Devan fought hard to let his healer instincts overcome all else. To keep the worry and desire away and be the selfless pack healer Bomber needed him to be. “He was fine when I last saw him too. Keep going to Varian. I’ll find the others.”
Bomber nodded, his trust in Devan now solid, and vanished into the night. Devan watched him go, then turned back to the direction he’d come from to escape the explosion site. By now, the air was permeated with the scent of so many wolves—those he knew, and many he didn’t—that it was hard to distinguish between them. To know whose spilled blood he could taste on his tongue. With his head still fuzzy from healing Bomber, even Zio’s scent was too faint to track.
Devan closed his eyes and reached out with the instincts he’d tried so hard to ignore. Followed the trail of vengeful rage until he got a lead.What the fuck are they doing that far west?
He set off in the direction Zio’s anger was coming from, weaving in and out of buildings and leaping rusted vehicles. Violence loomed around every corner, increasing in intensity until the harsh soundtrack of a fierce fight grew loud enough to stop Devan in his tracks.
Heart pounding, he crouched behind a wall, the caged beast within him prowling, eager to join the fray. But he resisted the battle call as the human shouts and wolf cries peaked. Man or beast, do no harm—an oath that was far easier to keep when your clan, family, or pack were living in peace.
The fighting faded. Victorious shouts and howls rang out, and Devan’s heart lifted as Zio’s wolf voice reached him. They’d won. But it wasn’t much comfort as he waited for his newfound pack to emerge from the shadows. Blood was still the strongest scent, and the healer in Devan ached for every soul that had been hurt.I’m not built for war.
Minutes passed, each one longer than the last. Devan paced his hiding place, scenting the air every thirty seconds. His phone buzzed in his pocket, apparently finding a signal from somewhere.
Varian:where are they?
Devan didn’t reply.
Didn’t have to, because in the split second he’d torn his gaze from the scene beyond the wall, a troop of wolves had emerged from the shadows: Gale, Xan, Kate, Ishmail, with Shannon and Danielo bringing up the rear. Six of them when there should’ve been seven.
Tension coiled so tight in Devan’s nerves he was sure they’d snap.Where is he?He stepped forward, power shimmering through him as he prepared to shift and find Zio, whatever it took, no matter the consequences, but as his claws slid out and his bones prepared to lengthen and crack, a final bloodied wolf limped free of the darkness of battle.
Chapter Eleven
Zio slumped over Varian’s kitchen counter, tired. He rubbed his arm, kneading the sore muscles. The bones had been broken for a snatched few minutes before his wolf healing had repaired them, but the dull ache remained.
“You should’ve let Devan fix you,” Bomber murmured as the others kept their collective attention glued to the human news reports on the explosions and carnage they’d caused. “I was good as new in ten minutes, no aches or fatigue. It was wild.”
A low growl rumbled through Zio, and his gaze drifted unbidden to where Devan sat on the floor with Shannon, close to the TV and about as far from Zio as it was possible to be without leaving the room. “I didn’t need him to heal me.”
“So? Why not let him anyway if it causes you less pain?”
“I’m not in pain.”
“Liar. I don’t get your problem with him.”
“That’s because you let him into your brain. What if he really was the enemy, huh? If Shadow Clan sent him to infiltrate us? Didn’t take him long to flip you, did it?”
Bomber opened his mouth to respond, but Zio pushed off the counter before he could speak and stomped out of the kitchen. He’d seen the news reports already. Watched them on the internet hours ago. He didn’t get why Varian had insisted they study them together.
“Because it helps to regroup and collectively assess a mission. You know this, Zio, we’ve done it a hundred times.”
Zio sighed as Varian came up behind him, alpha hands firm on his shoulders, and steered him into the living room. “I know all that. I just don’t get why it had to be right now. I need to sleep.”
“So sleep,” Varian said. “Do you not feel safe enough with your family to rest your head?”
Safe. Zio turned the notion over in his head and discarded it. Pack was the only family he’d ever known, and Varian had always been his greatest comfort—his alpha—but, no. He didn’t feel safe. Never had. “I don’t want to sleep here. I want to go home.”
Varian sighed and wrapped his arms around Zio, caging him in an embrace that should’ve grounded Zio even if it couldn’t soothe the terminal restlessness he’d been reborn with, but as Zio hid his face in his alpha’s chest, he felt nothing but a scraping desire to run.
He pushed back from Varian. “Sorry.”
Varian gazed at him, unblinking. “What for?”
“Dunno.”
“Then don’t be sorry, Zio. That’s not something I’ve ever asked of you, is it? To show contrition for simply being yourself?”
Zio shook his head, hating that Varian’s earnest care grated on him so much. “I don’t know what I’m sorry for, okay? I’m just really fucking tired.”