Page 2 of Hunting Grounds
Chapter 2
Henry
Henry ignored the text message from his sister and kept up his lonely vigil in the shadier part of the city, outside the new pack house. Ever since the alpha of SilverLine pack, Miles Evershaw, found his mate, the pack split time between her enormous old house and the former warehouse where most of the pack lived and worked. Henry preferred the witch’s house, though he couldn’t have said why. It felt more like a home than the industrial-chic warehouse ever had.
That didn’t mean he wanted to stick around when Evershaw and Deirdre were getting along too well, because then the house was too much like home and just reminded him of what he’d never have. The fact that his sister, Nola, had started reaching out was not a good sign, and it wasn’t something he was mentally prepared for. He’d left the old pack for a reason and it wasn’t a happy one.
He pushed away the thought and paced on down the block. There had been more trouble in the city lately, after a long stretch where everyone got along and things stayed quiet. It had been too good to be true after everything that happened previously. The rest of SilverLine had had a few run-ins with wolves and coyotes from outside the city trying to horn in on their territory, so Henry volunteered to run a few nightly loops to keep an eye on things. He never slept well anyway, so it wasn’t a burden for him to wander around outside.
At least the moon was only half full, so the real craziness was still a few weeks away. All the weird shit happened during the full moon, even with shifters. Especially with shifters. Something scuffled in the distance and his attention perked up immediately. It could have been nothing. A bum maybe, searching for cans or a better place to bed down, or maybe a raccoon searching for dinner. Or maybe it was those damn coyotes.
Henry debated calling it in and getting a team out to back him up, then tucked his phone away and headed in the direction of the motion anyway. He wasn’t much of a leader if he couldn’t deal with a little investigation on his own. It wasn’t worth rousing everyone else out of bed for, unless it was the full coyote pack. He was a timber wolf raised in the mountains; if he couldn’t handle a few coyotes on his own, he didn’t deserve to be third in command of the pack.
A new scent drifted on the breeze and caught his attention. Definitely not a coyote. Someone almost human and definitely female, but smelling a bit like Deirdre. Maybe smelling like magic or at least witches. He made a thoughtful noise and moved a little faster. He knew there were other witches in the city, none of whom Deirdre associated with, and he’d long been concerned that maybe they’d take sides with the coyotes or another pack and cause trouble for SilverLine. He had no patience for that. No one threatened Evershaw’s mate or the SilverLine pack. They were family—his family.
Henry growled as he got closer and heard a calm, clear voice say, “I call on the power of the Bell and Book, on the strength of the Oak and Ash, on the light of the stars and moon. Be gone from here.”
His skin prickled as static filled the air and crackled with that peculiar tension he recognized as magic. Henry eased closer through an alley to where a circle of coyotes and wolves stood around a tall young woman in ragged clothes. His eyes narrowed. She could command a whole pack? Who the hell was the girl? He’d never smelled anything like her before, even with Deirdre’s magic as a reference.
She moved her hands together, like she wove strands through the air, and he sneezed as the static rippled through the air.
The girl and all the animals turned to look in his direction, and he swallowed a curse. So much for sneaking up on them. The witch’s expression fell, like he was just one on top of too many pieces of bad news, and she took a shaky breath. “Seriously? What the hell do you want?”
The accusation in her voice made him bristle, though he kept a close eye on the coyotes as they inched closer to her. So maybe she wasn’t commanding the pack but was surrounded instead. “You’re on my territory. Witches doing magic on my territory are to be investigated, so... I’m here. Investigating.”
“W-Witches?” she said, and her hands fell. The tension in the air ratcheted up still more, as if she’d dropped something and ended up causing ripples of magic that bumped up against him. He didn’t like it at all. “What witches?”
One of the coyotes growled, and the rest of the pack split their attention between Henry and the witch. He had just a moment to wish he’d called for backup when the bastards attacked.
Henry dodged the first few sets of teeth snapping at his throat and dropped to all fours as he shifted to his wolf shape. He outweighed the coyotes in wolf and human form, but he had more of an advantage when he was on four legs. Henry snarled and snapped, holding off most of the coyotes while the rest leapt at the witch.
She held her own initially, zapping and zipping magic out at the animals that nipped at her heels, but it wasn’t long until she tired. Or maybe she just didn’t want to kill the coyotes. He didn’t have that problem, and dispatched at least two of them before the rest finally took him seriously. They managed to bite his legs and nearly broke his arm, but he shook them off and charged toward the witch. He didn’t know who the hell she was or what she wanted in that part of the city, though he wouldn’t get a chance to find out if the coyotes killed her first. And he wasn’t about to let shifters kill a young woman when he could do something about it, even if she wasn’t technically his to protect.
She screamed and kicked at one of the animals that got too close, whatever magic she had forgotten in favor of swinging a massive bag around to beat them back. Henry growled and charged, determined to get her to safety so he could figure out what kind of a threat she actually was, and shouldered aside one of the large coyotes to lean against the girl’s legs. She staggered and almost fell, and as she lost her balance, her hand brushed his side and sent fishhooks of magic right through him.
It felt like she tried to pull his guts out through his skin. Henry howled and backed away, baring his teeth, as the girl’s wide eyes found him. She started to speak but the coyotes took his distraction as an opportunity, and leapt.
