Vyr’s only answer was to stare with dead eyes at Torren and point to the sky. Indeed, the clouds were dark gray and churning above them. Foxburg was supposed to get four inches of snow tonight.
Torren let off a frustrated snarl and spun on his heel, made his way into the house. But Candace still stood there, looking up at Vyr. He dragged his gaze to her and said, “Remember what I told you, Candace. Remember your role. Don’t let the devil out.” He held her trapped in that silver dragon gaze for a couple of heartbeats and then gave his attention back to the woods.
“What was that about?” Nevada asked.
Nox was frowning up at Vyr suspiciously.
Under the pile of clothes, Candace’s hands shook, but she kept her poker face and shrugged. She couldn’t say words or they would be busted as lies, so she scrambled in after Torren and hoped he hadn’t heard Vyr’s cryptic message to her.
Her role? To stop Torren from going ape-shit when Vyr disappeared. Something was wrong. Something was really wrong, and she had a gut-deep instinct that the storm Vyr was talking about had nothing to do with clouds and everything to do with the watched feeling she had felt in the woods.
She and Torren unloaded the car quickly, but in silence. He seemed lost in his own head, probably worried about his friend. Each time they passed through the kitchen to make another run to the car, Nox stopped heating up food to stare at her. The entire crew was feeling this, so when the soft hum of an engine sounded outside, it wasn’t surprising at all for her. From the somber looks on the crew’s faces, for them either.
“Methinks Damon Fucking Daye has been up to no good,” Nox muttered as they all watched the blue and red police lights slowly approaching through the woods.
“Why isn’t Vyr running?” Candace asked. Out the window, she could see his leg still dangling from the roof.
“He said this was the last place he would run to,” Torren said in a gruff voice. “This is where he wants to stand his ground.”
“Are we fighting?” Nevada asked in a meek voice as three more police cruisers and a news van appeared in the clearing.
Torren growled out, “New Sons of Beasts Crew motto: fight everything.”
Nox was already peeling off his shirt before the boys got to the front porch. Sheeeyit. Candace bolted after them. The boys would go knuckles first and ask questions later, but she knew most of the police force in this town. Maybe she could talk them down. Plus, this crew couldn’t afford a repeat of Covington. That news van meant cameras. Was it even legal to have a news crew present for an arrest? This felt like a violation of privacy.
“Torren!” she called, running to catch up. The boys were speed-walking!
“Nox, wait!” Nevada called from right behind her.
It was Vyr who stopped them, though. He jumped off the roof gracefully with no impact, as if he had flown, but Vyr didn’t have his wings right now. That man hid a lot of power, even from his own crew. He blurred to nothing and reappeared right in front of Torren and Nox. “Let them have me. No more fighting, no more running. My father wants this…” Vyr inhaled deeply, and for the first time since she’d known him, Candace witnessed pain in Vyr’s eyes. “So okay. Dad wins. The humans win.”
“What? No, fuck that!” Torren yelled as a half circle of police cruisers surrounded them. “You’re fine.”
“I’m dangerous.”
“You’re in control!”
“As long as I don’t shift! It was different when I wasn’t alpha, Torren. I was different! Now I have to think about the good of the crew.”
Torren shoved him hard in the chest, but Vyr barely moved. “So leaving without a fight is your solution? That’s how you take care of your crew?”
“Yes. Because I want you to live. I don’t want war. There are consequences to being what I am, and it’s time to pay that. And I won’t pay with your blood.”
“This is fucked up,” Nox murmured, arms crossed over his chest.
“On your hands and knees!” Sheriff Butte yelled, a high-powered rifle trained on Vyr. There were a couple dozen other officers in similar stances.
“Our crew will fold without you!” Nox bellowed, his face going red.
“You’ll be fine,” Vyr argued.
“You’re wrong,” Torren gritted out. “I won’t be fine.”
“It’s one year—”
“In shifter prison, Vyr!” Torren yelled. “You get that, right? You know what that place is like? It’s not three square meals a day and working out and catching up on reading. They’ll hurt you. You won’t come back.”
“I will.”
“You won’t and you know it.” Torren’s entire body was shaking, and his eyes were such a bright green they were hard to look at. He smelled like fur. He reeked of HavoK. “If you’re lucky enough to survive it, they’re gonna change you, Vyr.”
Face blazing red, Sheriff Butte yelled, “I said down on your knees!”
“Torren,” Candace warned, sinking slowly to her knees in the snow beside him. “Do what Vyr says. He’s alpha.”
“He ain’t actin’ like it,” Nox said. “And I don’t see him goin’ down to his knees either.”
Beside him, Nevada was already down in the snow, tugging on her mate’s hand, bright gold fox eyes begging him to join her.
Two cameras were trained on them, and a reporter was narrating what was happening. What the hell? Vyr wasn’t even fighting.
“Hey! Get those cameras out of here!” Candace yelled. “That’s not right. You shouldn’t be here. We’re cooperating.”
“Fuck cooperation,” Torren growled.
“On your knees,” Vyr demanded. The order in that command rippled through their bonds and stole Candace’s breath away. Nox buckled immediately and slammed to his knees so hard the snow beneath him exploded in a plume of white.
Torren grunted in pain but stayed upright on locked legs, right between Vyr and the weapons that were trained on him.
Vyr stepped around him and held his wrists out to Sheriff Butte. “I’m not running, I’m not fighting, let’s get this done and leave my crew alone. They’ve done nothing wrong.”
“False statement, Red,” Sheriff Butte said, handing his weapon to the lady officer beside him. He approached with a pair of massive handcuffs. “Torren Taylor, you are under arrest for an illegal fighting and gambling ring. We’ve got video proof. Now your people betrayed you, like you betrayed them.”
“What?” Vyr asked.
“We’re not here for you, Dragon. We’re here for the silverback. Dax Meyers sent us clear video footage of an illegal shifter fight at the old mill. Two boars have come forward and made statements too. He’s been setting up fights for months. We’ve taken pictures of the blood on the floor. Taken evidence. You’re fucked, HavoK.”
“No, no, no,” Vyr snarled. “He only fights because he has to. He didn’t set up an illegal ring. He has rights.”
“He’s a shifter,” Butte argued.
“So are you, you fuckin’ traitor!” Nox yelled.
“Get up,” Vyr ordered the crew.
Candace gasped when her body lurched upward. Vyr was backing away, hand across Torren’s chest to bring him along. “It’s me you want, not Torren.”