I ran my hands up the back of his neck and let my fingers tangle in his hair. The kiss deepened. I could feel him relaxing by a few more degrees.
He broke it off before we could get carried away. I knew he was thinking of what George must be sensing right now, but I didn’t want to get into that again. On top of that, the noise in my head was getting a little distracting for the sort of activity we were engaged in.
At least the rest of the pack couldn’t read me as well as George could. With practice, I’d gotten better at filtering what slipped through into their awareness. I’d tried to do the same with George but I just couldn’t seem to keep him out. It’s like he tried extra hard to stay inside my head. The rest of them felt weaker, more agreeable to my pushing them out. Vera said it was an alpha thing. Which didn’t comfort me much since I couldn’t manage to do the reverse. I heard every single one of them, whether I wanted to or not.
I needed a break. A deep breath. Not that it helped in clearing my head. Nothing did.
I looked around for my headphones.
My thoughts clouded and jumbled as the volume increased. Someone yelped out loud and it echoed through my skull.
“What’s that?” Wes asked, drawing away and raising his face to the ceiling.
I sniffed. The smell of burnt hair permeated the air. I didn’t waste time trying to cover my face against the odor. Instead, I jumped to my feet and shoved the flap aside, searching camp for the source.
My tent had been constructed in the center of the clearing. All around me, makeshift tarps and tents and everything in between that could possibly be used to escape the elements had been thrown together in haphazard rows. There was no system, only open space and taken space. The boundaries of each shifted daily.
For once, I was glad to be in the center of the chaos the hybrids called home. It gave me a great view for searching out drama and mischief—of which there was plenty.
“Where is it coming from?” Wes asked, joining me.
“There.”
In the far left corner, beside a wounded-looking tent, an aging Werewolf-hybrid cowered underneath the menace of Nick. He was a hybrid as well, turned from Hunter to Werewolf in his prime. He was stronger and faster than a lot of the others. But not me. Not the alpha.
“Be right back,” I said.
“I’m going with you.”
Wes and I picked our way around tents and other obstacles. Shoes. Clothes—some shredded, some coated in mud from being left outside during last night’s rainstorm. Any other personal effects were out of sight. Possessions were limited and therefore closely guarded.
I approached Nick warily. Lately, he seemed to be the force behind more and more disputes. I wasn’t sure what the deal was, except that he had some need to exert authority over the others. That wasn’t going to fly. I had the authority here.
“Nick,” I called. My voice was at normal volume but the severity of it was enough to get the attention of everyone in sight. “What the hell is going on?”
“Rafe decided to sneak into my tent and go through my stuff,” Nick said.
I looked at the older hybrid. His yellow eyes were wide in contained pain. He was missing fur in several places on his shoulders and face. What was left smoked faintly. The smell was worse standing this close.
“Is this true?” I asked.
Rafe stared up at me where he lay flat on the dirt before Nick. Behind the pain in his eyes was defiance. “He took my watch. It’s the only thing I have from before. I want it back.”
“You went into his tent because he went into yours?” I asked. Rafe nodded. “Nick?”
He scowled and averted his eyes. I followed their track to the ground and found a pile of shredded fabric underneath Nick’s paws. And half buried in a pile of pine needles, a lighter.
I bent down and picked up the lighter, making sure Nick watched me pocket it. Then I marched over and got in his face. “Apologize to him.”
He blew a short breath out of his nostrils. It hit my face and I almost gagged. Werewolf Nick was in desperate need of some mouthwash. “For what?” he spat. “I didn’t do anyth—”
“Give him back the watch and apologize,” I said, cutting him off.
“Is everything …?” Cambria walked up behind me but stopped short when she saw Rafe. “Holy cow. Are you all right? What happened?” Before anyone could answer, she clapped a hand over her nose. “You really stink.”
I shot her a look. She shrugged. “Well, he does.”
“Should’ve stayed out of my tent,” Nick muttered.
My hands tightened into fists at Nick’s nasty attitude. I had to will my shape to stay solidly human. I badly wanted to shift, but I’d already ruined two outfits this week.
Rafe made some noise of protest and Nick growled.
“Nick, calm your ass,” Cambria snapped.
“He went through my tent,” Nick said.
“Stop stealing from people and they’ll stay out of your tent,” I said, my voice rising as my patience thinned.
“This is bullshit. He had it coming.” The way Nick spat out the words, his lips pulled back from his teeth, made it hard not to bite him—without even shifting first.
I could feel my wolf rising to the surface. Nick was pushing me. My wolf wanted to push back. “Bullshit, huh?” I said. “He came for his property and you burned him.”
“Punishment.”
“Who are you to give punishment? Or pass judgment?”
He didn’t answer.
“Come here,” I said. I held up the lighter.
“No way. You’re not using that thing on me,” Nick said, backing away.
He didn’t get more than two steps before he bumped into something and lurched forward. He turned to see what he’d hit and came face to face with another wolf.
This one didn’t have the yellow eyes of the hybrids. He had russet fur and broad shoulders. Even on four paws, he stood almost a foot taller than Nick, and he glared at Nick with a ferocity I hadn’t seen in weeks. “Do what she says,” Wes growled.
Nick hesitated, which surprised me more than anything. Did he really think he could beat Wes? But then he seemed to come to his senses and hung his head as he shuffled forward.
“Do it,” Nick said, obviously assuming I was going to hurt him somehow, which was ridiculous. I wasn’t a masochist.
I waited, drawing out the suspense as long as possible while Wes moved in behind Nick. Cambria scooted left and nodded at me. Ready, she mouthed.
I bent down so Nick and I were eye to eye and wiggled the lighter in my hand. “See this?” I dropped it on the ground in front of me and brought my heel down on it, drawing on my wolf for strength, until it finally cracked and broke.
Nick winced.
“This is over,” I said, straightening. “I am alpha. Not you. Stop trying to force your own authority or you’ll regret it.”
Nick raised his head. The fiery temper was gone but there was something else. A thirst for something I couldn’t understand. Revenge?
“And give back his watch,” I added.
Nick went to his tent, stuck his nose inside, and came away with something silver in his mouth. He dropped it in front of Rafe and looked back at me. “Are we done here?”
“Yes.”
“Good. I’m taking a walk. Watch my tent.”
“We’ll do that,” Wes said before I could respond. Probably a good thing. I’d only come back with something sarcastic and I had a feeling Nick wasn’t far from wanting to stay and make this into something bigger. Something he shouldn’t.
I let him go.
When he was gone, I knelt beside Rafe. “May I?” I asked, gesturing to the singed spots on his fur.
“Go ahead.”
The burnt hair was coarse underneath my fingertips, interrupted by the strangely smooth patches of exposed flesh. “Cambria, can you take him to the house so Fee can look at these?” I asked.