Wolf's Hunger (Mafia Monsters #5) - Atlas Rose Page 0,6

us. “She was real.”

Movement came from the driver’s seat. I turned and met the Unseelie’s gaze.

“What did you say?” Ruin asked before he glance right to the cop cars and rolled the Explorer over the gutter and onto the asphalt.

White sparks arced and exploded from the abandoned building next to the Hunting Ground. I watched as cops and agents ran for their lives. Still that urgency claimed me, forcing me to speak. “In that abandoned building back there, there was a woman, I heard her calling for help.”

The dark Fae met my gaze in the rear-view mirror. “There’s no one back there, Carina. Must’ve been the wind.”

It was the same response Shrike had given me. A bullshit response, like the ones kept for mortals…only this mortal was learning to read between the lines. Keep your head down and shut the fuck up. Listen and watch like your life depends on it…because it fucking does.

I did just that, holding my tongue as the tires grabbed on the asphalt and the engine roared, tearing us away into the dark. In my head, all I could see was the savaged belly of Murphy and the claw marks left behind.

I lifted my gaze to the back of Arran’s head. He’d been with me the entire time…but Phantom wasn’t…was he? The sinister words lingered as I pressed my spine into the soft leather and watched the outside turn from buildings to trees. I felt numb, disconnected. Like tonight had been one long bad dream and I was going to wake up.

Any second now…

Anyyy second…

But I didn’t wake, instead I sat there listening to the snarl of the engine and the unnatural quiet inside the car. There was no radio, no music, not even any conversation, just silence. Cold, unwelcoming silence. “Where are we going?”

“Safe house,” Ruin answered, leaving even more silence in his wake.

Safe house. Nice. Like I was a damn criminal on the run.

I hunted people like me. I coordinated, attacked, brought them to justice. How the hell can I bring myself to justice? Phantom didn’t kill Murphy. I refused to believe he had, and neither had any of the others. I’d know it if they had. Blood splatter on their clothes, to start with. Unless they’d shifted…

No, I refused to believe that. You couldn’t fake that look of surprise on Phantom’s face…

And he had been surprised.

It had to be another Wolf.

The midnight-colored one from the farmhouse. The more I thought of it, the more the memory took hold. He wasn’t like the others, wasn’t careful or kind. A rival. Maybe. I breathed deep and lifted my hand to the throb in my chest. It was the only throb I felt now. No more pain, no more agony.

I touched the lump on the back of my head, a remnant from the goddamn tire iron Murphy had hit me with. Even the swelling had gone now. There was no tenderness, not even a twinge in my side, only the deep green Unseelie glow that seethed in my chest. Movement came in the rear-view mirror as the Unseelie met my gaze.

He knew about the magic inside me. They all knew. Cold, pitch black eyes held mine before I broke the stare and looked away. I stared out the window as we left Crown City behind. We were headed to the desert foothills of the Hidden Mountains, a place notorious for people to disappear into. That was just what we wanted, wasn’t it?

The Explorer climbed, winding higher and higher until we started a slow descent, but before we could hit the bottom, the Unseelie slowed the four-wheel drive and eased onto the shale shoulder of the road. Only it wasn’t any shoulder, it was a track.

Deep ruts and washed out edges. I tried not to look into the drop below as our headlights carved along the side of the mountain and bled into the night. Gravel pinged as the tires slipped and caught, kicking rocks onto the underbody of the vehicle. Still we kept on going, carving our way into the night, following the thin track that cut through the brush and the bramble. The further we kept going, the more I started to worry…until the glint of soft yellow lights shone from the side of a mountain.

We headed for those lights. The road widened until I saw they came not from a house, but hollowed out caverns. “What the fuck is this place?” I muttered as the Fae pulled the four-wheel drive around and killed the