“They do,” Blade said. “I’m special.” Sure, zapping bugs was a sidekick kind of power, but it came in handy.
Jon looked back at them, his night eyes glowing with the faint yellow light common to most shifters. “How’s your night vision?”
“Excellent. Both of us,” Scotty assured him, but she didn’t mention that hers was better than Blade’s. “Blade can also blend into shadows.”
Not as well as his father, but yeah, the ability to camouflage himself came in handy now and then. More often than Mace’s ability to sense souls like his mother. But she could see them, and he couldn’t.
“Great,” Jon said. “But we still need to be careful.”
“No shit,” Blade muttered, remembering why he didn’t like the guy. “Like we don’t know to be careful.”
“Wasn’tmyteammate who walked into a trap,” Jon drawled.
Scotty barked out a bitter laugh. “He’s got us there.”
“Yeah, yeah.” The guy was still a dick.
The trail dropped down into a muddy creek bed dotted with fresh moose and wolf tracks.
Crouching, Skoll studied the tracks. “It’s a young moose. And lame.”
“How many wolves?” Scotty asked.
“Six.” Skoll looked off toward where the tracks disappeared into the woods. “That moose had better hope the wolves catch it before the wendigo does.” He blew out a breath and stood. “And then the wolves better run too.”
As if Skoll’s words were a trigger, something screeched, and a shiver shot down Blade’s spine.
Scotty summoned her sword. “What was that?”
“I don’t know,” Jon replied, “but it didn’t sound friendly.”
The forest went still. Unnaturally still.
Off in the distance, a wolf howled, a sound that spoke to Blade on a level so deep he couldn’t explain it, even to Scotty and Mace. And while Stryke and Rade probably understood, he never spoke to either of his brothers about the werewolf part of them, inherited from their mother.
He hadn’t spoken to Stryke about much at all over the last fifteen years, and Rade was…Rade. Getting him to string more than a dozen words together was hard enough when youweren’tdiscussing something private and personal. And Crux hadn’t shown any signs of having any werewolf DNA yet, but neither had Blade, Rade, or Stryke until after their Seminus transitions into maturity.
So, yeah. Blade had dealt with his inner beast alone for his entire life. Sure, he could talk to his mom about it, but she couldn’t understand what it was like on the nights of the full moon, when his blood ran hot, and he was restless and feeling like his skin was shrinking…but he was trapped in his Seminus body and couldn’t do anything about it.
As infants, he and his brothers had been immunized to prevent them from shifting into nightmare beasts with the prey drive of a werewolf but the sex drive of an incubus. Runa couldn’t relate to that, nor could she relate to the psychic connection he had with his brothers—a connection Stryke had broken a long time ago. Recently, he’d repaired the link with Crux and Rade, but Blade had opted out.
He listened to the wolf again, and his hackles rose. The canine was sending out a warning.
Skoll sniffed the air, tension making the tendons in his neck stand out in stark cords. “Do you guys smell that?”
“Smell what?” Scotty asked. But right then, Blade caught a whiff of a familiar metallic tang.
Blade swung around. “Blood. A lot of it.”
“Could be the moose.” Jon’s fingers curled around the hilt of the machete at his hip.
Skoll scowled. “Whatever it is, it’s old. Has a hint of rot.”
Blade caught the stench of decay as the wind shifted, bringing a breeze that also smelled of moss and water.
Skoll checked the map. “We’re out of Nathan’s trap boundary. This way.” He gestured for them to follow, and they crept through the brush, leaving the worn wildlife trail behind them.
They moved slowly and carefully, Skoll in the lead, Scotty and Blade following, and Jon bringing up the rear. The odor grew stronger and more acrid, making Blade’s eyes water. Scotty looked like she was about to gag.
