“Levi,” Rainier whispered. “We’re in a bad way here.”
Finally tearing my eyes from this Carlton person, I glanced at my friend, then froze. A dozen other men had emerged from the forest all around us, oozing out like oil squeezed from a dirty rag. Shit. I could take half of them for sure, but Rainier couldn’t. He wasn’t nearly as strong as I was. Best case, he could take out three or four, and if by some miracle wedidfight our way through, we were only a hundred yards from their camp. One shout, and dozens would come running. We were trapped.
Carlton must have seen that realization dawning in my eyes. His smile grew wider.
“Yup. You ought to listen to your right-hand man,” he said, pointing at Rainier.
“How’d you know we were here?” I asked through clenched teeth. My jaw refused to unclench.
Another man, maybe twenty years old, stepped up and waved. “You aren’t the only ones who know how to hunt downwind.”
“You did good, Patrick. You didrealgood,” Carlton said and pointed at the young man with his thumb. “Young, but our best tracker. He’s the eagle eye that’s been watching your little enclave down there the last few days. Spotted you and your pal headed our way. Trailed you the whole way.” Carlton shook his head in wonder. “Came and told me what was up about ten minutes ago. You’re good, Demon Wolf, but you ain’t norealdemon. No hellfire and brimstone magic to keep you one step ahead.”
“I want to see your goddamn alpha,” I said, taking a step forward. “Now.”
The smile slid off Carlton’s face, and the men around us moved in a few feet.
“Easy there, dickwad,” Carlton said, eyeing me warily. “My boys are touchy, ya see? Don’t like strangers rolling up on us all unwelcome-like, you dig?”
“We dig,” Rainier said, still looking warily at all the other men, obviously trying to figure a way out of here. I’d already come to the conclusion that there was none. “We only came to talk,” Rainier went on. “Talk to your alpha. Meet him, discuss some stuff, and then he and Leviathan can work out a deal.”
Carlton’s eyes glimmered brighter than ever, as though Rainier had told a joke. The other men let out a low chorus of snickers that only proved to irritate and anger my wolf more. It was all I could do to hold him in control.
“Well?” I said. “Are you going to take me to the alpha? Or bring him here, for all I care. A meeting in the woods works for me.”
The beta glanced from me to Rainier, and then around at his men, eventually nodding to someone behind us.
“That’ll be fine,” Carlton said. “The alpha has been wanting to talk to you anyway. This little meeting was bound to happen sooner or later. Alan, Rick, escort our friends to the camp.”
Two hulking men stepped forward and grabbed our arms. I growled at the one holding me, my wolf sending me mental images of what this man would look like when we’d torn him open.
The man holding me put his lips to my ear, and I could smell the awful stench of peanut butter on his breath. “Give me a reason,Demon Wolf,” he sneered, mocking the nickname the area packs had given me over the years. “You can still talk to the alpha even if both your eyes are swollen shut.”
Reluctantly, I relented, allowing him to guide me onward. The other shifter shoved Rainier forward. My friend and I exchanged a look as we went. He didn’t have the look of a helpless sacrifice, which was good. As long as we were breathing, there was still a chance we could talk or fight our way out. If it came down to it, I’d sacrifice myself to ensure Rainier got away. He could warn everyone and prepare to retreat or defend.
“I can hear you thinking, Demon Wolf,” Carlton said, calling over his shoulder as we walked. “Y’all ain’t going nowhere, and that’s a fact. Not unless we want you to.”
The man wasn’t psychic, but it was still unnerving to have my thoughts called out like that. Though, whatelsewould we be thinking at that moment?
As we exited the forest into the encampment, the sheer number of shifters here startled me. Down here, there looked to be even more than I’d estimated from above. Every man—for that was all that made up Red Maw—glared at us as we passed. With their eyes boring into us, I felt like a prisoner on display, walking the final hallway to the electric chair.
Carlton led us to the largest of the tents and stepped aside, taking up his spot beside the flap of a door.
“Boss? We got ’em. Mister Leviathan here wants a word with you,” Carlton called through the doorway.
The men holding us tightened their grips on our arms, obviously assuming we’d try to attack the alpha as soon as he stepped out. There was no need for that, though. As soon as the flap moved aside and the alpha walked out, I had no fight left in me. Hell, my knees buckled, and it was all I could do to stay upright.
“What the…” Rainier muttered beside me, as surprised as I was.
A woman stood before us. She looked to be in her thirties, pretty but in a hard way, a faint scar running along the bottom of her chin. The only thing that marred her beauty. Her hair was cut close in a short pixie cut, the strands pale enough it could have almost passed for white rather than the blonde that it was. She put her hands on her hips. The muscles in her arms bunched, showing strength and power that belied her femininity that she exuded.
“Welcome, Leviathan Cross.” Her voice was deep for a woman but smooth and calm, with a faint musical lilt. “My name is Desdemona. I’m the alpha of Red Maw.”
“But…you’re a woman,” Rainier said lamely.
“Very astute of you,” she said, turning a sarcastic smile upon Rainier. “You didn’t even have to look up my skirt to tell for sure.”
Rainier blushed and averted his eyes. Female alphas weren’ttotallyunheard of, but they were somewhat rare. The thing that madethisthe most surprising was that the Red Maw was a pack made up entirely of men—at least, that’s what I’d thought until now. The thought that this woman had bested every man in this pack was shocking. Impressive? Yes, but still astounding. Several of the men standing around us dwarfed her.
