Chapter 12 #2
“He said he was the shifter god. How is it possible there are two?” The man shakes his head. “You shouldn’t exist.”
He takes a threatening step toward Greyson and magic lightning shoots from my palm and hits the ground directly in front of his feet. Startled, he jumps back and glares at me.
“What are you people?” he snarls.
“That’s none of your concern. Tell us where this so-called shifter god is hiding.
He’s not a fucking god and telling people he is one is a good way to have Artemis cursing his ass.
” I raise a hand when he takes another step.
“Are you stupid, or do you want to feel the full force of my magic electrocuting you?”
“Artemis? The Greek goddess of the hunt? She’s a myth. She’s not real. You’re insane,” the man growls.
“It’s a good thing for you she’s in the middle of something right now or she would show you how very real she is.” I smirk. “Look, we need to know where your boss is. He was dosed with something dangerous, and he needs to be contained before he hurts anyone else.”
Greyson turns and pads behind a tree and comes back a moment later in his human form, thankfully covered from the waist down. He crosses his arms over his chest and glares at the guy.
“Is your boss bigger than me?” Greyson asks.
“No,” the guy admits. “How are you so powerful?”
“Um, Greyson. I don’t think telling him that is a great idea. It could make things worse.” I step forward, magic still crackling across my palms in case the guy does something stupid.
“Agreed, Beth. I don’t plan to give them any ideas.” Greyson steps between me and the shifter. “Tell me where he is.”
The command in Greyson’s tone even has me flinching.
His dominance over the wolves has grown even greater.
If we tell this guy how Greyson is so powerful, Derek will go looking for ways to grow even stronger.
That puts all of us who have been exposed to it repeatedly in danger. He will want our blood.
“I’m loyal to the true shifter god. I will never tell his secrets.”
“You mean Derek? He wasn’t even chosen to be a beta in his old pack. He had to resort to recruiting rogues just to be an alpha. He’s nothing special. Just in the wrong place at the wrong time and capitalized on the situation.” I ease around Greyson to stare down the shifter.
“You lie,” he says. “How would you know anything about this?”
“Seriously? We were the ones who ordered his capture. What he got into isn’t something anyone should know about and especially not an angry wolf with a chip on his shoulder. It’s dangerous and about to start a war that could out you all to humans and then where will we all be?”
“The war will never reach the humans. He swore that he can keep them from seeing his power. He is a god after all.”
“Wow, he has fully drank the Kool-Aid,” I say with a sigh. “I don’t have time for this. I have my own war to fight. What do you want to do with him, Alpha?”
“He won’t be of any use to us as brainwashed as he is. I have two wolves nearby on patrol to escort him out of my territory. If I ever see you in my state again, rogue, it will be a death sentence. My friends here have an aversion to killing so you get a pass, this time.”
“She didn’t appear to care who she killed when she electrocuted Michael,” the man roars.
“Michael couldn’t be allowed to live after what he did to me.” I shrug but inside I’m screaming at myself for the callousness of those words.
I can’t let him know that the shifter could have been dosed the same way as Derek. If the shifter knew it was possible to use my blood to change him further, he would be hunting for me. I glance at Raven, and she nods her understanding.
“That’s all the explanation you need after attacking us in the first place.” Raven sheaths her swords, sending them into the ether. “C’mon, B. Let’s head back to the SUV and make sure Kira and Draven are okay.”
“Yeah.” I loop my arm through hers and turn my back on the brainwashed shifter. “That sucked.”
“How’s your back?” Raven asks.
“Almost all the way healed now, but I still have blood on me so I wouldn’t touch it if I were you.”
“We don’t even know if your blood will change anyone,” she says.
“That’s what makes what I did so hard. But if there was even a possibility of another rogue becoming what Derek did, then I had to stop it.” I hang my head. “I didn’t want to have to kill anyone.”
“We were attacked. They knew the possibilities when they decided to try to ambush us. They took that risk on purpose. We didn’t.”
“I guess, it doesn’t make it hurt any less, though.” I run a hand down my face.
“Beth, Raven?” Kira calls not far away. “Are you guys okay? We heard an awful noise.”
“Um, how about we don’t talk about that. It’s a little too fresh in our minds.” Raven glances at me.
“Oh,” Kira says and moves to hug me, but I raise a hand.
“Maybe after I clean my blood off my back, yeah?” I point to the ripped fabric over my shoulder.
“There’s no way you’re reaching that, B. Let me help you.” Raven tugs my arm to the back of the SUV. “It’s gonna be okay. It was us or them and the risks were too great to let him go.”
“I know.” I squeeze my eyes shut and tilt my head toward the sun.
Cool water drips down my back as Raven rinses the blood from my body. The shirt isn’t salvageable and Kira rounds the SUV to hand me a new one. At this rate I’m not going to have any clothes left when we get to the hammer.
I hiss out a breath, my back stinging as I pull the shirt over my head.
“Did anyone try to attack the SUV?” I ask.
“No, I think they just went after you guys. The target was probably the alpha, but they didn’t realize we were with him. Hopefully they think twice about attacking them again in the future.” Kira shrugs.
“I wouldn’t put my money on that. I think all we did was make the situation worse by telling that guy about Derek.” I stomp around to the side of the SUV.
“What do you mean?”
“He saw Greyson’s wolf and he knows we weren’t telling him everything. This could be a problem for all of us if they figure that out. We could have way more issues with the rogues than we ever bargained for.” I pull the door to the SUV open.
“You and Jayden are the only ones who have been affected enough for it to be an issue, though,” Raven says, leaning against the doorframe.
“They don’t know that, and I fear if they put the pieces together, they could come for us all.”