Head Hunter (City Shifters the Pack #3) - Layla Nash Page 0,10

her dark eyebrows. “No? Okay then. We all knew it was only a matter of time until Silas figured out a way to escape. He’s a smart boy. That’s why we’re building a habitat with much better security than my now-destroyed storm cellar.”

Evershaw grumbled and caught the back of her neck, pulling her against his chest despite Deirdre looking prickly. The witch didn’t acknowledge him and instead leveled a no-nonsense look at Dodge. “We now have a bigger problem to consider. Lawson saw me work magic and got a good eyeful of Silas sprinting for freedom. I could probably talk her through the magic as simply a coincidence or weather phenomena, but there’s no way in hell to explain the wolfman. We still have to try, or at least convince her to keep her mouth shut, but first we have to find her. I assume you’ll take care of that?”

He managed to keep the growl out of his voice, since Evershaw would have killed him with his bare hands, but just barely. “Yeah, I’ll fetch her back.”

“Good.” Deirdre nodded and elbowed her mate away as Evershaw pressed his nose into her hair to smell her. “Would you cut that out? I’m fine. He didn’t even get close to me.”

“Still need to make sure you’re okay,” the alpha muttered, then abruptly picked her up and headed for the house. “All of you.”

Dodge sighed and raked his hands through his hair before going to the back of the house. Probably best to be out of the house for a while, since the two of them made a lot of noise when Evershaw needed to reassure himself that his witchy mate was unharmed. Dodge grumbled and retrieved the architect’s folio from where she’d dropped it. He took a minute to be impressed that she’d run across the entire garden in those high heels and hadn’t lost one or broken her damn ankle. And she’d helpfully aerated the soil in the process.

He snorted and riffled through the papers, breathing in her scent. “All right, Persephone Lawson. Where are you going to hide?”

His heart-rate increased and the wolf perked up. He enjoyed a good hunt, tracking down unwilling prey. It had been a long time since he had a really good run. He doubted that Persephone knew where the hell to hide to avoid him. She probably wouldn’t even expect someone to come after her. She didn’t strike him as the kind of person who had enemies with trackers and enforcers. She wouldn’t see or hear him coming, which made his job easier. Dodge shrugged. More the pity. She had a fine ass he wouldn’t have minded following around for a few days.

Chapter 7

Percy

I must have lost my mind. Maybe they put something in the iced tea that caused hallucinations. My hands shook so hard I could hardly hold onto the steering wheel. My brain almost refused to remember how to work the gas pedal at the same time, so getting through the city was a bit dicier than I liked. I couldn’t think of anything but that... monster, charging toward me. The intensity in Deirdre’s face and the silver sheen over her eyes as the wind moved and she chanted and then the monster just – stopped.

I shuddered and hunkered lower in my seat. Thank God none of them followed me. Thank God I hadn’t lost a shoe, although my ankles objected strenuously to the run across the dirt. I might have twisted one or both, but the adrenaline carried me to the car. I’d pay for it later. I’d think about it later.

After a glass of wine. Maybe a bottle of wine. Maybe a bottle of bourbon.

I gulped for air and shook my head as I stared at the red light in front of me. What the fuck just happened? There couldn’t have been some weird hybrid monster in their basement. It just wasn’t possible. It had to have been something else. A bear, maybe, with a terrible case of mange. A deranged and very hairy man locked below. I wasn’t sure which was more disturbing, though. Neither possibility seemed like a good one.

Someone beeped their horn and I moved my foot to the gas pedal. I needed to get somewhere safe and normal, maybe eat something to deal with whatever might have ended up in my drink. I damn well wasn’t going back to get my folio. It would have been smarter to go to the hospital to see if they’d actually