“I appreciate your desire to keep me safe, but I’m never going to be the girl who’ll stay at home and wait by the phone. That’s not in my DNA.”
A couple different emotions slotted over his face-surprise, frustration, alarm. “Fine,” he finally said, “but you’ll be at my side the entire time. Hope you’ll be okay with that.”
“August… ”
“Not up for discussion.”
I growled a little.
“Indulge me, sweetheart. You’ve never attended a duel. These things are ugly. Even if the wolf you’re rooting for wins, they’re ugly.”
I had attended one, but not as a spectator. I didn’t think bringing up my own trials again would help ease August’s mood, so I kept quiet. Besides, I didn’t hate the idea of being at his side.
We drove to the inn in August’s truck. I let Jeb sit up front, content to have the backseat to myself. As we rolled up the road to the inn, I intermittently texted Sarah and stared out the window at the sun-soaked mountains. She was confident her uncle would demolish the Creek Alpha. I hoped she was right.
“I’ve never seen so many cars.” Jeb stared at the ocean of parked cars unfurling like a multi-colored wave down the sloping driveway.
Even though he was hyper-probably jacked-up on coffee and stress-I worried coming here would be tough on him. Especially if his ex-wife was in the vicinity, fawning over Aidan Michaels. I really hoped Lucy wouldn’t show her face. For Jeb’s sake, and for mine. Could she not see what a vile man Aidan was? Could she not spy the dried blood of her son underneath the hunter’s-the Creek’s-buffed fingernails? Sure, he hadn’t confessed to Everest’s murder, but I sensed with every fiber of my being that Aidan had had a hand in it. After all, the inn would still be Clark-owned if Everest were alive. Which would’ve been a heck of lot less convenient to host Aidan’s extended family.
“You heard Aidan Michaels is a wolf,” I told Jeb as I got out of the car.
“I heard. I still can’t believe it. The quantity of Sillin he must’ve ingested to keep his scent in check… ” He shook his head, which ruffled his already mussed-up blond-gray hair. I’d never seen him so unkempt.
August came around the car, hands in his pockets, probably to keep them off my body. Even though I’d promised to stay close, I’d begged him not to touch me. Touching would give us away. Maybe our scents already did.
My uncle’s red-tinged gaze kept flitting from place to place without ever settling. “He probably can’t shift anymore. Or if he can, he must be one hell of an ugly bastard. One of those halfwolves. The only good part about him being a wolf is that now you can end him.”
August came to an abrupt halt. “End him?”
One of Jeb’s eyebrows shot up while the other slanted downward. “Don’t you want Callum’s murder avenged, August?”
“Of course I do.”
My uncle dropped his voice to a mere whisper. “Ness should use the duel as a diversion to slit his throat.”
“Do you care about your niece?” August barked, jerking on the tether to bring me closer to him.
“Excuse me?” Jeb asked.
“If you cared about her, you wouldn’t incite her to do something so incredibly reckless.”
“Reckless?” Jeb blurted out. “Blood killings are allowed! Encouraged, even.”
“Perhaps, but advising her to attack the man during an Alpha duel? You and I both know how that could finish.” August was growling now.
“It could finish with my brother getting peace, that’s how it could finish.” A vein ticked hectically in my uncle’s temple.
“Why don’t you slit the asshole’s throat yourself, then?” August bit out.
Ping.
“Because I plan on slitting another man’s throat today.”
“Whose?” I asked.
“Alex Morgan’s.”
“Cassandra’s son?” I asked.
He nodded. “I spent the better half of last night contemplating the little shifter’s face through the silver grate. If Eric hadn’t kept me in check, the boy would be dead this morning.” On top of looking like he was hopped-up on drugs, my uncle sounded like it.
“Is Alex here?” I gestured to the inn.
“He’ll be here later.” Jeb dropped his voice and took a step closer to us. “Liam’s bringing him to barter in case… in case Julian isn’t successful.”
“Barter against what?” August asked.
“The Creeks’s immediate departure from Boulder,” he whispered loudly. “If she doesn’t accept Liam’s terms, then I get to kill the son-of-a-bitch.” Waves of anger and bloodlust pulsed off my uncle.
I glanced up at August, worried today would turn into absolute carnage, and his expression mirrored mine.
Jeb checked his wristwatch. “Twenty minutes to go.” His eyes sparked. “Twenty minutes.” He rubbed his palms together gleefully before prancing ahead of us. “I’m going to go find myself a front row seat.”
For a while, neither August nor I spoke. We just watched my uncle’s form vanish into the entrails of his former inn.
“Well, well, well. What do we have here?” came a voice I hadn’t heard in a long time. A voice I hadn’t missed at all.
August inspected my face slowly before he turned around even slower. He stepped in front of me, barring me from Justin Summix’s view.
“If it isn’t G. I. Watt.” Justin was chewing on a piece of gum, which made him look more bovine than lupine. Like at the music festival, he was flanked by his two cronies. “Heard you were dishonorably discharged.”
“Is there a reason you’re trying to provoke me, Justin, or do you simply get a kick out of being a world-class prick?” August asked, his voice stretched as taut as a rubber band.
Justin smiled before starting back up on his loud mastication. He craned his neck to the side to look at me. I wasn’t hiding behind August. I just had no desire to look at the sleazy Pine.
“Guess I had you pegged right the first time we met, huh?” Justin blew out a bubble that smacked against his crooked mouth.
“Choke on your gum, Justin,” I spat out.
He smirked, and so did his two friends. One of them cracked his knuckles while the other just leered at me.
“How does it work?” Justin continued. “Do you take them one at time or all at once?”
That was it. I lunged around August, but he tugged so hard on the tether I flailed backward, whacking against his chest. A second later, Justin was dangling in midair, sputtering. Either August was squeezing his neck too tight or the gum had gone down the wrong hole.
“Apologize. Now,” August growled.
“Landon,” Justin wheezed, his face beginning to turn purple.