Page 96 of Silver Claw

“Werewolf,” I said.

He laughed again. “Such contempt! Like you’re better than a lowly werewolf. But who has the magic, sweetheart?Ido.”

“So that’s why you’ve been hiding,” I said. “Waiting for the moon to give you courage.”

He didn’t take the bait. “Now, honey, I need to tell you something about Moreno. There’s a limited time when I can pull him out of his comfy sleep. The full moon giveth, and the full moon taketh away. I have only a few hours to fix what I broke.”

I pressed my palm against my chest. “What do you want for waking him up, Voss?”

“It’s simple, girlie. I want to do something fun before I head back to my city. Something fun withyou. I crave the challenge of you. I want to hunt you, but not while you’re cowering behind your alpha or the walls of his house. I want to hunt you in the place you think of as your territory—Silverwood. In the end, I’m going to catch you, and we’ll fight before I break you like a wild horse. When I’m done playing, I’ll either take you back to Colorado with me or I’ll leave you lying on the bloody ground crying for your mommy. But I’ll wake your boy up before dawn. I swear it. That sound fair?”

“Fair,” I said. “Does that soundfair.”

“I had to hold someone hostage so you wouldn’t keep hiding like a scared cat, and I needed a way to get you motivated to run. Did I find the way, Kait?”

I looked at Jared. I could feel his rage, his fury. He wanted Voss, but Voss wasn’t easy to find when he didn’t want to be found. Which made me wonder…

“Why can’t we track you? Satisfy my curiosity and then I’ll make up my mind about playing your sick little game.”

One of Jared’s wolves pulled up behind us in my car, then got out and loped away.

“I can change my scent,” Voss said. “I can hide it, warp it, make it stronger…whatever I want. It’s mine, after all. You can’t hunt me.I’mthe hunter. You’re the prey. Whether or not I catch you before dawn, the game is over. I’ll fix your detective and head home.”

He didn’t seem to even entertain the notion that he would be dead before he left Huntersburg. It dawned on me then that the name of my little town was quite appropriate for the hunt that was about to take place there.

And maybe it wasn’t a coincidence.

“Voss,” Jared said, “you’re never going back to Colorado.”

“Oh ho,” Voss yelled. “He speaks! Welcome to the party, J! It makes me happy to think about you sitting home while your girl is out here with me. Oh, and another special thing about my power. I don’t have to be physically next to Rick now that I’ve touched him. I can free him from afar. And this is the part I want you all to pay close attention to. I can cure him from afar, and I can kill him from afar. I’m holding his life in my hands. If I die before I free him, he dies as well. You paying attention, Jared?” He lowered his voice, and suddenly, he wasn’t a loud, crazy blowhard. He was a sadistic killer. “Go home to Silverwood, sweet Silver Claw, or I’m going to let Rick Moreno die in his sleep. I’ll see you in your woods.”

And he was gone.

For a few seconds, Jared and I only stared at each other, silent.

Finally, he took a breath, got out of the car, and came around to open my door. The second I stepped out, he pulled me into his arms. “Stay here,” he said. “I’ll go to Silverwood.”

“I can’t,” I whispered.

“Rick would tell you not to risk your life for him.”

“Yes,” I agreed. “But he knows I’d do it anyway.”

He kissed me, taking his time, holding me so tightly I wasn’t sure he’d let me go. But finally, he stepped back, his stare fierce, his eyes glittering in the darkness. “I don’t doubt your abilities,” he told me. “I know you’ll destroy him, in the end. But fuck, Kait. I don’t want him to hurt you. I don’t have the control to stand outside those woods and not go in when I know you’re in trouble.”

I shook my head. “Don’t come to Silverwood. I need you at Rick’s side. The very instant he wakes up, call me.That’swhen I’ll destroy Gavin Voss.” Then I pulled out my phone. “I’m calling Max.”

Joe stepped out of the shadows. “I’m going with you,” he said. “Even if I have to hide in a tree until it’s over, I’m coming.”

“You can’t, Joe,” I said, and went to wrap my arms around him. I hugged him, hard and fierce, and then stepped back and called Max.

He answered immediately, and he didn’t once bitch about me ditching the office. He cared about Rick, too. “Tell me what you need,” he said.

I told him everything about Voss. I told him about Voss’s magic being tied to the moon, about his ability to shift into a wolfman, about his hold over Rick. And I told him that Voss wanted to end the hunt before daylight and that he’d promised to wake Rick up before he left.

“See what you can find out,” I told him. “Work fast, because I’m heading to Silverwood now.”

“Not alone,” he said. “Someone can go with you, Kait. They can hide in the woods.”