Wolf's Hunger (Mafia Monsters #5) - Atlas Rose Page 0,33

a no-show…and she says she is one. You’re fucking welcome.”

“Jesus Christ, let’s just lead the entire mortal army here.” Arran shook his head. “Every goddamn agent and cop will be up our ass before long.”

“Give me a little credit, Arran,” Mojin warned softly. He didn’t raise his voice, and yet the carefully chosen words from the Unseelie chilled me to the bone.

“Wry.” Arran stepped forward, making the young Wolf flinch and jerk his gaze upwards. I didn’t know where he was…but it wasn’t here with us. He had a look about him. Disconnected. Drowning. Dangerous. “You alright, brother?”

The young Wolf gave a slow nod of his head.

“Vitold.” Phantom met the Russian’s gaze. “You’re east. Arran, west. Church will take the middle. We need to make a plan to get out of here and find somewhere close and safe.”

“If it’s Finis, he’ll be long gone,” Mojin muttered, and lifted his gaze to the trees.

But Phantom didn’t agree. He just turned his gaze to me once more. I could see the fear in his eyes, see the rage…and the same haunted look that gripped the young Wolf next to us.

“I can fight,” I protested, and took a step forward. “Give me a gun and I can hurt them just as good as any of you.”

“Chase, no,” Walker moaned. “No way. You are getting your ass into that goddamn car and letting this scary motherfucker drive us out of here.”

My pulse sped at the thought and the chill of fear slipped in. But she didn’t understand…not any of this.

Phantom’s gaze bored into mine. “She’s right. It’s not safe here.”

“No,” I forced through clenched teeth. “No fucking way. You don’t get to do this…you don’t get to shut me out, not now, not when things have gotten real.”

He lowered his head as he came closer. Those eyes held me…like whirlpools of amber drawing me in and under, until I lost all control. I wanted to be away from all this, to be back in that moment when the burn of lust was still fresh in my chest and his body was my only savior.

I wanted it to be just us…all of us.

My Alpha.

My pack.

“It’s just for a little while.” He curled over me, breathing in against the crook of my neck. “Until I know it’s safe.”

“Fuck safe,” I snarled, and closed my eyes, my voice trembling. “We’re a pack, remember?”

But there was no brush of his lips and no comfort from his arms. I waited for his touch, waited for his kiss to find me, for him to tell me it’d be alright…as long as we were together.

But the comforting words never came.

Instead, a pang of agony filled me as he breathed deep. In an instant, I realized what was happening. He was scenting me…no, he was scenting Finis, finding the smell of that bastard on my skin. I swallowed a shudder as the world crowded in around me. I could feel Finis there, his breath on my face, his fur under my fingers, his rage radiating from the steel of his eyes.

I opened mine and took a step backwards. The glistening amber irises of the Alpha darkened to the cold brown color of earth. It was all about Finis. All about Phantom’s rage for the Alpha and retribution for his sister.

Was that why he looked at me like I was a stranger? Was that why he was pushing me away?

Phantom was changing, right before my eyes…leaving the man I was falling in love with behind to become the brutal beast.

“Phantom.” Please…the word resounded in my head but it didn’t make it to my lips. I was too proud to say it, and too fucking stubborn to stop him as his brows furrowed with a look of devastation and he turned away.

“You chased me, remember?” I froze him with the words. “You wanted me here, you wanted me as part of the pack.”

“Maybe that was a mistake.” His quiet words were a sledgehammer to my chest. “Maybe this was all just a…mistake. I need my men to be observant, need them to fight. Were they fighting when the rogue pack came?”

My breath caught as pain overwhelmed me. I couldn’t move, couldn’t blink, couldn’t stop the agony from crashing down.

“No, they weren’t,” he answered himself as his head sank. “You’re a distraction, Carina, one we just can’t afford…not now.”

He took another step, slower this time, then strode down the embankment, leaving me behind. I tore my gaze from that sight to Arran. Desperation filled the