Page 28 of Bold Mercy

Chapter Fifteen

Rick and Joe were standing in the street, waiting for me. In Rick’s eyes I saw relief follow swiftly by a half-irritated sort of acceptance, but in Joe’s eyes there was only satisfaction.

I couldn’t help but grin to see them both. No, they weren’t wolves, but they were my people. My tribe. And in a few seconds, they both returned my grin, and neither of them shrank from me when I wrapped my arms around them and pulled them into a hug.

“Careful there, boss,” Joe said. “I’ve got a machete.”

I laughed. “Yeah you do.”

Rick pulled back to search my face. “You’re cut up, Kait.”

“I’m okay.” I felt the healing wound pull tightly when I smiled. “I’ll heal.”

He only nodded.

Behind me, Wyatt cleared his throat. “We need to get Brian’s body back to Shadowfield.”

Rick looked at him. “What are you?”

I turned sharply to Wyatt and held my hand out. “Wait—”

“Wolves,” he said. “We are wolves.” And he lifted his chin, straightened his back, and stared the detective down. God, the pride in his fierce wolf stare.

And at that moment, I felt it, too. Rick and Joe were my people, but so were these wolves. Pride shivered through me, and without thinking, without hesitation, I gripped Wyatt’s arm with the hand I’d held out, only seconds before, to stop him.

“Wolves,” I whispered, and finally, I turned to look at the two human men—Joe with his sharp, bloody machete, which he’d lifted to lay across his broad shoulder, and Rick with his suit and his gun and his cold cop eyes.

There wasn’t any surprise in either of their stares.

“Damn, Kaity Bug,” Joe said. “I knew it.”

I laughed, and even I heard the relief, pride, and the tiny, tiny droplet of fear and shame that yet lingered. “You didn’t.”

“Well, no,” he admitted, then shrugged. “I just knew you were special.”

Honestly, that brought tears to my eyes.

Rick said nothing, but he pulled an honest to God handkerchief from his pocket and began swiping at the blood on my face. “Come back inside. I’ll patch you up.”

“Can’t,” Wyatt said, speaking for me. “Neighbors are watching. Someone called the cops. We need to get out of here.”

We all heard the sirens, though who was to say they were coming for us? The city was loud with the sound of sirens and full of constant emergencies. We weren’t going to be high on their priority list. Still, Wyatt was right. We needed to go.

There was a dead wolf who needed returned to his family. And there was a mutant vampire I needed to catch.

Eli strode toward us, dressed in a pair of borrow pants two sizes too small for him. He came straight for me. “Turn your nose up if you must, Kait Silver, but when my alpha gives me an order, I will follow that order to my death.”

I nodded. “I know, Beta.” But I wouldn’t apologize, because his actions meant Avis was still out there, killing people. I didn’t say that, either, because he knew—and he was as angry at his alpha as he was at himself. “You won’t be hunting with me again, though,” I said, instead.

“I’m good with that.”

“The alpha won’t let her hunt alone,” Avery muttered. “He thinks she’s the—”

“Shut your mouth, wolf,” Eli growled.

She shut her mouth.

“Avis fucked you up,” he told me. “Do you want to take time to sh—”