19. Callum
CALLUM
“Anything?” The scent I tracked led nowhere, but any hope Jet found something dies when he shakes his head.
“No.” He wipes rain out of his eyes. “I followed it through the forest to the road about a mile further down. And then nothing.”
“Fuck.” I knew it was a long shot. Birch isn’t stupid enough to hang around injured, but I was hoping we’d get lucky.
“Beth?”
“Not back yet. But if you followed it to the road, then I’m guessing he’d stashed a bike there or someone picked him up.”
Jet grunts in agreement. When he doesn’t say anything else, I glance up to find him watching me with a soft look on his face that shocks me more than if he’d shifted. “I’m sorry,” he says quietly. “About Ash.”
It takes me a second to answer, because Jet rarely shows this side of himself.
“Thank you.” I inject as much sincerity as I can, because I mean it with all my heart.
“I should’ve told him,” I add. Saying it changes nothing, but I can’t seem to stop.
“Before we—” I don’t finish that sentence, but I don’t need to.
He steps closer and grips my shoulder. “You can’t change the past, Cal. And regret will eat you alive if you let it.” The smile he sends me is so bittersweet, my heart hurts for him. “Ask me how I know.”
I pull him into a hug, ignoring his protests, because instinct tells me I’m not the only one who needs it.
When he melts into me after two seconds of holding himself stiff, I know I was right.
He smells of pack, of family, and I close my eyes and breathe him in, trying to make his words stick.
I can’t change what’s already happened between me and Ash, as desperate as I am to go back in time and make different choices.
It’s done.
He’ll either forgive me or he won’t.
I can’t force him.
But if he lets me, I’ll work as hard as I need to earn it.
We don’t need any more words, and by the time Jet gently pulls out of my embrace, the softness is gone and his scowl is back in place.
“Beth,” he murmurs, senses sharper than mine, and a couple of seconds later, I catch her scent.
She heads towards us through the trees on silent feet, looking murderous.
Leaves cling to her hair, her clothes are torn in places, and as she gets closer, both Jet and I snarl.
She smells of Feral Beasts.
She’s also covered in bruises and her shoulder looks wrong.
“I’m all right.” She holds a hand up as we rush to her side. “I just need one of you to—” She points to her shoulder and winces. “—pop this back in for me.”
Before I can offer, Jet strides over, grabs her arm, and puts it back where it should be.
Beth cries out, eyes wide with pain, then she turns and snarls at Jet. “A little warning might’ve been nice.”
He snaps his teeth at her. “Then it would’ve hurt more.”
From the look on her face, I doubt that, but that’s not important right now. “What happened?”
“Birch’s trail ran cold about forty feet into the trees, but I caught a whiff of FBs, so I followed it.”
“You should’ve called for us,” I grumble, and she gives me an unimpressed look.
“I can handle a few Feral Beasts.”
“I don’t doubt it, but you still should’ve called for backup. It’s not just FBs we need to worry about.” She’s aware of Lynx’s new rules, and I happen to agree with him.
She huffs, but it’s short-lived. “Yeah, okay. Won’t happen again.”
I inspect her closely now she’s in front of us. The bruises on her face are already healing, her shoulder won’t be far behind, and there are no other injuries as far as I can see.
“I’m all right,” she repeats, softer this time. “There were only two.”
I smirk. “Are they still alive?”
“Yes, unfortunately. They managed to get on their bikes before I could finish them. But they’ll take a while to heal.” She picks a few leaves out of her hair. “I didn’t scent Birch on them, though. I don’t know if they were out looking for him or if it was coincidence.”
“I’m not a big believer in coincidence.” I turn to Jet. “Was there much blood your way?”
“To start with, yes, but it got considerably less the closer I got to the road.”
“So he’s not injured enough to need to lie
low for a bit.” That’s a shame.
Jet shrugs. “Probably not.”
I glance around the forest, debating our next move. Birch is probably long gone by now and I don’t think we’re going to find anything else out here. “Come on, let’s head home.”
Lynx is waiting for us when we ride into the compound, along with Morgan and Mal. His emotions are locked down tight, but I can read him far better than most people.
He’s agitated.
“We need a meet with the FBs.” He doesn’t even wait for me to get off my bike. “It’s no fucking coincidence that Birch ran into the road the exact moment Ash drove by or that the police just happened to be so close.” He looks at me. “Morgan says neither of you called them. Did Ash?”
“I don’t think so.”
“Then who the fuck did?” He starts to pace. “And why were FBs in the forest so near our borders?” He narrows his eyes at Beth.
She huffs. “I’m okay.”
His grin is feral. “I know you are. I’m just wondering why you left them alive.”
“They ran off before I could do any real damage.”
He looks to me. “You think they knew Birch was there?”
I tilt my hand back and forth. “Maybe. I think they’re looking for him, though. And judging by the fact he didn’t wait around, I’m guessing he doesn’t want to be found.”
“He sold them out to Fox,” Mal interjects. “Pretty sure I’d want to kill him too.”
“Maybe he did, but they all went along with it.” Whether they agreed with Birch’s deal with Evan Fox or not, no one tried to put a stop to it. “They’re as guilty as he is.”
“Agreed.” Lynx snarls. “But I still want to meet with them. Find out what they know.”
I scoff. “You think they’ll share information?”
They’d rather set us on fire.
Lynx laughs. “Fuck no, but we can get our information other ways. You know Birch doesn’t give a shit about teaching his pack to mask their emotions. We just need to ask the right questions.”
“I’ll try and set it up for tomorrow, then?” It’s the last thing I want to do, but the idea that Birch crashed into Ash’s car on purpose has my wolf dangerously close to the surface, testing my control.
Lynx frowns. “Isn’t Grey coming here tomorrow?”
“Shit. I forgot.”
“Understandable.” His expression softens, but I don’t want that, not with everyone here.
“Day after then?” I give him a look, which he has no trouble reading, and the softness disappears. “It’s longer than I’d like to leave it, but we can’t risk the FBs knowing we’re meeting up with Grey.”
“And in the meantime?” Jet asks. “We still hunting Birch?”
I bite my tongue on the yes. It’s not my call.
“Yes,” Lynx says, and my fists uncurl. “But not you. I still want you, Mal, and Flint watching Morgan’s old house. See if Birch makes another appearance.”
“And if he does?”
Lynx snarls. “Kill him.”
“What about me?” Beth raises her eyebrows. “Back to the garage?”
“Nope.” Lynx grins at her, all teeth. “You get to go hunting.”
“On my own?”
“No. Take someone with you, your choice. No one on their own.”
She nods and jogs off towards the house. Jet follows her, leaving me, Lynx, and Morgan, and I can’t contain it any longer.
“How was he?”
Morgan sighs. “Angry, hurt . . .” He holds out his hands. “We betrayed his trust. It’ll take a while to get over that.”
“Yeah.”
He doesn’t offer anything else and I don’t ask.
“I’ve got a lesson with Luke and Nico, so I’ll see you later.” He turns and heads off.
“Lesson?” I ask when he’s out of earshot.
Lynx smiles. “Luke’s teaching Nico shifter basics while we’re all otherwise occupied. He asked if Morgan wanted to join, and I thought it’d be a good thing. Morgan thought so too. Nico’s already comfortable with both of them, so I encouraged them to do it.”
I match his smile, and for the first time since Ash arrived this morning, it’s not forced. “It is a good thing.”
He steps closer and nudges my shoulder. “What about you?”
“What about me?”
“Don’t.”
I focus on the ground for a moment, moving dirt about with the toe of my boot. “It’s hard not to wonder how this would’ve gone if I’d told him last night before we . . .” I glance at him and he gives me a hard look.
“Maybe exactly the same; maybe not. The point is it doesn’t matter.”
My lip curls, but Lynx doesn’t back down.
“You can’t live in regret, Cal. It helps no one, least of all you.”
I hate that he’s right. “You sound like Jet.”
His expression softens ever so slightly. “That’s because I’ve said the same thing to him when he needed it.”
“Fuck.” I rub a hand over my face, forcing myself to accept the truth: it’s out of my control. I said my piece to Ash, told him how I felt. It’s up to him now.
And yeah, that’s exactly as comforting as I knew it would be.
“Come on.” Lynx jogs towards the trees. “Let’s run.”
It’s not an order, but I follow him anyway because I always will.
It’s dark by the time I relieve Ren from his post. I move silently through the trees at the back of Ash’s converted garage, scenting the air for unexpected visitors. Nothing stands out, but I don’t relax.
There’s been no sign of Birch.
He’s still out there somewhere and I can’t afford to be complacent. Running Ash off the road wasn’t an accident. The more I go over it in my mind, the more certain I am.
I lean against the nearest tree and close my eyes, letting my other senses take over. The night is quiet, the sounds of the woods the only thing my ears pick up.
I inhale long and deep, holding it in my lungs. There are traces of Ash and his family on the breeze and I greedily breathe them in. It’s only been a matter of hours, but I already miss the rich forest scent of him, the faint tang of his citrus shower gel, and the warmth of his body against mine.
I miss the way he looked at me when I crawled into his bed at night, like I was important, like we could be something more.
I miss him.
It hurts to know he’s so close, that only a door separates us—one I could easily get through without the key I gave back to him—but that I’m no longer welcome inside. But there’s no way I’m handing this watch over to anyone else.