Page 70 of His Mark

Rowan narrowed his eyes. “You’re telling me an entire wolf outpost got wiped out, but no one saw what did it?”

Varek met his gaze. “No one leftalivedid.”

I raised my eyebrows, waiting.

Varek leaned forward, clasping his hands together between his knees. “They come from underground. When they attack, they don’t come in waves or fight in formation. It seems like they don’t move like anything we’ve ever fought before.” The firelight gleamed off his glassy eyes. “They hunt. They pick us off. They play with us. And when they’re done, there’s nothing left but husks. Every team we’ve sent after them has disappeared.”

A shiver ran through my spine.

“Husks?” Rowan asked in a rasp.

“They drain everything,” Varek explained, his expression sharp. “Not just from wolves—humans, animals, livestock, any living thing that crosses their path. They suck bodies dry, like they never had any blood to begin with.”

The fire popped like it was sharing an opinion.

I frowned, shifting slightly, my instincts alert. “So, any weaknesses that you discovered?”

Shaking his head, Varek frowned. “None that we know of.”

“Fire?” Rowan asked.

“From what we’ve been able to gather from the broken radio communications we have received, it doesn’t seem to scare them,” Varek admitted. “Bullets? Sure, they drop, but whether they die or just vanish back into whatever pit they crawled from, we don’t know. There haven’t been any bodies left for us to examine.”

“So how the hell do we fight them?” I asked.

Varek exhaled through his nose. “We just need to catchone.”

Rowan let out a low, humorless chuckle. “Oh, that’s a great idea. Let’s just casually stroll in there, capture an apex predator that no one has ever seen or survived to talk about, and have a conversation with it.”

Varek grinned. “I like you, Blackwood. You get sarcasm.”

Rowan stiffened, glaring at him.

Varek just laughed.

I sighed, rubbing my temples. “Enough.” My voice came out sharp, commanding. “We don’t have a choice. If these things are real, if they’re moving closer to the cities, to us, then we need to learn how to kill thembeforethey get here.”

Rowan huffed out a loud breath, but nodded.

Varek tilted his head slightly, watching me with that calculating look of his, and the wolf inside me bristled.

I met his gaze. “Look, I know it’s tense between us, us being three Alphas and all. But if what you’re saying is true, then we don’t have the luxury of fighting amongst ourselves.”

“Truce, then?” he offered.

I hesitated. Then I reached out, clasping his forearm. “Truce.”

After a moment, Rowan cleared his throat. “What else do we know?”

“We think they’re nesting in the mountains to the south,” Varek said, rolling his shoulders. “Old cave systems and abandoned mines—deep enough that the sun never touches them. The perfect hiding place.”

I frowned, rubbing a hand over my jaw. “You said they can’t go into the sun?”

Varek nodded. “The few times they’ve been reported to have been seen above ground during the day, they retreat fast. They don’t like the light.”

Rowan shook his head and stared into the flames. “So, if we find a way to expose them, we might have a chance.”

Varek smirked. “That’s the idea.”

---