Page 10 of Wicked Fate

We stepped through the tree line, and everything slammed into me at once.

Bodies had been lined up with careful hands—some still breathing, others not. Blackwood pack members hovered nearby, their faces masks of grief and exhaustion. Someone sobbed softly, the sound muffled, like they were trying and failing to hold it in.

“Where are Reid and Perry?” Briar asked.

My heart dropped. Had Reid died as well?

A young man with reddish-brown curls and a limp jogged toward us. His jacket was half-zipped, blood staining the collar and one sleeve. Recognition tugged at the edge of my memory—Jaren, one of the younger Blackwood guards who’d trained under Reid.

He stopped, chest heaving. “I’ve been looking for you two everywhere.” He pointed at Briar and me.

Ryker’s growl rumbled low beside me as he brushed against my side, the jolt between us springing to life once again.

Jaren held up both hands. “Whoa. I’m not here to fight, I just came to relay a message. Sun moved Reid to their home for healing, and he wants Ember to come by the house so they can talk.”

My head jerked back. Sure, Sun had thought it would be safest and wisest for all of us to stick together, and I agreed, but going into the house of my fated mate who’d completed the bond with another woman took things to a whole different level.

Hunkering down, Ryker snarled, drool oozing from his teeth and rage shaking his entire body.

“Whoa.” Jaren hobbled back a few steps. “Don’t kill the messenger. But he said there’s something important that he needs to explain to you.”

If he thought that would make Ryker more comfortable with the request, he was dead wrong.

Tell Ryker he can come with me,I linked to Briar. Not being able to communicate directly was getting old. I needed to shift back to human form.

Instead of regurgitating my words, Briar shook her head. “It won’t be just Ryker joining you,allof us will.”

“Yeah, I’m in agreement with that.” Gage nodded like it was a done deal. “After what we just learned, I’m all about us getting information together.” He cut his eyes at Ryker, letting his sense of hurt and betrayal be known.

“I’m good with that.” Xander gestured in the direction of the pack neighborhood. “Let’s go.”

We all took off, and I linked with Briar,I’m going to go shift back real fast. My clothes are nearby.

She nodded and told the others.

When I split off, Ryker did the same, and I had no doubt he was shifting as well.

As my body contorted and bones cracked, my wounds ached, but I could also feel them closing up. Back on two legs, I slipped on the black shirt and pants. Within seconds, I headed back out to Briar, Xander, Kendric, and Gage.

Kendric still held a gun in case an enemy appeared. His face was twisted, and I knew the expression well—heartbreak.

Gage and Xander watched two separate directions, each tense and pale. Even though we’d all been hurt by Raven’s betrayal, our pain was nothing compared to Kendric’s.

Heading straight to Briar, I examined the scratch marks on her shoulder. Though she hadn’t complained, I hated that she was injured. I kept failing to protect her.

Ryker emerged, his shirt torn, but since we’d shifted, his wounds had also healed. His eyes met mine, but he seemed cold and distant.

“We’d better go see whatReidurgently needs to tell you.” Ryker’s nose wrinkled, making his feelings clear.

I just turned and led the group toward the Blackwoods’ town. We slipped through the woods in tense silence, not one of us straying more than a step from the others.

The Blackwood neighborhood came into view—rows of tan two-story homes built from the same sturdy materials, identical in layout, structure, and spacing. Every house had the same wraparound porch, the same white-painted trim, the same gabled roof. Cookie-cutter homes designed for pack functionality and order. Nothing fancy. Nothing unnecessary. Just practical.

We walked past at least a dozen dead bodies surrounded by pack members crying and tending to the ones they loved. Images of my parents and our pack flashed into my mind, and I guessed that Ryker and the others were feeling the same way.

Ryker stayed by my side, just an inch away. With him on one side and Briar on the other, some of my worry eased.

Reid’s house was the last one on the corner, three rows in, and close to the west edge of the territory, the woods curving behind it, with a wide backyard for training and a reinforced fence.

---