Aric’s snarls ceased and his mouth snapped shut. Yet it was the hatred reflecting in his irises that made him appear more lethal than when he’d protruded his fangs. The wolves, including Gemini, who’d arrived behind Aric, circled out and away from him. I draped myself over his back and hugged his neck. “I’d woken to flashing lights a few times. But I dismissed them as dreams. I didn’t think to tell you. I should have known something was up.”
Aric curled against me and nudged me with his nose. Koda gave us his back, attempting to give us privacy and a moment for me to help ease Aric’s wolf. As the tension beneath Aric’s muscles lifted, Koda marched toward our neighborhood, his fist tight around the camera strap. Liam and Gemini flanked our sides. “Come, Celia,” Koda said with an edge to his voice. “Aric will do better once you return to the house.”
Maybe. The moment I released Aric his protective nature and his agitation returned, boiling over like a tub of acid. I kept my hand on his back. “It’s okay, love.”
My sisters waited on the front porch with Gemini. Taran tugged her robe tighter around her breasts and followed me into the house. “Son of a bitch. If that asshole shows his goddamn mug here again, you’re going to be scraping his charred remains off Mrs. Mancuso’s freak-ass lawn ornaments.”
Gemini must have updated my sisters on the latest debacle. He held Taran against him, his voice heavy with the credence of my family’s distress. “He’d be a fool to return now.”
“A dead fool,” Koda muttered. No one looked happy. Worry creased Shayna’s brow, but the way she clutched the knife at her side also demonstrated that rage didn’t linger far behind.
Emme threw her arms around me. “I don’t like this, Celia. Not one bit.”
“I don’t, either,” I admitted. My hold around her didn’t last. The fur prickling against Aric’s neck told me he needed the space that would only come from the sanctity of our bedroom. He trailed me upstairs without a sound from his massive form. I shut the window and the shades tight and drew the heavy drapes I’d never bothered to close.
I padded into the bathroom to wash my sore feet and redressed in a clean tank top and panties. Aric kept his wolf form. In a way I expected it. What I didn’t expect was for him to join me in bed as a beast.
I stroked the fur along his back and allowed the motion and his presence to soothe me. Aric typically slept with his back to the window. Not tonight. All four-hundred-plus pounds of him faced the large window, guarding and shielding me from the evils that prowled the night.
CHAPTER 19
“You sure you want to do this?”
It was hard to answer, considering Aric asked while he nibbled on my ear. “Yes, dear. Someone has to show your wolves how it’s done.”
Koda growled something about a jar of catnip and where I could stick it as he drove his mighty SUV. “Don’t you have bunnies to disembowel?” I shot back.
Liam shook his head. “Emme says I’m not allowed to do that anymore.”
I shrank back at his comment and glanced out the window while the other wolves barked out laughs. The sloping mountains and forest of Squaw Valley presented the perfect place to build a school for werewolves—and the best place to test their fighting skills. Paul’s death and that of the two weres demanded blood. Aric, his Warriors, and his Elders wanted to provide that opportunity. But the demon lord remained unknown. So did the extent of his power. Everyone needed to be prepared to fight and kill. Everyone.
Koda veered along the dirt path until the forest became too dense with vegetation to maneuver the vehicle. I hopped out the moment he stopped, and narrowly missed stepping into an overgrowth of ferns. The forest was lush and thick with the scent of magic. The Den students paced close by, their collective excitement and were magic piercing through the stratum of the beautiful forest. My tigress stretched within, vitalized by our surroundings.
Thick tree branches blocked most of the sun and infused the air with freshness tangible enough to taste. Aric strode beside me, carrying a box of supplies. We followed the wolves down a winding path that ended at a vast open field surrounded by more forest. I shielded my eyes from the bright sun. The clearing seemed to go on forever.
“Is this private property?” I asked Aric.
“It belongs to us. It’s part of the many properties we’ve acquired for Den use.”
We moved forward to where the students assembled in human forms, dressed in their school-issued navy and silver sweats. They parted as we approached. And while I’d initially been eager to meet them, they quickly unnerved me. The crowd of young weres scrutinized me with challenging gazes as I passed, some of them snarling. As an outsider, I’d expected some resistance, but not such blatant animosity, especially in Aric’s presence.