swirled against his black boots.
“Will you be able to deliver the killing blow? I can’t lose you, Jace, if he bites you,” Drew murmured.
A Rabid Virus bite could kill a hunter. While he’d heard of a few hunter’s living through the experience, they’d gone mad and were quickly killed by the council. Yet, he couldn’t leave Cage out there alone and suffering, and he wouldn’t leave his friend’s fate to anyone else.
“I’ll do it,” he snapped, pushing back the tears that lingered at the edge of his vision. “It has to be me.”
“I’ll give you three days, then I’m sending in the team,” Drew ordered.
“Fine,” he said through his clenched teeth.
Three fucking days.
Drew’s threat had been four days ago and over the past twenty-four hours, Jace had come across several hunters who were also looking for Cage, but so far, no one had been successful in locating the alpha.
Reaching the end of the alley where he’d heard the slight sound, he stilled and cocked his head.
As a born hunter, he had supernatural abilities that allowed him to hear sounds no normal man could, his vision and strength were equal to that of a shifter, and his life span covered centuries. So, while he couldn’t see the shifter tucked up inside the dark and filthy warehouse, he could hear their labored breathing and ragged heartbeat.
The wind picked up and suddenly brought with it the sweetest trace of Cage on the air. The hint of cinnamon and cloves was mixed with blood and something else, something darker. Fuck. The virus caused most shifters to go on a killing spree, but not Cage. The alpha had ungodly control and had gone to ground.
His hand tightened around his sword as he drew the other twin blade from its sheath beneath his coat. Like old friends, the twin swords sang in his grip, a silent song but a sad one, feeding on his gut-wrenching sorrow over the task that lay ahead.
Drawing a deep breath, Jace stepped through the doorway and into the dark beyond.
Cage Ashwood sucked in another ragged breath, his lungs giving a wet wheeze. He gasped as he dug out the silver bullet from his stomach. It didn’t help. There were three more out of reach in his back that were making the room foggy and his ability to stay ahead of the hunters much more difficult.
His own pack had turned on him. He couldn’t blame Brock for shooting him when the news came out. But did the kid have to shoot him four times? The little fucker. He was going to give Brock a beat down if he made it out of this alive. The poor teenager had been scared shitless and the gun had wobbled in his hands.
Cage had lunged up and away, trying to avoid the bullets, but one had caught him in the gut. He’d stumbled, then yelled over his shoulder, “I’m not infected,” before the gun went off three more times, each one plunging into his back with the burn only silver could deliver. He hadn’t stopped to try and explain any further. Brock was only doing what he’d been taught: kill first when someone was reported.
The Rabid Virus had been created a number of years ago during a time when humans had tried to eradicate shifters from the face of the earth. And while they now lived in relative peace, it didn’t change the fact that the virus was still contractable and he was a wanted man.
Fuck. Not only did they have to worry about the virus, now apparently, they had to worry about bogus reporting.
The hunters would shoot him on sight. Cage couldn’t blame them, an infected alpha with his power could wipe out a whole pack of shifters. So far, they’d been lucky and only shifters with the virus attacked other shifters. However, if any infected shifter attacked a human, the shaky alliance they’d forged over the past decade would be jeopardized.
He needed to reach Griffin. If he could get to his enforcer, he’d see he wasn’t infected. Griffin Raines had been second-in-command to Cage’s father and loyal to his family for centuries. When Cage had left the pack of his birth two decades ago, Griffin had been the only one at his side. Griffin would be able to find out who had filed the bogus report.
Perhaps if he could get to his father’s pack, he would hide him. No. He couldn’t do that, it would put his father’s pack in danger. Not to mention,