Page 25 of Rising Reign (The Wolves of Crescent Creek #3)

PUCK

Rage like I’d felt only a handful of times in my life swept through me like a wildfire tearing down a forest. The night I’d realized my brother had betrayed me. Alice, too. When we got that video of Wren, the Death Walkers torturing her. And when Bastian took her.

But this…? Rhys had been a guest in our home. He’d promised to protect Wren. Instead, he’d stood out here as if he were watching an experiment take place. Maybe that was all this was to him. Curiosity.

Not to us. To me. To me, Wren was everything. Savior and peace. Understanding and my ultimate resting place. She was simply…my soul’s missing piece. And Rhys could’ve let her be ripped from this Earth. And for what? To see how good her fighting was?

A snarl tore from my throat, and I charged, launching myself into the air and coming down with a hard right hook to Rhys’s jaw. His head snapped back as Wren yelled at me to stop. A second later, she threw herself at me.

It was a risky play with my wolf this riled, but Birdie was smart as hell. Instead of hitting Rhys with another blow, I caught her in my arms. Her legs went around my waist, her arms around my neck, and she held on for dear life. “Don’t,” she rasped. “It’s not worth it.”

“Isn’t it?” I growled. “He could’ve gotten you killed.”

Rhys moved his jaw back and forth, a cracking sound coming from the bones. “I wouldn’t have let it get that far. But I needed to see where her skills stood.” He let out a huff. “She needs some work.”

Wren dropped from me and stalked toward him. “Work, huh?”

Rhys’s shoulders straightened. “Yes. You need to be more at one with your wolf. She’ll help your reaction time and?—”

Wren’s fist lashed out, lightning-quick, smashing into the other side of Rhys’s jaw.

“Goddamn it!” he howled, clutching his face. “I might be immortal, but that fucking hurt.”

Wren simply grinned. “How’s that for reaction time?”

Rhys scowled at her as he straightened. “I guess I deserved that.”

“Damn right, you did,” I snapped, moving to Wren and wrapping an arm around her. I needed to feel her, each inhale, the beat of her heart. Panic clawed at me. There’d been too many close calls, and I felt like I was holding my sanity together with duct tape and a prayer.

Rhys huffed out a breath. “The enemy has been dispatched, and my visions tell me he was the last of the Death Walkers.” He straightened his jacket. “What an overly dramatic name for a human bike group.”

Wren’s lips twitched. “Bike group?”

“Is that not what they do? Ride around on their little bikes?” Rhys asked.

I let out a grunt. “Bikers. They’re called bikers. And they’re a motorcycle club. ”

“Whatever,” Rhys muttered. “They know nothing of what it means to walk the veil between life and death.”

My eyes narrowed on him. There was something there. Vampires walked that line every day, but this was something more.

“Holy shit,” a new voice muttered. “Clean up on aisle eight.” Juan’s eyes were wide with shock and a bit of awe. He looked at Rhys. “Did you do this?”

Rhys shook his head and gestured to Wren. “The lady here took out the trash.”

Juan’s gaze snapped to Wren as Clyde and Franco moved into the alley behind him. “Dude, you are a badass.”

Wren chuckled. “Thanks?”

“Is that his heart?” Franco asked, looking a little green.

She grimaced. “Sorry. It was necessary.” Her gaze flicked to Rhys. “Doesn’t this bother you? All the blood?”

Rhys shook his head. “I don’t drink human blood.”

My jaw went slack. “At all?”

A muscle fluttered in the vampire’s cheek. “No. Think of it as me being a vegetarian.”

“So, what? You live off bunnies and stuff?” Juan asked.

“Something like that.” Rhys turned to the body. “We need to dispose of this. Any ideas?”

“We got it,” Clyde said, ambling forward. “There’s a fast-moving river a few miles out of town where we can dump him.”

“This is my mess,” Wren began.

“Girlie,” Clyde said, pinning her with a stare. “We said we had your back. Let us have it. Now, get back inside so you gots an alibi.”

I squeezed her shoulder. “It’s not a bad idea.”

It wasn’t just the supernatural world we needed to worry about. If the sheriff got wind of a murder, that could be a whole other sort of trouble. The panic was back, clawing at me. The need to get Wren back onto pack land where I could keep her safe pushed at me.

I did my best to breathe through it, but I couldn’t get myself to let Wren go. Her head tilted back, and she studied me carefully. “Are you okay?”

I jerked my head in a nod. “Fine.”

Little worry lines were carved into the spot between Wren’s brows. “Puck?—”

“Let’s just get through today, okay?”

She was quiet but didn’t look away, her gaze peeling back layer after layer.

I dropped my forehead to hers and breathed in the scent of wildflowers and rain. “We’ve got threats coming from all sides. My wolf’s on edge. And we’re both freaking the fuck out that we won’t be able to protect you.” And there was more. More I wasn’t ready to share. But this was enough. For now.

Wren’s fingers fisted in my shirt. “I’m fine. Look, I protected myself. And we’ll figure the rest out. One thing at a time. As long as we’re together, we can tackle anything.”

I wanted to believe her. More than anything, I wanted to believe that we would all make it through. But I wasn’t so sure she was right.