Broken Bond - Callie Rose Page 0,75

to stave off the fear that churns inside me.

We stop by Clint’s house first and find it empty, all the lights out. His giant pickup truck is sitting in the driveway, but he’s definitely not home.

He’s probably at the bar, I say, using the strange mind-speak that allows me to project my thoughts into the men’s heads. It’s in town. I don’t know exactly where it is, but it can’t be too hard to find.

We’ll head downtown. We’ll be able to smell the pheromones, Ridge tells me, and I wrinkle my nose in disgust.

Getting used to everything having a scent—even old guys trying to get laid in a bar—will be the hardest part of this transition. There are some things I just don’t need to know about.

We stick to the shadows as we walk through the downtown area. I’ve only seen this place a handful of times before. My most recent trip down these streets was while riding on Ridge’s back after they rescued me from my uncle. It’s a small, run down town full of buildings with old, wooden facades and faded signs out front. Flickering street lights illuminate cracked sidewalks but are dim enough to cast much of the street in shadow.

And it turns out Ridge wasn’t exaggerating—I smell the bar before I see it. It’s a heady smell that makes me think of whiskey barrels, body odor, and desperation.

We move one by one as we pass through the glow of the streetlamps and into the back alley where we won’t be seen, keeping an eye on the few patrons crowding around the sidewalk outside to ensure they don’t notice us.

Concealed in the alley, Ridge nudges me with his snout. Can you smell your uncle?

Through the haze of lust and despair? A small growl reverberates in my throat. No.

I think I can, Dare offers. Obviously I’m going off the memory of one night around him, but I’m pretty fucking sure he’s in there.

Ridge nods. Good. We wait for him to emerge, and we’ll ambush him once he’s away from the crowds.

What if he’s with buddies? Trystan asks. Maybe he’s got a ride home.

We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it. Ridge huffs out a breath. We can take down a car if we have to.

I have no way of marking time, but it feels as if an hour or more passes. Customers ebb and flow from the bar, voices and laughter drifting through the night. I hear more than one glass break inside the building, and I’m surprised all over again by how sensitive my hearing is. A few times, I even think I catch a few words spoken in Clint’s gravelly voice. As with my witch side, there’s so much I have to explore when it comes to my wolf. At least with the shifter aspect of myself, I’m looking forward to learning. That side of me can’t kill the people I love by accident. It doesn’t whisper insidious things inside my head.

Finally, Dare sits up at attention, his black snout turning toward the front of the bar, hidden from view down the alleyway. He’s leaving.

So are we, Ridge says. Archer, take point. Dare, bring up the rear. Sable, remember what I said. If things go sideways and we tell you to run, you do it.

Okay, I reply, though I know damn good and well that if things go bad, I’ll no sooner leave my mates than I’d willingly give myself over alive to Clint.

The man in question is already two blocks down the road, weaving drunkenly down the sidewalk with his big hands shoved in his blue jeans pockets. No ride tonight then. Maybe his companion found a lady friend to take home and left Clint on his own.

Good.

His shoulders are stooped in his short-sleeve plaid shirt, and he’s wearing one of his stupid wide-brimmed cowboy hats. A blue one, which clashes with his red shirt.

But with those bright colors and the drunken scrape of his boots on asphalt, we have no problem tailing him through the dark from a safe distance away.

We leave the center of town behind, and the last of the street lights fade into dim glowing points behind us. Clint swerves and nearly falls over as he takes a right-hand turn down a narrow dirt road. We’re nearing his house, I realize. It’s just at the end of this road.

This is going to be almost too easy. The man clearly imbibed more whiskey than he should have while he sat at