O
f course, the damn bird was flying back toward the boat, probably to alert the people on board that everyone was dead. There was no way we could beat him to it.
But dammit, we had to try. I howled and took off in the direction of the river once more, Griffin, Killian, and the guard right behind me.
I kept my eyes forward, refusing to glance at the bodies as I passed. So much death and destruction, and it was all because of me. If I’d gone willingly, would this have turned out differently? I had to push those thoughts aside. Focus on the here and now.
Within seconds, I passed through the trees, and the river came into view. I stepped into puddles of what could only be blood, the metallic scent confirming my suspicions.
But I powered through.
The three wolves behind me panted, trying to keep up, but I couldn’t slow. If I wanted to have a chance at catching the people on the boat, we had to get there fast.
A loud caw sounded again, closer than I expected. It was a call of fear and desperation. I glanced skyward only to see the crow fly over our heads back in the direction we’d come from.
What the hell would have caused that?
Large wings whooshed behind me, answering my question. I glanced over my shoulder, surprised to find Rosemary landing a few feet away.
Blood covered her arms, and the shoulder of her shirt was ripped. “The shifters on the boat are dead.” She nodded in the direction of the water. “I figured I could take them out while the rest of you focused on saving your men and yourselves.”
I couldn’t speak to her in this form to tell her I was grateful. All I could do was nod. Even though I hated that the bird got away, at least the boat hadn’t managed to leave.
“Why don’t you four go back and shift to human so you can get more help to clean up the bodies?” Rosemary said with authority. “I’ll meet you at the house in a few minutes.”
Normally, being told what to do would irritate me, but after the way she’d helped us and all of the fighting, shifting back and regrouping sounded nice. We needed to take care of our dead and figure out our next moves, but for the moment, we didn’t have to worry about another attack.
I turned around and found Griffin waiting for me and Killian and the guard trotting off together, leaving the two of us to head back alone.
My heart warmed and welcomed the sensation of the tug. For a minute there, I thought I’d never have the chance to walk beside him again. I hurried to him, not wanting to stay out here another second.
STEPPING out of the shower was one of the hardest things I’d had to do. Between needing to wash the blood from my body, the deaths I had caused, and just being sore from not training as I should have, all I wanted to do was stay in the warm spray of water.
But that wasn’t an option because of a certain dark angel pacing the living room.
“What the hell is taking her so long?” Rosemary complained. “When she said she was taking a shower, I didn’t think I’d be stuck out here with you two idiots for this long.”
“First off, this is my house,” Killian growled. “And second, she’s been in there five minutes. Give her a break.”
Ugh, maybe I should turn the water back on. She seemed to be in a mood.
Granted, she was always kind of like this, so I shouldn’t have been surprised. I quickly dried and got dressed.
“Do you know what I risked by helping you fight those wolves?” Rosemary’s tone grew angry. “If that jackass Azbogah learns what I did, he’ll give my parents hell. I risked a lot-”
Griffin’s anger was palpable as he said, “The water has turned off, so you can slow down. No one asked you to help, so don’t come in here, demanding certain things. If my mate-” “Your mate?” Rosemary snorted. “Are you kidding me? This gets better and better.” “What’s so funny about that?” Griffin rasped.
“You don’t even want to be alpha, and now you’re mated to a wolf like her.” She sighed. “Can you get any luckier?”
Inhaling sharply, I quickly dressed in the jeans and shirt I’d worn the day when Killian found me. I’d been avoiding wearing these clothes, but after destroying the new ones, I didn’t have much choice. I opened the door and strolled into the living room.
I straightened my shoulders and stared the angel down. “Thank you for fighting alongside us and helping, but you don’t get to come in here and treat us like we’re worthless.” She and I had a very odd relationship, to say the least. I didn’t dislike her, but she was abrasive and rash.
“See, that’s why I like you.” Rosemary turned her back on Killian and Griffin. “You get straight to the point without trying to prove you have a dick.”
A smile broke through my face. “It’s kind of hard to prove I have one when the appendage is missing.”
“It makes things easier that way.” Rosemary laughed.
“Uh… what’s happening?” Killian asked Griffin.
“No clue, man.” Griffin shook his head as he walked over to me and took my hand. “But her being nice is kind of freaking me out.”
“And they wonder why I don’t want to bother talking to them.” She shook her head. “But I’m assuming they’re kind of a package deal?”
“Yeah, they are.” I stepped closer to Griffin, needing to feel him. “So how did you know we were in trouble?”