Page 34 of The Wolf's Appetite
I laughed then,reallylaughed, the tension finally cracking.
And then this heaviness–this seriousness–filled the kitchen.
“Something bad is coming,” Larkin added after a beat, her dark hair partially hiding her features as she glanced down.
“Getting them all together,” Kayla said, referring to our males, “means something serious is coming, and they have to put their differences aside to fight it.”
Everyone murmured their agreement. They clearly didn’t know the details of what was going on, and I only knew what Lennox told me. Truth be told, I doubted he told me even the tip of what was really going on.
No one said anything for a long moment.
I stared at the candles flickering along the counter, then at the glass in my hand. My fingers were trembling just slightly.
Kayla raised her glass for a toast. “To terrifying males who are not only insufferable when they want to be but who’d tear the world apart in order to protect those they care about.”
We all clinked glasses, laughing as the tension cracked just enough to breathe again. But I knew it was a farce. This was just a moment to lighten the fear and anxiety thrumming through all of us.
I didn’t know what was coming next. I didn’t know who we would have to fight or even if we’d win.
But at the heart of it all… we weren’t alone in this.
And that counted for everything.
20
LENNOX
The War Room was cold despite the fire crackling in the stone hearth behind me. The flames couldn’t touch the chill that had settled over the estate.
Sebastian, Kane, Adryan, Cian, Odhran, and a horde of vampires and Lycan males crowded into the room. The space was grand, but with these beings cramped inside, it made it feel like a fucking coffin.
The low light cast shadows on everyone’s faces, their expressions fierce and concerned. None of us spoke for a moment. We didn’t need to. We all felt it—the shift in the air, the pressure building beneath the surface.
Sebastian stood beside the map, arms folded. Adryan leaned against the far wall, dark-eyed and tense.
“There was another attack,” Da said, which was news to me and meant he got a message it had just happened. “I’d sent out word to all the factions we have alliances with. Luca and Ren were the first who got back to me.”
Everyone straightened, growls erupting.
“Luca said a scout patrol never came back. When he and his brother Ren sent a retrieval unit, they found what was left of them.”
“Therabus still?” Adryan my sociopathic uncle, asked.
I stared at my uncle. I gave him shit for being insane–and he was–but I was happy to have him on our side.
Father nodded. “The stench of the Therabus was strong.”
“What did they find?” Cian asked.
“Gutted. Burned. No scent trail of where they went after.”
Father let out a slow breath then stepped forward and saw a laptop on the table. The image on the screen was grainy, clearly taken from a drone given the height.
“Goddamn,” I murmured. “Do Luca and Ren kno’ technology has advanced?”
“The brothers are old school. Still set in their old ways. Their mates are the ones who are bringing themto the twenty-first century,” Tavish said from somewhere in the room.
I had to squint to make out what I was seeing and kept my smart-ass comments about the low quality to myself. The forest was blackened, and trees were split at unnatural angles. The crater from whatever fucking blasted through the earth destroyed everything.
