Mal grimaces. “We only saw two, but I doubt that’s all of them. Flint and I popped into town to pick up a few things and we saw them coming out of the Tesco Express.” His lip curls. “They stank of silver and aconite.”
“Did they see you?” I ask. In theory, we have nothing to fear from hunters, not if we’re sticking to the rules they laid out for shifter packs. And as far as they’re concerned, we are. Doesn’t mean we’re all that eager to invite interaction though.
Well, most of us.
“They did when we walked up and introduced ourselves.” Mal grins, but his eyes flash a darker grey. “Can’t have them thinking we were trying to hide.”
“Anyone we know?” There are almost as many hunter groups as there are shifter packs. Some stick to the same areas, but not all.
Mal glances at Flint. “We didn’t recognisethem, but Flint said they carried a scent that seems familiar.
“Beck? Grey?” I turn to Flint, and he seesaws his hand.
“Maybe Grey. It was faint and mixed with plenty of others, but I know it from somewhere.”
“Fuck.” I sit back in my chair, hands automatically going to my hair again.
Tanner Grey.
As hunters go, he’s one of the better ones, but he has athingfor Jet. He tries to hide it, with varying degrees of success. I don’t think any of his fellow hunters suspect, but he can’t hide it from us. Our senses never lie.
And Jet fucking hates him.
“Have you told him?” All we need this week is a pissed-off Jet. Especially when I need him focused on transporting Tyler.
Flint shakes his head. “We were hoping we won’t need to. There’s no reason for them to pay us a visit. And if they do, hopefully he’ll still be away with Mal.”
I turn to Mal. “When are you leaving?”
“About five tomorrow morning. We want to avoid the holiday traffic if we can.”
“Think you can stay a day or two?”
He groans. “Really? You know Jet’s not going to like the idea of staying with a different pack, even one we know and trust.”
“If you tell him why, I think he’ll be fine.” Well, maybe notfine, but he won’t object.
Mal grunts. “If I have to.”
With any luck, the hunters are just passing through, or their business is with the FBs. Goddess knows those arseholes break enough rules to deserve the hunter’s attention. I’ve been tempted to report them more than once.
Not that I ever would.
They might be a bunch of cunts, but they’re still shifters. And no matter how much they deserve it, I’d lose all respect in my world if I ever ratted them out to hunters. And that’s something we can’t afford if we’re going to keep doing what we’re doing.
“Did you manage to find out where they’re staying?” I look between Mal and Flint. Maybe if we know that, we can find out how many of them are here. And keep an eye on them.
“No. Unfortunately.” Flint sighs. “Not in town, though. We followed them for a bit, but when they hit the main road, they’d have spotted us easily, so we backed off.”
Huh. There are two hotels in town, but none on the outskirts.
“Maybe they left town.”
Mal shrugs.
Yeah, I don’t believe that either. But there’s nothing we can do about them right now. “Keep an eye out for them, both in town and in the forest.”
“I’ll spread the word.” Callum taps the table. “How’s it going with Morgan?”
