearly ripped it off before the wolf even had a chance to turn around to face him. He’d shaken his head a couple of times and then dropped the wolf on the ground. Even after he’d shifted back into his human form, he’d tasted the wolf’s blood in his mouth.
He had gone into the house then and scooped Bennett up, racing out of the front door and to his truck. Garridan had driven for hours, trying to get Bennett as far away as possible. They had stayed at a hotel that first night.
He had thought about what that wolf had said to him every day since that night. If the wolves were forced, then all shifters were potential targets. Dragons were among the strongest of all shifters, so taking them out first made sense. It could be a world domination thing, but that didn’t sit right with Garridan. What was the motivation?
Bennett looked over at Garridan with that same mimicking frown. Garridan chuckled. “You’re pretty cute, little man.” Bennett was the perfect combination of both of his parents. He was probably going to have the height of his father though. He was already big for his age.
“I’m handsome, not cute.”
“Oh yeah, I forgot.”
“You’re so silly.”
“Not as silly as you.”
Garridan wasn’t sure he could leave Bennett for the little meeting tonight. He wasn’t sure he should. If something happened, Bennett wouldn’t come back from it as well the second time around. How could he do that to him all over again?
He felt fear eat at his stomach just thinking about the meeting. His gut was practically yelling at him not to go. Garridan wished he could send someone else but there really was no one besides himself and Tony.
He had to find out why, for Bennett’s sake. He’d go one time and then turn what information he’d obtained over to the Shifter Council where it belonged, letting them handle it from there. Whatever information he was able to get from the meeting would have to answer enough questions.
He had a kid to think about.
“Hey, buddy. I have to go somewhere. The Connors really want you to stay with them for a couple hours.”
“No.”
“Xavier really wants to play cars with you.”
“No.”
Garridan scowled. “Why not?”
“Because you’ll go away just like Mommy and Daddy.”
“I’ll come back.”
“No.”
Garridan sighed. He couldn’t bring the kid with him, not to some seedy bar on the other side of town. “I will always find a way back to you, Bennett.”
“You won’t go away forever and ever like Mommy and Daddy did?”
“I promise I’ll come back.”
Chapter One
Sage Rickman sat at Estelle’s dining room table, staring at the closed bedroom door, wringing his hands. His mate was inside and had been for the past six hours, which was about how long Sage had sat there. When they’d first brought Garridan through the house and into the bedroom, Mother Estelle had told him he could go in if he wanted. He had just nodded and sat down, putting the table between himself and his mate.
The longer he sat there the farther away he seemed. It was as if an invisible force pushed him away by small degrees.
