Demonic Regime

Chapter 20: The Beta of Wolfsbane (Jed)

"I think he's waking up."

I closed my eyes tightly and slowly opened them.

"Hey there, Red." Coyote blew smoke over my face and handed me a canteen. "Thought you might have died on us."

Rubbing my forehead, I sat up and finished off the water. "Where the hell am I?" I wiped my face with my arm.

Cat was standing at the window with Pix sitting at her feet. We were in some old rundown house. The carpet was practically black, and the wall had some questionable stains on them.

"You should've stayed in the truck, idiot." Coyote grinned at me as he puffed on his cigarette. "You're lucky Kitty-Cat likes you, or we would have let you die out there in the heat."

I laid my head back against the wall. I didn't remember much. I just kept running down, and at some point, everything went haze. Hissing in pain, I leaned forward to get a look at my feet. There was some kind of cream covering my blistered and redden souls.

"You burnt the fuck out of them," laughed Coyote. "All you had to do was sit in the truck, and we would have come and got ya." He flicked his bud across the room. "We weren't going to let them mutts pack you off to Wolfsbane."

"Where is everyone else?" I scanned the room. There was another doorway, but I didn't hear anyone.

"Hide took them to a safe house while we went to find you," said Pix. "He told us to wait for him here, and he'd come get us."

Cat ground the bud into the floor. "Who marked you, Red?"

My head rolled to the side. Well, I was fucked now.

"Red," she said firmly. "Who did it? Hide is going to be back any time, and if you want me on your side, you better tell me what happened."

I rubbed my shoulder. "His name was Axil. They tested my blood. They tested everyone, and if it tested like shit, they slit your throat. There was blood everywhere. They just threw the bodies all over the ground." Letting out a shaky breath, I sat cross-legged, being careful of my feet, and put my hands in my lap. "That dog bit me. There was nothing I could do."

"Axil?" breathed Coyote. He looked at Cat. "You don't think it was that Axil, right?"

She shrugged. "They overtook the warehouse in twenty minutes. Barely any of us were able to get out in time. These weren't some random pack of dominants looking to kill a few rebels. They knew what they were doing."

"It was Wolfsbane, thought," whispered Pix. "Aren't all their dominants like that?"

"Mindless killers," replied Cat, shaking her head. "These ones came with a reason, though. It was thought out."

I swallowed hard. "What is Hide going to do to me?"

"Pix." Cat motioned for the girl to stand. "Watch for me."

She did so as Cat grabbed her bag and sat down in front of me. "Well, seeing how slow everything is healing, I'd say you're still human."

My mouth fell open. "I'm not some dog's bitch if that's what you're thinking."

"Good, because Hide would have shot you if you were." She shrugged and took out a small tablet. "Do you remember what he looked like?"

"A werewolf," I replied dryly. "A big black werewolf. He looked like all the other big black werewolves."

"I'm trying to help." She raised a brow. "That is someone's mark. Werewolves don't just say 'oh well, I guess I'll find someone else to be my mate' after leaving their mark. Depending on who it is, they will hunt you down." She turned the tablet to me to show a picture of a black werewolf. "Does he look familiar?"