“Copy that,” Garrett said. “This was a helluva night. Did we lose anybody?”
Spittle and blood dripped down the Cyst soldier’s pasty white chin.
“Don’t know,” Sam said. “I hope not.”
Chapter Thirty
Honor picked up several broken mugs off the floor of Sam’s cabin. The outside deck and part of the front wall had burned, while the window was completely shattered. The smell of smoke and blood filled the air, so she hurried outside to try to breathe. The storm had ended right around dawn’s arrival, and the rain was on pause but no doubt would continue soon. She had to jump over a pile of burned wood to get to the muddy ground. At least her jeans, boots, and borrowed green sweater had survived the attack.
Sam stood near the tree line, kicking out the remains of a still smoking sapling. He’d changed into jeans and a dark T-shirt.
Bear strode through the trees, ignoring a burn mark down his arm. “Cabin?”
“Not bad.” Sam crossed his arms and watched Honor pick her way through debris. “I can’t believe this.”
Honor reached him and kicked an ember out of the way. “Does this kind of thing happen often?”
“No,” Bear answered before Sam could. “This is the first time we’ve been attacked on Grizzly soil. At least by the Kurjans.” He angled his head to see a decapitated Kurjan body by the remains of the deck. “They might think twice next time.”
Honor rubbed her chilly arms. Even though the storm had ebbed, a chill hung in the air. The promise of winter to come. “How bad was it, Bear? What are the injuries? Or deaths?”
“Several injured, only two need to be sent to the Realm hospital,” Bear said, his eyes a deeper brown than usual in the early light. Anger rolled from him. “No deaths on our side, and we have a cleanup crew that should be here soon to take care of Kurjan dead. We’ve found four dead, not counting those in the helicopters.”
Sam inclined his head. “Those probably survived. I saw a couple jump right before the explosions. They would’ve run the other way upon hitting the ground, just to go heal.”
This was such a strange new world Honor had entered, but at least none of her new friends had perished. “This is our fault,” she whispered, guilt stabbing her in the gut.
Sam swung his intensely green gaze toward her. “No. This is the Kurjan nation’s fault. Period.”
She shook her head, her stomach sinking. “They came for us. For me. We’ve put everyone in danger.” She liked the shifters in Bear’s compound and had found many friends already. The idea of them dying for her made her want to vomit. “We have to go.”
He surprised her by nodding. “Agreed. Talked to Garrett, and we’re going first thing tomorrow after helping with cleanup.”
“The fuck you are,” Bear snapped.
Honor took a step back out of pure instinct.
Sam merely lifted one eyebrow. “Excuse me?”
Bear’s growl was all grizzly. “You’re Grizzly Club members. Fully patched in, whether you’re shifters or not. That means something and isn’t for show, Kyllwood. If you think I’m letting the Kurjans attack us and force out two of our brothers”—his hard gaze cut to Honor—“and their females, then your vow didn’t mean jack shit.”
Sam turned only his head to stare at Bear. “You know me better than that.”
“Yeah, I do. So we’re not givin’ the Kurjans what they want, which is you out in the wild swinging alone with Kayrs. We beat them back, and we’ll do it again if the bastards come.” Bear blew out air. “It was a good fight. My people needed one.”
Sam shook his head. Then his phone buzzed and he drew it out.
Bear unashamedly leaned over to read the face and then whistled. “You’re on your own.”
“Ha. We’re brothers, remember?” Sam clicked the speaker phone. “Hi, Dage.”
“What the fuck is happening in Grizzly country?” Dage yelled.
Bear snorted. “Hi, King. What are you talking about?”
Silence. Dead-heavy, threatening, violent silence somehow came through the line. Honor took another step back. Just in case a phone could blow up.
“Bear,” Dage said. “Where is Garrett, and why isn’t he answering my call?”
“Sent him to town with four other members of my club, to get supplies to fix up the place,” Bear said cheerfully. “He’s either not answering because he doesn’t want to get yelled at, or more likely, he lost his phone. We had a bit of a skirmish here, just internal—good training. You’ll be glad to know that he gave much better than he got and is just fine.”
Sam rolled his head back as if a headache was looming. “We’re fine, Dage. Nothing happened.”
“I’m the king,” Dage growled.
Honor nodded. Yep. He even sounded like a king. Power rolled from him.
Sam’s lips twitched. “You’re a good king. Great leader. Nice talk. See you later.” He pressed the speaker button.
Honor gasped. She’d never met the king, but even she could feel the force that was Dage Kayrs. “You probably shouldn’t hang up on the king. Any king, but definitely not that one.”
Sam rolled his eyes. “He’s just nosy. He’d already know if we were hurt.” Then Sam concentrated on Bear. “What’s your plan? If you tell the shifter nation about this, then they’ll want to know why we were attacked, and they aren’t aware that Garrett is one of the Seven and that I’m, pardon the incredibly stupid name, the Keeper.”
Bear wiped an ember off his arm. “Well, I’ve been thinking on that, and we’ve already had inquiries. Everyone owns satellites, Sam. There are no secrets.” Stress cut into the sides of Bear’s generous mouth.
Sam nodded. “My suggestion is to give them enough to appease them: Garrett is here and has a bounty on his head, which isn’t a surprise, considering his dad is Talen Kayrs and his uncle is the King of the Realm. Let it slip that a rogue group of Kurjans tried to make a name for themselves and got their asses kicked.”
Bear’s alert gaze scouted the area around them. “That’s a decent plan. No need to mention you, your lady, or Garrett’s being part of the Seven. Yeah. I can sell that.”
Sam’s phone buzzed and he quickly answered it on speaker, not groaning this time. “Hi, Hope. What’s up?”
“Uncle Sam? It’s early here but I had a bad dream about you. You okay?” The voice was young and female—probably late teens? She sounded drowsy as if she had a horrible cold.