“If that’s the reason you left, then you wouldn’t have snuck away while I slept.”
“I snuck away because I knew you would try to stop me. I didn’t want to argue.”
He snorted. “Since when?”
“Maybe you should just concentrate on driving.”
Caine paced the small clearing, halting before the three curs who knelt in the dirt.
He wasn’t surprised he was too late.
In fact, after he’d realized Giuliani and Harley had found the amulets he’d hidden in the tunnels, he was shocked the fools had stumbled across them at all.
Unlike his soldiers, Caine hadn’t run blindly after prey he couldn’t track. Instead, he had called for the witch who had made the amulets, knowing she could cast a spell to reveal their location.
At least their general location.
Magic was never an exact science.
Which was why he preferred not to depend on it.
“Forgive us, master, the Were overwhelmed us,” Tio, the cur nearest to him, muttered, his face pressed to the ground. “We failed you.”
“His power,” a second cur, Drew, muttered. “Shit. I never felt anything like it.”
Caine’s jaw clenched. He didn’t like to be reminded of Giuliani’s power. Or how easily he could enforce his will on curs.
“Just tell me what happened, you idiots.”
In unison the three soldiers climbed to their feet, the two naked curs still trembling from Giuliani’s attack while Frankie was nursing a wound to his head that was swiftly healing. Harley’s work, no doubt.
Tio, his dark hair matted with sweat, answered. “We were searching for the prisoners as you commanded, and…”
“And what?”
“I don’t know what the hell happened. One minute we were near the highway, and the next thing I knew we were here.”
“Did Giuliani call you?”
“I don’t think so.” The cur shook his head in confusion. “He was busy fighting with another Were.”
“Harley?”
“No. Some pureblood with red eyes,” Frankie said. “Christ, he gave me the willies.”
Briggs. Caine clenched his hands at his sides. Damn the Were. He’d gone to great lengths to keep his pack from coming in contact with the magic-wielding pureblood. Caine might be able to convince the curs he’d been granted a mystical vision of the future; after all, they wanted to believe he possessed the power to offer them the chance to become purebloods. But they’d be far less eager to follow him if they suspected his vision had forced him into a partnership with a traitorous Were who had sold his soul for power.
Even curs had standards.
“What happened to him?”
“Harley snuck up behind him and shot him in the head.” Drew said.
“Stupid woman,” Caine muttered, his heart freezing at the danger the female had put herself in. Dammit, he needed her. Or at least, he needed her blood. “Is she trying to get herself killed?”
“Didn’t matter,” Frankie said. “Giuliani shifted and attacked the other Were like a madman. I thought for sure he’d kill him, but then the stranger just disappeared.”
“Freakiest thing I ever saw.” Tio’s eyes were wide. “And that’s saying something.”
“Did Giuliani manage to injure the Were before he disappeared?”
“Mauled the hell out of him,” Drew said.
A chill bloomed in Caine’s heart. Briggs had always been smugly confident that his power was greater than the King of Weres. Christ, he boasted of it with nauseating frequency.
What if he was wrong?
“Damn.”
With a frown of suspicion, Frankie moved forward. “You don’t seem surprised that there’s a Were out there who can simply disappear.”
With a vicious backhand, Caine sent the cur flying backwards, blood dripping from his mouth.
“Maybe you should concentrate on finding the prisoners you allowed to escape before I have your pelt made into seat covers.”
Effectively reminded of who was boss, the three curs scrambled to obey his command.
“Yes, master.”
Waiting until the curs had disappeared through the trees, Caine turned his attention to the blond-haired woman with plump cheeks and a lush body.
“Vikki.”
Dressed in tight denim shorts and a tiny tank top that barely covered her generous br**sts, she sashayed across the uneven ground to press against him.
“You need me, lover?”
“You can sense them?”
She closed her eyes to concentrate on the spell she’d cast before leaving his lair.
“Distantly.” She pointed her hand toward the river. “That way.”
“Go with the curs and keep me informed of their location.”
Opening her eyes, she pouted at his sharp command. “I want to stay with you.”
He yanked from her clinging touch. “I’m not in the mood for games.”
Fury raced through her pale eyes as she gave a toss of her curly hair and turned to join the curs.
“Fine.”
“Don’t try to capture them. I just want to know where they are.”
Without turning, she lifted her hand to flip him off. “Whatever.”
There was a faint rustle of brush before Andre appeared at Caine’s side. The muscular cur with long brown hair and black eyes was Caine’s second in command, and one of the few people that Caine actually trusted.
“How do you intend to overpower two full-blooded Weres who will be expecting you to attack?” Andre asked.
“A worry for later.”
Caine bent down, studying the damage caused by the fierce battle between the two powerful Weres. Claw marks gouged the ground, splashes of blood and chunks of fur spread over the broken branches. He touched a tuft of pale fur, knowing it didn’t belong to Giuliani.
“What is it?”
“A warning.”
“I don’t understand.”
Caine straightened, his jaw clenched. “A soldier only becomes a hero if he picks the winning side.”
Salvatore had always been a predator. Wherever he went, whatever he did, he was the biggest, baddest creature around. And that’s exactly how he liked it.
Suddenly becoming the prey…
It sucked.
Silently cursing Briggs and Caine and the persistent curs who he could sense in the distance, Salvatore angled toward the Illinois side of the river.
Sitting with white-knuckled tension at his side, Harley shot him a wary frown.