Page 81 of Contested Crown

There was a box of clothing at my feet, a woman standing a few yards back, wringing her hands. She was wearing a thick sweatshirt, despite the humidity.

“I’m sorry. He’s just an idiot. He’s not an alpha. He’s notouralpha. And they got them on something. The pushers. You know the pushers? They got him on something. Not Reaper. Something new. Thorn.”

Her words tumbled into each other, and I wasn’t sure if that was just her way of speaking or if I had really scared her that much. Then again, I had scared myself. I had shifted without thought, the alpha in me finally back after so long without. It was like falling back into an addiction, telling myself one drink wouldn’t hurt, only to find myself face down in cold vomit, surrounded by empty vodka bottles.

“There’s a thrift store around the corner. People leave stuff there, behind there, for donations. They don’t collect it until the morning. It should be clean.”

I turned, seeing the wolf on the ground clearly for the first time. He’d been drugged out, I had seen that, and still I had reacted like he was a genuine threat. Like he was Jesaiah.

Looking at him now, I realized that my teeth had dug deep. He was still whining, showing submission, the blood pooling under his neck.

Hissing, I crouched down low, stroking my hands across his throat. It should have healed. My teeth had broken skin, but they hadn’t gone deep enough to do real damage, at least not to a wolf.

I brought forward the alpha in me, the part of me that was my mother’s son. “Get up.”

Unsteadily, the wolf got to his feet, eyes red, something wild in them. He shook his head, and I was hit with that sweet scent again.

“We aren’t a threat. Go back to your patch.” I made it a command, smooth and firm, no room for doubt, no room for anything but certainty.

The wolf trotted off, one of his front paws limping. Standing, I ignored my nakedness. “Tell me about Thorn.”

She blinked, looking me over. I was used to nakedness after a shift. Even standing in the middle of the encampment didn’t feel strange. When Cade came close, draping me with a worn sweatshirt, I realized what the woman was staring at. My skin still crawled with tattoos.

I swore silently. As soon as we changed, we would need to move. There were a lot of people looking for a werewolf and a mage traveling together, but if I was wearing Cade’s magic, that was a big, red, flashing sign sayingCade and Miles were hereto anyone who knew the details of consorts.

“Thorn.” She blinked at me blankly. “It’s new. Only been on the streets for a few months. And it only works on werewolves. Michael, you know, he didn’t used to be like this. Now…” She shrugged.

“Where does it come from?” Turning, I glanced at Cade and Summer. “Get changed. We’re leaving now.”

“The usual dealers. They’re all pushing it. If you’re a werewolf, apparently, it gives you magic powers.” She grabbed hold of her elbow, crossing her arms in front of her chest. “I don’t know. I’m not a wolf. From what I see, it makes them stronger, though. A lot stronger.”

“And more aggressive.” I raised an eyebrow at her, and she nodded slowly.

The wolves outside the wedding hadn’t been on Reaper. Neither had the wolves who attacked me and Cade outside the fast-food joint.

Both times, they had taken bizarre risks, going so much further than a pack normally would have to protect its territory.

The usual dealers meant Declan. What was he doing?

That was two drugs that he was developing—Thorn and whatever Leon had given me.

“Here.” Cade handed me a pair of pants, and I pulled them on, the jean fabric dragging across my skin. I was hyperaware of how sensitive my flesh was. What I needed was a cooldown, a calm place to be before I had to come back to my human self. But Cade and I hadn’t had that for months.

“You need to get rid of your underwear too,” I said.

Cade nodded. Out of the corner of my eye, I kept an eye on him as he stripped down, pulling on his clothes so quickly that there was barely a flash of his bare ass before he was wearing new clothes.

Summer didn’t have the same compunction. Instead, she took off all her clothing, then tried on a series of dresses until she found one that she liked. We weren’t as lucky with shoes. The only thing in the box was a pair of Crocs, flip-flops, and worn hiking boots with the soles practically hanging off.

I took the hiking boots, leaving Cade and Summer to fight over the other two pairs.

The woman was still standing, staring at us, although from the way her lids slipped down, I didn’t think she was actually seeing us change. She might not be on Thorn, but she was onsomething.

With the sun coming up, some of the people in the camp started breaking down whatever they had been sleeping in, loading it into grocery carts and backpacks.

It reminded me of the time. How long would it take Phelan to find us? Why weren’t they already here?

I was frowning at the pile of our clothes when Cade came close.