Chapter Two

Dom

A growl crept up my throat as I stared down at the mess. An alpha wolf and a prick of a warlock were writhing in pain on the ground. Amelia I was loyal to; the warlock was an unfortunate factor I now had to deal with. Three confused packmates by my side were trying to hold themselves together while we faced the unknown next steps of the drugs leaving our system without Amelia to guide us. And now an interloping human had stumbled upon the scene, and Amelia fucking bit her.

What an utter fucking headache. The second we betrayed that merciless vampire Apollo to fight a battle that wasn't entirely ours, Amelia had truly backed us into a messed-up corner. Now our leader was incapacitated by warlock magic and I was left to clean up the aftermath. We had switched sides during the battle and helped the local magical creatures defeat the vampires. Or that was what we were doing until Amelia was thrown into the warlock and his active magic circle. The battle was done, but I wasn't about to stick around for what came next, not when we'd made our share of enemies and our reputation as Apollo's lapdogs would do us no favors. No, we needed to leave and find someplace safe for what came next.

Another annoyance to add to the list: When was the last time we weren't on the run? Fighting? When was the last time any of us saw a bed? And now this shit to deal with. I snarled in frustration as I stood, rounding on the mess of wolves and the pile of warlock on the ground next to me. I had vowed to follow Amelia to the pits of hell and back, as long as we grew stronger, and I meant it. I was her second, and I'd take care of it.

"Pin Amelia down. Our position is compromised, we need to keep moving and now we need to drag an unconscious human with us."

The rest of the pack looked at me, surprised.

"Why the human?" Jack said.

"Because, Jack, she was bitten. Look at her arm, she's going to turn in the next couple of full moons." We probably didn't even have that long. She'd either be back up in a minute or we were looking at serious brain damage from a hit like that. "Move. Quickly."

The wolves held a suffering Amelia on the ground but took turns eyeing the human's bleeding forearm. The warlock and the source of Amelia's problem, Jerod, was stifling pained laughter while he writhed on the ground. The thought of kicking his ass while he was down was tempting, but from what I had seen, he and Amelia couldn't be separated for now, so the warlock would have to stay whole.

At least the human was breathing. With her curly black hair shaved close at one side and a stubborn chin, I'd bet she was going to be a handful when she woke up. Scratch that—she had already been a problem in the two minutes I had known her.

"Dom," Aaron said, catching my attention.

His buzz cut and stern brow were coated in sweat and grime, reminding me of the hellish night we had just endured. I reached down to take the human's phone and pepper spray. Not that it was going to do much to any of us.

He continued, "I can scout ahead for more trees, but we're still pretty deep in the city. What about a hotel for the night?"

"You think we can hide these two moaning in pain as we haul their asses into a hotel room?" I jerked my head to the ground where Amelia was pressing herself against the cool ground and snarling, and Jerod was dry heaving.

"And who knows what this new one will shriek when she wakes up. We're better to find neutral wolf lands or at least some deep woods. There's plenty of national parkland northeast of here, we just have to get there."

Aaron nodded sharply, accepting my answer and holding down Amelia's legs.

"We should have stayed with the fae," Jack grumbled.

"We're getting as far away from this mess as possible before the Lunaria's Dream wears off and we're vulnerable," I said. "You want that dragon, Ryker, to get any ideas when he remembers we were the ones who chased down his mate?"

"I thought we were cured, though," Carson said nervously. "That fae lady, she did something to us before we left, right?"

"She said she would do what she could about how bound our bodies were to the drug," I explained, shaking my head. "We won't go through what we've been through before with the withdrawals, but they'll still happen. And I don't want to be here when we do."

"What do we do?" Jack asked.

This was an alpha's job, and I wasn't equipped to handle the mess we were in without Amelia. But I was second in command, and Amelia was all but useless.

A whimper from the human made me look down to see her curled up, holding her head. She made a gagging sound and I wondered if she was about to throw up. Leaning down, I turned her on her side.

"Phone."

I looked down at my feet where Jerod was hunched over, trying to dig something out of his pocket.

"Your phone? Why?"

"Call a . . . ride," he answered. "Favor."

Reaching down, I pulled a black rectangle from his pocket. But the black rectangle wasn't a sleek smartphone, it was a melted wad of plastic and glass.

I dangled it in front of him so he could see. "Sorry, bud. It's fried from your little explosive exploits."

Jerod groaned and rolled face down. Standing straight again, I crossed my arms over my chest. What would Amelia do? The better question would be what would the old Amelia do? The one before getting us all hooked on Lunaria's Dream for a power trip. Amelia had always been aggressive, but the last decade had been a whole new level in a desperate attempt to gain some kind of advantage over the alpha that had conquered our home. There was a reason we didn't have a proper pack anymore, and the last few years had been spent growing strong enough to do something about it. If it was up to me, we'd go back right now.

Amelia was out of commission for a while. Nine hours, according to the warlock. It was up to me. It would take longer than that to get back, but I could convince her when she regained herself. Apollo was gone, we were about to be free of the drug, whether we wanted to be or not, and there was nothing stopping us from going back and fulfilling an old promise.

"We're going home," I announced.

"The castle is rubble now, remember?" Jack said. "We can't go home."

"Not there. Home," I said.

The wolves perked up.

"Home?" Carson asked, excitement creeping into his voice. "Home-home?"

"Home-home," I confirmed.

"Amelia isn't going to like this," Aaron said hesitantly.

"You heard her before, she was considering at least seeing how the pack was doing," I said.

"She probably meant she was willing to call Naomi," Aaron argued. "She's not going to like showing up at Moonpeak in this state. Especially if we can't find her sister."

"It's going to take a lot longer to get to the village than nine hours. We'll head that way and see what she says when she snaps out of—" I looked down at her.

"No," Amelia snarled. "Don't you dare, Dom."

I crouched over Amelia, looking into her eyes as much as I could while she flailed about. "Relax, we aren't getting far with you like this. I'll get us safely to the woods. You can take over when you're yourself again."

Amelia growled and snapped at me, but I stood and stepped back. "Jack, Aaron, grab her. Carson, the warlock."

I scooped the human into my arms and carried her along. "You were in the wrong place at the wrong time. I'm sorry," I said, not that she could hear me.

"Where to?" Jack grunted, trying to keep a hold of Amelia.

We couldn't very well take Amelia around naked in the daylight. At least the rest of us had found a pair of shorts or something. If we had stuck around, I was sure the fae would have tried to help, but they had more dire situations on their hands than we did, what with the aftermath of battle and removing the destruction from human eyes.

"Put the warlock's shirt on Amelia," I said to Carson. "Then, we'll find a more discreet passage through the city."

Carson took the shirt off Jerod and tossed it to Aaron, who was barely able to get a fighting Amelia's arms through the sleeves without ripping them.

"What method of transportation?" Carson asked. "We can't exactly take the bus like this."

"We're close enough to a road from this part of the park," I said. "We need to secure a vehicle. First, we move to the set of trees over that way, where we can watch the road for an opportunity."

We moved quicky. There weren't many people in the arboretum yet today, and we were able to move without incident. The rain and the disaster at the plaza from last night's battle helped. It kept the humans indoors until the scare wore off.

I scanned what I could see through the trees, but I was going to have to get closer if I wanted a clear picture. I could hear motors and cars, but I couldn't see them yet. "Stay here, and watch the human." I set the woman down. "Don't let her choke if she vomits. I'll find us a ride."

The first twinge of Lunaria's Dream sank its unforgiving teeth into me for letting it run out of my system, and my stomach turned.

Great. Another damn problem.