Sealed With a Curse(23)

Mohawk growled hideously, but Aric’s glower immediately silenced his audible protests.

My head shot toward Aric; I was confused as to why he continued to defend me. He didn’t know me. I was the protector. I didn’t need protecting. Still, if I abandoned his pack mate, it would take nothing short of a jackhammer to free him.

My good hand reached cautiously toward one of Mohawk’s long spikes. “Don’t move. It will only take a moment.” I concentrated briefly and shifted him out of the concrete as easily as if he’d lain in a puddle of water. Mohawk jerked, staring at his arms in terror, as if he’d expected to be amputated.

Aric tilted his head, examining me closely. I grasped my injured arm defensively, convinced he’d already labeled me a freak. So when he gave me an approving nod, it caught me by surprise. And so did the kindness in his voice. “Thank you for releasing him.”

Mohawk’s outrage masked the drying scent of blood and garbage from the Dumpster. “Why are you thanking her? She could have killed us!”

Aric faced him. Immediately the Taylor Lautner poser dropped his gaze and moved back. “If she wanted to kill you, she would have ripped off your heads or torn out your hearts,” Aric hissed. “But she didn’t—even after you attacked without cause. Don’t blame her because she tried to defend herself!”

Aric’s protectiveness heated my face with humility. I wasn’t used to anyone watching out for me, and I knew it was wrong to want it—especially from a male. I growled, furious and overwhelmed with the need to explain. “I wouldn’t have touched any of you if you hadn’t jumped me. Never once did you ask me what happened!”

Aric moved away from his wolves and faced me again. “What did happen?”

I tightened my hold around my arm. “I was taking a cab home.” I glanced at the poor women who would never again watch the sun rise. “I smelled…death and leaped out of the cab to investigate. They were already like this when I found them.”

Aric pointed to the cabbie’s baseball cap on the littered ground. “Who does that belong to?”

My tigress made us notoriously vigilant and yet I hadn’t noticed the cap. Probably since I’d been preoccupied fighting for my life. “It’s the cabbie’s. He chased me, but then ran away when he saw their bodies.”

Aric turned to the black wolf. “Find him.”

The black wolf sniffed the cap and disappeared, becoming one with the night. The blasts of sirens inched closer, adding to my distress. My head jerked back to Aric. “Where is he going?”

“To find your driver. Otherwise, you may get blamed for the murders.” He frowned. “What’s wrong with your arm?”

“It’s dislocated.”

“I suspected as much. It’s hung limp since I saw you. Why haven’t you healed?”

I backed away, averting my gaze. “I mend at a human’s pace.”

Aric’s eyes widened slightly before he stalked toward the wolves. “Tell me what you smelled when you caught her scent.”

Tommy wrinkled his nose. “I don’t know. She smelled weird.”

Aric’s tone lowered an octave. “Did you scent any of the victims’ blood on her?”

The wolves exchanged glances, understanding softening their deep-set scowls. “No,” Mohawk replied. “But she stood right next to them—and she’s not human.”

Aric loomed over them. “You attacked an innocent bystander! Just because her scent is unfamiliar does not make her your enemy.” He motioned toward my arm. “Look at her. Her body has not healed. Had you cast a fatal blow you would have ended her life.” Aric shook his head and scoffed. “There is no excuse for your actions.”

The young wolves dropped their heads. “Sorry, Aric,” they mumbled.

“It’s not me you owe an apology to!”

The young wolves sought to kill me, and continued to disrespect me. While I didn’t like it, their actions didn’t surprise me. What I couldn’t comprehend was why Aric cared.

I shuffled toward him. “It’s fine, Aric.”

Aric faced me at the sound of his name. “No. It’s not.”

The sirens boomed louder. Several SUVs and a few police cars screeched to a halt across the street. Blue and red lights flooded the alley like an old seventies disco, sliding over the corpses and coloring their gray skin a sickly lavender. The scene reminded me of the many crime dramas on TV. Yet it was too much to hope that the credits would roll, the show would end, and the crew would remove the synthetic bodies for future episodes. These women had no future. Their lives had been viciously robbed in their prime.