know we need to get permission to encroach on their territory, but if we wait, Grayson may not make it. So, I’m going in. If you want to come with, then feel free. Otherwise, stay out of my way.”
“Why?” The voice stopped me.
I turned my head to look at the speaker—a smaller Loup Garou with soulful brown eyes.
“Why what?”
“Why would you risk your life for one of us?”
He had a point. I didn’t know Grayson. Technically, he wasn’t my problem. He was his pack’s problem. I could tell myself it was because I needed to stop the vamps, and an hour ago, that would have been true, but now that was simply a small part of it. I needed to save Grayson with a primitive, instinctual drive. And there were no words to explain it, and no way to fight it.
I clenched the back of my teeth to hold back all those words and gave the only answer that might make sense to them. “Because you don’t walk away from someone who needs help.” I needed to save him because there was no other option. “Because if I don’t, he’ll die, and I’ll never forgive myself.”
Growls erupted around me. “We can’t breach Rising territory,” one of the Loup said, and surprise, surprise, it was the one Grayson had choked earlier.
“You would say that, Bastian,” brown eyes said.
Bastian lunged, snapping his teeth at the younger Loup. The Loup flinched but didn’t cower.
“Leave him alone,” the stocky one said. His gaze was fixed on me. “I’m Grayson’s second on this mission, and I don’t leave my men behind.” He bared his teeth in what I guess was supposed to be a smile. “We’re coming with you.”
“Good. Then keep up.” I walked away down the street. I had a train to catch, and an alpha to save.
Chapter Sixteen
It turned out that the museum had three entrances all on different streets. The place was huge. We’d scouted out two and found no breaches. This was the last entrance. There had to be a way into the building via this street.
“Stay here,” Sariah said. “Nix and I will look for a breach.”
“I’m coming with you,” Grayson’s second said.
His name was Dean. I’d found out that much on the way here. The train car we’d ridden in had been empty of humans, and demons and Loup rode it together. There could be a joke in there somewhere, but I wasn’t feeling the humor right now. My mind was sharp, my insides seething, my muscles crying out for action. It wasn’t natural. It was something else, but my mind didn’t have the energy to detangle what the fuck I was feeling.
My team and Dean, the Loup leader, slinked off into the night toward the boarded-up monolith of a building.
“The vamps are probably on a lower level,” soulful brown eyes said. “They like being close to the earth. They prefer underground nests, usually.” He gnawed on his bottom lip, his huge eyes soaking in the moonlight.
“Shut it,” the dickhead Loup snarled.
“Leave him be,” one of the others said wearily.
Brown eyes tucked in his chin, and I resisted the urge to ruffle his messy dark hair. How old was he? Sixteen? Seventeen? He couldn’t be much older than that.
“What’s your name?”
He looked up sharply at me. “Bobby.”
“Thanks for the info, Bobby. I didn’t know that.”
He smiled shyly at me. “But aren’t you the Dominus?”
“Trust me, having a title doesn’t mean you know everything.”
“And knowing everything doesn’t get you a title.” His eyes were shadowed by sadness.
I wanted to give him a hug, but instinct told me that would probably be a bad thing, not for me, but for him. It didn’t take a genius to figure out that these Loup rewarded and prized alpha male behavior, and this little guy was no alpha. He was a poet or a scholar.
“They’re headed back,” dickhead Loup said.
Sariah reached me first. “Around the side of the building, the boards are off, and the windows are broken. We figure that’s the way in.”
I nodded. “Okay, we split into two teams once we get inside. We have comms. So, Dean, if you take one of my team, you can stay in touch with us.”
“I’ll go,” Sariah said.
“I’ll give you a wolf.” Dean jerked his head toward a stocky specimen with shoulders that bulged above his short neck. “Henry’s a rabid fighter.”
“I’m sure he is. But I’ll take Bobby if you don’t mind. I have brawn.” I indicated Nix and Nox. I’d love brains.” I