Wolf's Hunger (Mafia Monsters #5) - Atlas Rose Page 0,12

my head at the sound. Arran, his name was a whisper inside my head, coming from a place deeper than thoughts and emotions—coming from a knowing.

Throb.

That ache in my chest spread out, and I looked down through the half-closed zipper of the thick, furlined jacket as the deep green glow brightened. “Just fucking great. You couldn’t be something useful like warmth, or ass-kicking strength, you had to give me some primitive energy like goddamn lust.”

The weak light from the lantern spilled over a makeshift bed. Only one makeshift bed, even if it was massive. “You’ve got to be kidding.”

Thick piles of furs were stacked high at the foot of the bed. My stomach gave another grumble as I stumbled forward and yanked what I could onto the bed, dislodging a thick layer of dust as I did. The musty scent made me sneeze. I heaved more furs across the hard base, then collapsed on top of them, sliding myself deep under the rest of the heavy furs, and lay there, shivering.

Thunder rolled from somewhere outside. The faint grumble grew louder, followed by the flicker of white light through the opening in the adjoining room. I curled my knees higher against my chest and nestled my body into the furs, fighting the tremors.

Murphy.

Dead.

Eyes open.

Belly slashed.

If not Phantom, then who?

That Wolf returned to my mind’s eye, his deep yellow eyes and midnight fur. Not a friend, that much I knew. Finis. The name rolled through my head as I watched the flicker of lightning grow bolder in the entrance to the cave. The images of my father. I kept coming back to that. Did it have something to do with how Murphy was killed, or was it just by chance?

Nothing was ever by chance. Being an agent had taught me that. It hadn’t been chance when I was at that warehouse hunting Ruth Costello. It hadn’t been chance that Phantom saved me from the Unseelie and brought me to the pack.

Then it wasn’t by chance that this shit was pushed into my chest, either. I winced at the thought as the patter of rain started, the sound so faint I missed it at first, until the drops became heavier and the snarl of thunder echoed through the mountain like a warning of its own.

I shivered under the furs, cornered by my own racing mind. What the hell happened? How did I get here—how did I find myself in this cavern in the middle of nowhere, with Wolves?

Out of control. That’s how I was spiraling. Falling faster and harder, tearing out of the light and into the dark. Finding myself further away from everything I knew. Everything I was in control of, my job, my life…as pathetic as it was. I’d had structure, I’d had rules.

Rules like they stayed on their side of the river, and we stayed on ours. Wake up and smell the hate, Carina. Vitold’s words resurfaced. You think we hide on our side of the river because we like it? Your kind have wanted us gone for eternity. They’d be happy if we were out here in the mountains and the trees, hidden from their precious sight for good. Don’t underestimate the mortals’ hate for what they don’t understand, even if they do like to pretend otherwise.

Did I pretend? Had I been pretending all this time? Or had I refused to see, refused to acknowledge what was under my nose all that time? My stomach sank with the thought. My heartbeat thrummed with the thunder as pain filled me.

Lightning flashed neon white in the cavern, the brilliance spilling through the room all around me, followed by a deafening crack right overhead. I jumped at the sound, clawed the furs closer, and lifted my head as darkness spilled over the bed. A shadow filled the doorway. Sleek, savage. Midnight fur bristled over the monstrous beast.

I kicked the furs aside and shoved my body upwards to sit. The beast was back…IT WAS BACK!

“PHANTOM!” I screamed, but the sound was swallowed by a boom of thunder.

Lips curled, white teeth glinted as the Wolf took a step inside. I jerked my gaze toward the room that led outside. “Phantom! Arran!” Their names burned along my throat.

Lightning flashed once more, filling the cavern as the beast slunk closer. I jerked my gaze around, searching for a weapon, but finding nothing except the heavy furs on the bed as a heady waft of blood punctured the storm’s bitter stench of ozone. “No.” I shoved upwards,