Outlaw (Wolves of Royal Paynes #4) - Kiki Burrelli Page 0,3

afraid."

I snorted. This was a kinder, gentler Knox in the field.

Jazz tossed a balled-up piece of paper that turned into a bat. "I'm not afraid. I want to get Pierce as much as you guys. He hurt you, killed your pack, his pack. Tried to kill us, threw Sitka pregnant into a muddy hole. I've got enough righteous anger burning. I won't be afraid for weeks."

Anger was good. It would keep Jazz focused.

It wasn't that the mates weren't capable. Storri had singlehandedly taken out an army of men. But they hadn't trained, and they were precious. Not just as nephilim, but as mates. If one of them got hurt…or worse…

I didn't wish that moment on anyone, least of all my pack brothers.

"I need that right hand," Sitka growled. "I've been walking crooked for days."

The twins both chuckled, the sound equal parts unhappy and amused.

The archangels better have been right about needing to bring the mates. If they weren't, and everything blew up in our faces, I didn't care if I had to break into heaven. I'd do it to kick every angelic ass I found.

"Do you have a visual?" Knox's quiet question sounded in my ear, but it was Faust he spoke to. Knox and Jazz waited in a field on the west side of the mansion while Faust, Storri, and I holed up in front, staying to the shadows of the surrounding foliage as Faust used his infrared scanner. "I don't see any lights. No movement. Not in the front rooms."

"What does the heat signature say?" Knox asked.

Faust shook his head. "Inconclusive. There's something in there putting off heat, but I don't know what."

"Human? Demon?" Huntley asked. I couldn't see his location, on the east side of the building with Jagger and Sitka. "I'm not picking up anything from here. No heartbeat…no shuffling…"

"We can stalk around, take a reading from every angle—"

"No, that will take too much time. Storri, what do the animals say?"

Storri straightened from his crouch, blindly reaching for his mate. "Nothing. I can't…nothing is responding. It's like…they can't understand me. Or no one's listening."

Knox was silent long enough for me to know the type of uneasy expression that lined his face. "If he's in there and doesn't know we're out here, he will soon. Pierce has all the senses we have and something we don't—a home advantage. Regroup. We're not going in blind and separated."

As we waited for the others to join our position, I searched over the colonial-style estate. The place looked deserted and not just for the few days it had taken us to find the map. Dark green algae grew up twin white pillars separated only by clumps of moss that continued around to the side of the house where it forced the paint to peel. The front windows were all dark, curtains drawn. Spindly, sickly vines twisted up the building face, disappearing inside the structure. Huge plumes of spiderwebs filled the vacant spaces like the place had decorated itself for Halloween.

Knox motioned with his fist for us to make a line formation. "We clear it together. But stay with your team." In other words, mates were to stick to their alphas.

Knox brought Jazz closer to his side, and I surged ahead. As the only unmated among us, I took the lead. If this was a trap, I wanted to be the one in harm's way. It would matter the least if I didn't make it back. My pack would be sad, my brothers angry, but they'd move on. I wouldn't leave anyone behind to mourn their life away.

"Diesel—" Knox caught my arm just above the elbow. "You with us?"

For a long time, we'd been the same, driven by anger. It had been easier to be empty when they'd been empty too. Now, Knox and the others had their mates, and I was left, still empty. "Where else would I be?"

I shook off his hand and trudged forward, taking in the scents as we stalked through the shadows to the front door. Wasting any time sneaking around would just make all of this take longer, and though we'd just gotten here, I already wanted the mates out and back on their way to the hotel.

Pierce's scent was light at the doorway. He'd been here, but not in a while. So he hadn't come straight here after disappearing. As fucking disappointing as that was, I was relieved. Pierce had nearly been successful in taking the nephilim away, using our fear and need to protect