I plastered a smile I didn’t feel on my face. “I have no doubt.”
“It’s time to go,” McKenzie said. “We have another mile and a half to cover. I hope your wolf has done his job.”
Dev nodded as he took my hand firmly in his. “He will do his job as Lee and Neil will do theirs and protect my wife.”
“I assure you, I’ll protect her. From everyone,” Lee said in a low growl, but he was looking at Declan when he said it.
McKenzie’s flashlight was joined with several more and now we could move more freely through the tunnels. The opening was larger, and Dev was able to hold my hand as we made our way toward the cave.
“It’s going to be all right, Zoey,” Dev promised. “I would never let anything happen to you.”
I knew he meant that, but I suspected something had already happened to me, and I had no idea how I was going to deal with it.
Chapter Thirty-Two
“Let me kill him, Zoey,” Lee growled in my ear as I sat toward the back of the cave we were hiding in. I’d been informed by Padric that I should sit at the back of the cave, far away from the entrance. I had no doubt Padric was protecting my womb from any possible long-range weapon.
“Yes,” Neil said in my other ear. He sent a hard look to the front of the cave where Declan was sitting with his brother. “Let Lee kill him.”
I shot Neil a look.
“Well, I’m still weak. I don’t dare change forms,” Neil replied. “I promise to help Lee eat him once he’s done with the killing part.”
“I’m thinking about killing Dev, too,” Lee admitted. “And the vampire.”
“You have to stop that.” I couldn’t have Lee threatening to kill my husbands at every turn.
“Daniel has to know that there’s a freaky-ass god in Dev now and that he apparently wants to knock you up,” Lee replied.
“It’s not like that. You weren’t there and yes, Daniel knew. He’s trying to make Dev strong for the fight.” When I really thought about it, it was a testament to how far Danny had come that he even considered allowing Dev into the fight. As possessive as Danny had become, he should have been plotting to hide Dev away with me. But he’d allowed him to take the risk to ascend. It would kill a part of Dev to not be involved. He’d spent his life being thought of as a lesser being. “And Bris was sweet. Almost like a different side to Dev.”
“I don’t know about that, and I’m going to watch him like a hawk, but from what the brother said, Dev doesn’t even realize what happened yet,” Lee shot back. “We should tell him that his brother plans on taking Zoey’s baby from her.”
“We don’t even know there is a baby, yet.” We had more urgent problems. “Can we not borrow trouble? We need to get out of this situation before we deal with any possible babies. And we are not telling Dev or Daniel anything. This stays between the three of us until I am certain there is a problem.”
“Zoey, I have to tell Daniel.” Neil laced his hands together, a nervous habit.
“Why?” The truth was I needed people on my side who didn’t feel the need to run to my husbands and gossip. “Are you his wolf or mine? That goes for you too, Lee. Make the decision now.”
“You know my answer, Your Highness,” Lee replied, breathing deeply as he sat back. He was letting the situation go for now, but I knew we would revisit it in the future.
Neil seemed to struggle. He’d been Daniel’s servant for many years. Breaking with him was hard. It was still his instinct to serve Daniel first. “I belong to you now, Zoey. The truth is I always belonged to you. I’ll follow Lee’s lead. If you want to keep this quiet, I will. But I’m never going to let that bastard take your baby. I don’t care if it’s Dev’s or some asshole god’s. It’s yours and I won’t let him take it.”
“That goes double for me,” Lee proclaimed. “I’ll kill him twice if he tries it.”
I let that settle in as I watched Dev on his belly, trying to see down the mountain. He was attempting to get some idea whether or not Daniel was awake. I thought not. It was awfully quiet even this far away. If Daniel was awake then he would be making some noise. I let my head fall against Neil’s shoulder. The air in the cave was cool against my skin, and the light had been a shock after spending so much time in the darkness. What was taking Zack so long?
Dev crawled backward, keeping his head down. Padric, Declan, and McKenzie joined him in the back of the cave.
“He has people around him,” Dev said. “I count four men, all armed with high-powered rifles.”
“Well, we knew he still had followers.” I kept my voice down even though we were far from where Halfer could hear. “Where the hell is Zack?”
Dev shook his head. “Zack is following the pack. There’s a man stationed outside our tent. Halfer has been talking to him for a while. Zack keeps circling, but he can’t get in without Halfer seeing. He’s going to keep trying, Zoey. Don’t give up hope. So far, they don’t know where we are.”
“How long is that going to last?” I wondered out loud.
“How many people know about the tunnels?” Dev asked McKenzie.
“Just my wife and my second in command,” he replied. “Both of whom are down there waiting for the chance to kill us.”
“I think it only works when the victims are in wolf form. Otherwise, why wouldn’t he just have them switch forms and tell him where we are?” I had a sudden idea. “Dev, I need to check on Halfer’s location.”
Dev’s eyes closed briefly, and I thought he might reject my request. He took a long breath and his hand slipped into mine. “Stay low and close to me.”
“Dev,” Declan started. He sent a pointed stare in my direction.
“She’s my wife and she’s good at things like this,” Dev shot back to his brother. “She’s an asset. I will not allow her to come to harm, but I’m not going to stow her away in the background when she can help, either.”
I gave Declan a “go to hell in a handbasket” smile and crawled low to the ground along the cave floor, following my husband. We reached the edge of the opening, and I could see both the valley below and the field where we’d spent last night. He shook his head in the direction of the valley. “There’s Halfer.”
My nemesis stood in the middle of the wolves, who twitched and growled around him, waiting for something to kill. He was talking to a young man with a rifle in his hands. Halfer gestured around the valley, obviously telling the man to find us no matter what it took. Everything about him screamed frustration, from the frown on his face to his bunched up, bulky shoulders.
There was no way we were getting out of this cave without someone noticing, and I doubted it would be long before some wolf got our scent. The best werewolves in the country were down there in that pack. They would eventually catch something in the air and it would lead them back to us. We would be caught. We could run back into the tunnels, but we would have to face the wolves at the gate. This was what it meant to be caught between a rock and a hard place. I was just grateful the artifact didn’t work on Lee because while the gate might have stopped him, he could have tracked my scent through the ground. If Lee had been tracking me, he would have been waiting when I emerged from the caves.
“See, sweetheart,” Dev breathed into my ear as he pointed. “There’s Zack.”
A brown wolf prowled the edges of the massive pack, circling around. His gaze would stray to the tent every now and then, waiting and watching for his chance to get past the guard. We were damn lucky the guard hadn’t gone in there or he might have discovered Daniel’s coffin and the small army of pixies we’d ordered to stay behind so the wolves didn’t try to eat them.
Halfer suddenly held the paw up. Behind me, Lee groaned. The wolves stopped what they were doing and all focused on their new master. After a moment, I watched as four small groups of wolves took off in various directions, no doubt trying to figure out where we’d gone. Even worse, one of the men was now walking up toward the house, toting his rifle behind him. He was going to search the house and eventually he would find the door we had been forced to leave open. We’d bolted the gate from the inside but I was certain Halfer had come prepared.
“Damn it. I hope he doesn’t have any C-4.” Dev didn’t sound too hopeful because I was sure if he was running this, he would have come prepared. “Screw our contracts, Zoey. From now on I’m bringing in weapons whether our allies like it or not.”
This was the second time our playing by the rules had cost us with Halfer.
“Do you see the way he has to hold up the paw when he wants the wolves to do something other than prowl?” I pointed out.
He nodded. “He’s been doing it a lot. I think he has to do it to maintain such a large group. And he obviously has to remain in direct contact with it.”
“How good is your brother with that bow of his?” I wished I didn’t have to rely on that bastard, but we were running out of time.
Dev got still as he followed my line of thought. He shook his head because he knew I was right. “He’s the best archer in generations. It’s like the weapon is a part of his body. Even so, it’s a small target and we’re a long way away.”