Escaping Death

Chapter 19

Ace

I could barely focus on today's job. While Tate and Solana dismantled Lobo Tech from the inside, we set out to eliminate the cops they have on their payroll and make sure the case file Tate is building against them ends up on the desk of someone who won't be bought.

The more I tried not to think about Solana the deeper she became rooted in my mind. I found myself wondering if I should have brought her with me instead of letting her go with Tate. I know Tate will keep her safe — I know that.

But she's such a wild card I don't know if she'll let him, and that's what has my teeth grinding themselves flat.

I have half a mind to leave the guys here to finish tying up loose ends just to get back home and make sure they're back and that everything went well, but I can't race back home without everyone wondering exactly why.

Hunter rescues me from my obsessive thoughts with a firm slap on the back. "You good, man? You seem...preoccupied."

"I'm fine," I dismiss his concern. "The sooner we tie up these last jobs the sooner we can start hunting Nightshade and hopefully get Solana out of our hair."

Hunter flinches like he's been punched and I silently curse at myself. I'm sure that however hard it is for me to have her around it's arguably just as hard for him. She still won't go near him unless absolutely necessary, I don't think she's even said a word directly to him yet.

It's a constant goddamn war. I can't have her and my pack — best case scenario I irreparably traumatize Eli and Hunter as she'd be a daily reminder of a love they couldn't have. Worst case scenario, Hunter and I come to blows over her. My wolf unable to get over their history and Hunter unable to accept that she indisputably belongs with me.

It's not that I don't want her, I won't deny feeling drawn to her like a shark to blood. Even if I could trust that accepting my mate wouldn't leave me fractured like Eli or Hunter, claiming her would bring about the death of Death. But then again I don't want her to leave and find someone else either.

Like I said... a constant war.

"Hunter," my tone is firm and unyielding, "you know she can't stay."

His wolf wants to challenge me, he doesn't want to be told what can and can not happen with her, but he knows better than to act on that impulse. A born Beta, he knows when to call me out on my shit and he knows when to stand the fuck down.

"Let's get this wrapped up," I exhale smoke through my nose, impatience is wearing on my nerves.

Tate will be upset he's missing this, he's the one with the insatiable blood lust. He enjoys the hunt almost as much as he enjoys the kill. Dean is indifferent to it. He will take out our enemies without a breath of hesitation and he won't lose any sleep over it, but unlike his little brother he doesn't make a sport of it.

Next to Tate, Hunter is the most skilled assassin among us. His gift affords him many creative options by which to torture and kill, but he doesn't relish in what sometimes must be done. He does what is required, but I know it weighs on him. This isn't the life he would have chosen for himself, but he's making the best of it knowing he has few other choices. And then there's Eli – the baby of the pack – who works like he lives; footloose and fancy free.

Me? I don't pretend like this life is glamorous, I don't portray myself as someone to be feared, but people do...and they should. Because I don't mind bloodying my hands — and I never fail.

I leave the warehouse fuming. My wolf's anger and anxiety is tearing my mind to shreds. The last time Solana was left alone with one of the guys she ended up in a closed room with a prominent breeder. Today she's at the corporate headquarters of the biggest underground organization of human and supernatural traffickers on the East Coast.