my ass in the mud. I shuddered as cold and dirty water immediately soaked into my already wet jeans, glaring as the guys all laughed at my expense. Eyeing them in their shifting clothes—mostly cheap, faux leather biker jackets and stretchy sweatpants (which made them look more like the teenagers they were than the bad-asses they were trying to come off as)—I had a hard time seeing them as a threat instead of an annoyance.
Then Seth leaned down and grabbed under my arm, dragging me through the slick mulch until my back was up against the rock, the steely strength and rough handling reminding me that I wasn’t dealing with pushovers. Even low on the supernatural totem pole as they were, the four of them presented a terrible danger to me without my weapons or Chaz here to protect me.
That didn’t mean I’d sit back and take whatever they wanted to dish out, though. I used the rock to help lever to my feet, and he stepped back to watch me, not bothering to help or hold me down. I grabbed at the tape, pulling it off with a sharp jerk, grimacing at the pull against my skin. “What the hell do you nut jobs think you’re doing? What the fuck do you want?”
Gabe leered. “What do you think we want?”
“Shut up, asshole,” Mohawk said, giving Gabe a shove hard enough to make him stumble. “I’m not dying today. I don’t care what the plan said. You touch her, you know he’ll kill us all.”
Before I could say anything, a chunk of wood thicker than my torso slammed into the two, sending them sprawling.
“You aren’t fighting him. I am. I am going to win this,” Seth snarled, muscles and bones bulging under his skin in sickening waves. “This is my fight, not yours.”
The two kept their eyes down, heads bobbing like those of marionettes on strings in their haste to show their agreement. Seth’s anger gradually abated, the shifting and grating of bone popping back into place making my stomach lurch. His eyes, when he turned to face me, held a subtle yellow glow that was terrifyingly familiar. Jesus, he was close to going Were. Something about what he was doing had him wound up near to the breaking point. There were no guarantees that he would be able to control his instincts to hunt and kill if he tipped over the edge.
After what felt like forever, Seth looked away and patted down his pockets, pulling out a battered pack of cigarettes. He didn’t offer them to anyone else, just lit up and took a deep drag. Within a few puffs, the others had gotten to their feet and settled down cautiously on big rocks or tree stumps nearby. Seth chose a perch on an uneven slab of lichen-covered granite, his attention firmly fixed on the path we’d taken.
“How long do you think he’ll take?” Gabe ventured to ask.
Seth didn’t bother to look at him. “Fuck all if I know. We left an obvious trail. Shouldn’t take too long.”
I dared a question, meeting his eyes when he glanced at me. “If you want to fight Chaz so badly, why didn’t you do it back at the cabins?”
He smirked at me, shaking his head and returning his attention back to the path. The others gave me furtive glances, but didn’t dare speak.
Anger soon replaced my fear. Who the hell did he think he was? If not for him, Chaz and I could have been busy discussing the terms of the contract. Or busy doing other, far more pleasant, things.
“I see,” I said, taking a few steps until I could assume an indolent lean against a nearby tree. I hoped my expression was as disdainful as I was going for. The trick would be to keep them worried about Chaz without pissing them off enough that they would hurt me. “You’re planning to cheat, aren’t you? You wanted to lure him out here so you could ambush him.”
“No,” Seth said, turning sharply to face me. “Shut up. You don’t know anything about us.”
“I know you won’t win.”
“I will win this,” he snarled, fists clenching at his sides.
“Doesn’t matter what you try. He’ll still kick your asses.” I kept my voice as level as possible, hoping what I was saying was true. My faith in Chaz would undermine Seth’s confidence if I played my cards right. Little enough, but it could turn the odds more in Chaz’s favor once he came to save