Page 73 of Never Tamed
It churns my stomach, smelling it again and brings back a slew of memories. I shake it off.
“No offense, sweetheart, but I don’t give a fuck about Rudy. Where is Andras keeping them?” Mathis reaches for my hand and tugs me away from the pelts.
I hadn’t realized I’d clenched them.
Excitement bubbles in my veins. “It’s made at a local brewery. Or it was. But the place was closed down. I guess there wasn’t much of a market for it because it tasted like literal ass. South side of town over by the train tracks.”
“Abandoned?” Dax asks.
I blink snowflakes out of my eyes. “I’m pretty sure, yeah. I don’t know if they ran out of money and just split or what. I haven’t driven there myself.”
Dragging in another deep breath, the stale scent of the liquor scalds the inside of my nostrils. Yup, it’s the same gut rot. I’d recognize it everywhere. I’m shocked that the others aren't smelling it.
I have no idea why they aren’t catching a whiff. Heartbreak, maybe. It’s dulled their senses. I don’t blame them.
I glance at Dax, who shrugs like he’s absolutely okay with me being the only one with the preternatural senses.
Torin watches me appraisingly and Mathis is…well, Mathis glares.
“We have to go,” I say.
A goal. A destination. Something tangible to latch onto where we’ve been floundering and surviving for so long.
“We’ll go to the old factory and see what’s going on,” I finish.
Noble is a whisper in my head, present through the bond.Baby, no. It’s too dangerous.
“You really don’t want—” Torin starts.
Dax stalks away, disgust twisting his features into a sneer. “Should have known the pretty boy wouldn’t want to get his suit dirty. Fucking bullshit.”
Torin bristles. “I never said we wouldn’t go, dickhead. I’m talking about caution.”
“Caution.” Mathis spits out the word. “We’re dying on the vine. There’s nothing left of us. We finally have a destination in mind.”
“That we should carefully appraise before going off the fucking handle and destroying ourselves.” Torin gestures toward the burnt buildings. The glow of flames turns his hair into gold. “You want to throw it all away? Be my guest. But I’m not risking our mate by being stupid.”
I’m torn in two directions. Both of the alphas are correct. We can’t sit around doing nothing. On the other hand, barging in with guns blazing and no research is a sure way to make a mistake.
I shift my weight from foot to foot and weigh the options against the small voice in my head urging me to move.
“What do you want to do?” I ask out loud.
Clearly we’ll have to go and check it out, Noble supplies.They came from the sewers once.
A blast of Arctic wind picks up and I wrap my arms around myself to keep warm. Growling, Dax shifts and draws me into his arms.
“How much do we want to bet that the sewer lines run underneath the old factory?” Torin shakes his head. “I admit, it’s the perfect cover. I can’t imagine how bad the shit smells in person.”
There, again, like I’m the only one nearly barfing in my mouth from the liquor. “Why can't the rest of you smell it? You’re wolves. Isn’t it kind of your thing? You can smell things?”
Dax drops his hand down on my head and scrubs my hair roughly. “You’ve got a super nose, Red.”
A super nose, stone and sword. I add another mental rock to the bucket of Things That Make Ren Special and hate every second of it.
“I couldn’t even smell what else was there. But you do?” Dax chuckles dryly. “It’s one of your superpowers.”
“And Dax can track a flea through a snowstorm.” Except Mathis still doesn’t look happy about it.
