Once she was out of sight, my temper faded, leaving me simply angry and shaken by the interaction.
“Hey, June?” Bradley said, as he tramped back through the woods toward me. “Uh, are you staying out here? I can hang around, if so.”
“No,” I hissed through gritted teeth. “I’m not.”
I began the walk back, doing all I could to put Eugenia out of my mind. I’d be damned if I asked her for anything. The party would have to go on with whatever food we had. Who needed a big hunk of meat, anyway? Hors d’oeuvres and snacks and salads would have to do.
34
LEVIATHAN
Exhausted, sore, and in poor moods, Rainier and I finally crested the last hill leading back home. From the top, I should see the thin streams of smoke from the chimneys of Hidden Grove. The sun was nearly down, turning the sky a peculiar milky white, and the air had grown frigid once more.
“There it is,” Rainier said. “Home sweet home.”
“Yeah. For now,” I grumbled.
“What are the odds Desdemonareallytries something?”
I stared out at Hidden Grove, contemplating his question as we walked. We’d spent almost a full day running halfway around the forest because I didn’t want one of her people following us, but that only served to keep us safe on the trip back. There was no way to stop the Red Maw from creeping closer and closer. What was to stop her? Rainier and I had seen her pack. All hardened men. At least a dozen of them, if not more, had the alpha scent on them. Men who had been defeated for leadership of their own packs and went into hiding, maybe? It didn’t matter. Those numbers would overwhelm us in a day if Desdemona truly wanted to push the issue.
“I don’t know,” I finally said.
Rainier tugged a stick of beef jerky from his jeans pocket and tore a hunk off.
“What do you think her plan is? I don’t mean for us, I mean foreverything,” he said, chewing his small bit of food. “I don’t believe for a second all she wants is to create some utopia here in the forest. You saw her. That look in her eyes? She’s hungry for power.”
“Right,” I grunted. “She wants our numbers. If I had to guess, the endgame is maybe a hostile takeover of an established pack. One with anactualtown and connections to the outside world, trade with other shifters and humans, all of that. We have infrastructure, they don’t. We’re closer to the rest of shifter civilization too. They want to legitimize themselves by taking what we have.” I hesitated, then added, “It’s what I would do.”
“Damn,” Rainier said, shaking his head. “This is some bullshit.”
“I know. I’ve got to think about it and figure out what to do. But the pack needs to know.”
Rainier almost stumbled to a stop as he turned and looked at me like I’d lost my mind. “You’re gonna tell everyone that the Red Maw pack wants to take us over? That will cause panic, man.”
I shook my head. “I trust my people. I’ll make sure they understand the situation, and the dangers. If nothing else, it’ll make everyone even more cautious, and they’ll all keep their eyes and ears open. It’s gonna be fine. There will be fear and questions, but I have no doubt we’ll pull together.”
Rainier whistled appreciatively. “I guess this is why you’re the alpha. Better you than me. Shit stresses me out thinking about it. Jerky?” he said, offering me another piece from his pocket.
I shook my head. “Not hungry. Have you had that in your pocket this whole time?” I grimaced, thinking about how many miles we’d traveled in the last two days.
“Yeah. Why?”
“No reason.” I pushed aside a fan of thin tree limbs, stepping out into the narrow clearing that marked the edge of the north side of Hidden Grove. With a sigh of relief, I took in my home.
“I’m going to head to my place and sleep for about four days,” Rainier said. “Unless you need me for something else?”
“Can you speak to the people who’ve been patrolling? Make sure they’re even more locked in than before? I want patrols happening constantly. Make sure they know we found tracks right outside town.”
“Okay. I’ll find them and let them know.ThenI’m sleeping for four days.”
“Deal,” I said, chuckling despite myself.
Rainier shifted and padded off to find our men, and I turned to walk to my cabin. As I walked, I wondered what I’d tell June. That question grew more pressing and urgent when I rounded a corner and found her sitting on my front porch looking more pissed off than I’d ever seen her before.
At the sight of her face—angry or not—I breathed a sigh of relief and happiness. A warm ache filled my chest, pushing out the cold that had begun to seep into me. When June looked up, her eyes went wide.
“Levi?” She leaped up, sprinting to meet me.
