Page 4 of Crew

“What are you doing?”

“We’re leaving no trace behind.”

“But won’t fires bring humans here?”

“They’ll assume it’s a forest fire. Don’t ask stupid questions.”

He shooed her toward the three waiting vehicles and she walked away, glancing over her shoulder to see him walk into the house, the sound of him pouring gasoline on the floor loud in the quiet morning.

She got into the SUV driven by Weston, who was the least asshole-like of all the males in the herd—although he thought the sun rose and set with Colton, so he wasn’t really any better than any of them.

“Got everything?” he asked.

“Yeah. You?”

“Not much but clothes for me,” he said. “We’ll be at the meeting place in about six hours. I hope you like indie music.”

She didn’t really care what played as they drove away, leaving the tiny cabins alight with flames that glowed brightly in the dense woods. She wondered how many trees would be ruined because of the fires, how many small animals killed in the destruction that would follow a fire in August when the weather had left them with a terrible dry spell. Couldn’t they have simply left the cabins? Until the poachers had stumbled upon their midnight run, they’d never been discovered by humans.

But it wasn’t up to her. She watched in the side mirror as the flames grew larger, and then she focused on the scenery out the windshield. There wasn’t anything for her in Virginia anymore.

But what was waiting for her in New Jersey?

Colton Kane grumbled internally as the old SUV driven by his second-in-command, Silas, bounced along the rough-cut road as they left their territory. Behind them, the herd’s homes went up in flames, destroying any evidence of who’d lived there.

He was furious on a number of levels, the least of which was losing so many of their people during the damn rescue mission. He hardly cared that among the casualties was his father, but he sure as hell cared about losing their home.

He glanced in the side mirror at the car his younger brother was driving. The passenger? The only female in their herd now, and of course, it had to be the one female who was a constant thorn in his side. Zara questioned everything he did. She’d been far too independent for his liking when his father was alpha, but now he’d bring her to heel. Fortunately, she had no family to support her and nowhere else to go, so he’d take joy in breaking her spirit.

He wouldn’t mate her, of course, but she could be fun as a distraction.

He rubbed the space between his eyes.

“You okay, boss?” Silas asked.

Colton snarled and ignored him. He turned his phone over and opened the contacts, finding his second cousin Avi, who’d left their herd with his mother years ago. Colton had a vague notion that they’d connected with her family’s herd and she had died at some point, but Avi hadn’t come back to the Valley Herd. Instead, he had joined up with a herd in New Jersey.

He thought for a few moments about what he would say to Avi to sound just desperate enough to not be seen as a threat to whoever his alpha was. Once he met the herd, he could figure out how to go about taking it over for his own people.

“Hello?”

“Cousin! It’s Colton,” he said, grimacing as he realized how over-the-top cheerful he sounded. Dialing it back a bit, he continued, “It’s been a long time.”

There was a pause, then Avi said, “Colton? Well, no shit! How are you?”

“I’m in a bind, and I apologize that the first time we’re speaking since you left the herd is when I need your help, but I’m desperate.” Damn, he hated that word. Made him think of damsels in distress or some nonsense like that.

“You are? What happened?”

Colton shared the events leading up to them abandoning their territory.

“Holy crap,” Avi said. “How awful. How many of you are left?”

“Six including myself.” Unless Zara got too lippy, and then there would be five and he wouldn’t miss her for one millisecond.

The pause that followed was significant. “What can I do for you, cousin?”

“I was hoping your alpha would be willing to give us sanctuary until we can find a safe place for our herd.”

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