Page 150 of The Wolves of Forest Grove

Jared and I crashed through the door to Grove’s End sopping wet, our bare feet sliding on the polished hardwood in the entryway. He caught my elbow to steady me as the door closed behind us, muting the rushing sound of the downpour outside.

“You made it,” Charity called from the bar, a frosty pint in her hand and a grin on her lips that didn’t reach her eyes. “Clay was about to go looking for you.”

Clay shoved through the swinging doors to the kitchen at the back of the narrow pub with a scowl on his lips. He stalked toward us, scrutinizing gaze passing over first me and then Jared, checking for injury. “Where the fuck have you been?”

A flush warmed my rain-chilled cheeks, and I cleared my throat as I looked away, afraid what Jared and I had been up to in the rain beneath the moon would be written all over my face.

“Sorry, man,” Jared said, not bothering with any real explanation. “Just lost track of time.”

Clay’s scowl only intensified, but he seemed to be willing to let it go for now, we had bigger problems on our plates. I peered around Clay’s hulking form to find Viv sitting two stools down from Charity at the bar, looking into the bottom of an empty shot glass like it might hold all the answers.

“So, what’s this about exactly?” Seth called from the other side of the bar, and I rolled my eyes.

“Who let him back there?” I demanded, though without any mirth.

He shot me a look in reply that told me he knew he was the absolute last person who should be bartending. We’d all be on our asses within the hour if his heavy hands were mixing drinks.

Seth poured another measure of whiskey, the top shelf shit, into Vivian’s shot glass. She nodded mutely before draining it dry.

Better get to it before everyone’s too drunk to hear me.

Even though I was already acutely aware that there wasn’t a single customer in the pub, I did my due diligence checking anyway. I stepped around Clay to peer into the five booths lining the right side of the pub and stood on my tiptoes to see into the kitchen.

There was still another twenty minutes until we’d officially close for the night, but it seemed the rain had kept all the townsfolk away. Good.

“I already sent the others home,” Clay told me, and I spun to find him crossing his arms over his chest. “It’s just us here.”

“‘Kay,” I said, nodding to Jared who was still hovering in the doorway, shaking the rain from his hair and trying to wring the water from the hem of his gray t-shirt. Our clothes had been dry for all of five seconds after we put them on. I was grateful I’d had a dress in the clothing stash near town.

Nothing more uncomfortable than heavy ass wet jeans.

“Lock it,” I told him. “And flip the sign.”

Jared did as I asked him, and I heard Seth whisper something behind me that sounded like, this should be interesting.

I pushed my wet hair back from my face and made my way to the bar, lifting the section of counter to get behind it and kick Seth out.

“Awe, come on,” he complained. “Let me get you a drink, boss.”

“I’ll get it myself,” I muttered, shoving him out to the other side to take the seat between Charity and Vivian. Clay and Jared found seats at the bar, too, filling what remained of the vacant ones.

“Beer?” I asked, and both of them shook their heads no.

“Well, I’m having one.” I sighed and poured myself a pint of the good shit from the local brewery and took a long swig.

“You found something out, didn’t you?” Charity asked, her turquoise eyes boring into me.

Vivian perked up at her words, hazed eyes clearing with the promise of hope.

“Yes and no,” I admitted, earning myself a glare from Clay and Jared. “We have intel about where and when the next attack will be.”

Vivian’s eyes widened, and her mouth opened to speak, but I silenced her with a raised hand.

“I can’t give much information right now. I’m sorry. But this is a chance to find out who is behind our missing brothers and sister. This is a chance for retribution, but I need to know that you’ll help us, and that everything we’re planning stays between us.”

The three of them shared a look before each nodded in turn.

Vivian was the first to speak. “Okay,” she said tensely, shoving away her shot glass. “I don’t care about the details anyway, I just want her back.” Her eyes went glassy with angry tears as her face hardened, upper lip curling back to reveal low-growing fangs. “I want fucking blood.”

“And you’ll have it,” I promised her. “But our first priority is to find out who is orchestrating these attacks and where they are.”

“You know I’m in,” Charity said, licking her lips as though she could already taste the blood of her enemies there.

Seth nodded quietly to himself, all traces of his jokester persona sloughed off for a moment of brutal reality. “It’s my fault she was taken,” he said. “I’ll do whatever it takes to set that right.”

“It’s not—”

“Thank you,” he interrupted. “For letting me try to make it right.”

I sealed my lips shut and nodded back instead of berating him. If it were me, I know I’d feel just as guilty, no matter if the reasoning behind that emotion was sound or not.

“All right,” I decided, glancing at Clay and Jared for confirmation. They each gave the all clear to continue, and I settled myself with a breath before leaning over the bar. “It’ll happen tomorrow night, just before the sun sets.”

“Not going to lie,” Seth whispered. “I feel like a total badass. This is some fall of Troy shit.”

“Yeah and I feel like a damned pin-cushion,” I lobbied back, squirming to get his elbow out of my ribs.

“Quiet back there,” Jared hissed from the front seat. “We’re almost to the location.”

The Jeep veered off the main highway, and the tires slowed as we came onto the road that would eventually lead into Forest Grove. In about three minutes, we’d take a turn onto a side road. The side road Sam thought we were taking to drive a ‘meat order’ as close to pack camp as we could.

If our assumption was correct, they’d want to attack us outside of our territory, which left only a small stretch of side road where that could be possible.

My heartbeat pounded in my chest, sending the sound of blood rushing in my ears.

Someone’s stomach growled noisily, and I heard Charity groan to herself. “Did we really have to cover ourselves in the smell of raw meat? I’m fucking starving. It’s making me want to gnaw off my own arm.”

I suppressed a laugh and gave her a soft kick in the thigh.

We’d all had prime rib for dinner from our hidden stash at Grove’s End, but much like my stomach, Charity’s was bottomless and never really got ‘full.’ “Shut up, Char,” Clay growled, and I could feel his tension and frustration like a fucking spike in my chest. He had it the worst of any of us.

Folded into the narrow space on the floor between the front seats and backseats.

Meanwhile, Charity, Vivian, Seth and I shared the roomy trunk area.

Well, it had seemed roomy anyway, until we had to fit four shifters into it.

Our bodies were little more than a mass of tangled limbs.

I was actually starting to worry we wouldn’t be able to spring out of this bitch as easily as I’d originally planned.

At least Clay had managed to repair the latch at the back so we could actually open it after it was damaged in the last attack.

Once they’d managed to flip it back upright, that seemed to be the only thing that was truly busted aside from the windshield. The white Jeep was almost good as new now, though she’d need a paint job to buff out all the scratches and scuff.

“This is it,” Jared said in a low whisper. “Get ready.”

A fire burned in my blood, the lit match striking the gasoline in my veins. Fuck.

Viv let out a short whine as a popping sound filled the trunk area. She was working hard to keep herself from shifting, but her wolf was winning out.

“Not yet,” I hissed, searching for her hand around Charity’s back. I found it and squeezed her clammy palm tight. “Wait for it.”

She squeezed back, nearly breaking bone, but I didn’t care. We needed to keep hidden until they attacked. If we were found out, they could flee. I’d still fucking catch at least one of them, but call me greedy, I wanted them all.

Please work, I sent a silent plea to the heavens. To the stars who might hear me as they became visible in the rapidly darkening pink and orange sky. Please. Don’t let anyone be hurt.

I closed my eyes, listening carefully over the sound of the tires slowly chewing pavement, surprised when I heard a car approaching from the opposite direction and passing us by.

It was rare to see another vehicle on this road, there being no housing in the area for miles.

It was why I’d chosen it for a decoy. Less chance of human collateral in the fight.

Once I couldn’t hear the other car anymore, my hackles rose and my wolf awakened with a growl that shook behind my ribcage. She could sense them.

“They’re here,” I mouthed to Charity, and she nodded that she understood, setting her jaw.

Seth went still where he was crouched next to me, and I knew that he sensed them too, now.

Why weren’t they attacking?

Vivian’s bruising grip on my hand turned crushing, and I bit down on my tongue to stifle a cry of pain, needing her to keep herself under control more than I needed her to let go.

Come on you fuckers, I thought. Take the bait. Take it!

Scraping paws over dirt. A growl.

Yes.

A force as strong as a fucking wrecking ball barreled into the side of the Jeep, denting in the metal.

Drilling into Seth’s side as the Jeep spun out of control.

I said nothing as I released the latch, stomach in my throat as we swerved off the road and came to a shattering stop against a tree.

The windows rained broken glass over us a second before the latch clicked free and we sprang out.