Page 5 of Crew

“I don’t know.”

The hesitation was real, and Colton felt like he was going to lose a chance to easily get into the territory. If he had to, he’d go in by force, but it sure as hell would be a lot simpler if he was invited.

“I wouldn’t ask if I wasn’t in a bad place right now,” Colton said, turning on the charm. “We just need some time to decompress. Hell, we haven’t even grieved what happened to our herd.” They’d buried their people in a mass grave away from the homes they set on fire, and they’d covered the bodies with acid to ensure they decayed swiftly. “We need a fresh start, and we need time to figure out where to go. We can’t live out of our vehicles; there’s too many of us and we’ll attract attention.”

“Let me talk to my alpha. I’ll call you back.”

“Sure thing, thanks.”

The call ended and he put the phone in the cup holder.

“Do you think they’ll let us stay with them?”

“Probably. Avi was always family-first. If I’m remembering right and his mom died, then he doesn’t have family except for me and Weston, so he’d want to do right by us.”

“You wouldn’t.” Silas glanced at him knowingly.

“True.” In fact, if his cousin had come asking for help, he probably would have attacked him and driven him, and his people, away. But Avi was compassionate when it came to family, and that was going to be the way he gotinwith the herd.

His phone buzzed a few minutes later. “Avi?”

“Yeah, listen, my alpha would like to meet with you and the herd members, but not in our territory. I’ll send you a pin to a public park and we can all meet there.”

“Sure, that’s fine,” he said. “We’re still in Virginia, so it’ll be a few hours.”

“Of course, see you then.”

The pin appeared and he put it into the GPS. As he looked at the screen, he minimized it until he could see the surrounding towns. He wasn’t sure where Avi was exactly, but the herd would be somewhere with a lot of land so they could shift and run. A farm, perhaps.

“What if his alpha says he won’t help us?”

“Then we’ll follow them to their territory and take him out.”

“Okay, boss.”

Dropping his phone into the cup holder once more, he settled back in the seat and closed his eyes. “Do me a favor.”

“Yeah?”

“Be sure Zara doesn’t find out that I’m planning to take over and claim the territory for the Valley Herd. She’s just the type of nosy bitch to spoil my plans and warn them.”

“She needs to be mated so her male can bring her to heel,” Silas said.

“What, you volunteering for the job?”

“Hell no! She’s not my type. Too independent.”

“She’d be fun to break.”

“Then you do it.”

Colton opened his eyes and growled softly.

“Sorry.”

“Focus on the road. I’ll figure out what to do with Zara in time. For now, let’s just get to fucking New Jersey.”

* * *

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