Keeping tight hold of the stroller, Riley watched as Tao stood with his legs almost shoulder width apart, flexed his knees, and basically shot all three balls into the hoops like it was his job.
A bell dinged and Savannah released Riley’s leg, squealing, “You won it!” As Tao handed her the stuffed snake, she wrapped an arm around his leg and gave him the most angelic smile. “Thank you!”
He tugged on her pigtail. “You’re welcome.”
“Damn,” Taryn cursed quietly as a plop of ice cream landed on her shirt.
“I have some wet wipes in the mesh pocket at the back of the stroller,” Riley told her. “Time to get back in the stroller, kids.” Kye hopped off the barrier and turned back to Trey while Savannah slid inside the stroller with her snake. Dexter . . . Dexter didn’t follow her. He was also no longer hanging off Trey’s back.
He was gone.
Riley went cold from head to toe. She spun in a circle. “Where’s Dexter?” The words came out quiet, shaky, but every wolf heard them. “Dexter! Dexter!” There was no sign of him fucking anywhere. Panic choked her. She grabbed Tao’s arm, as if he could keep back the hysteria. “Where is he?”
Fighting the dread beating at him, Tao inhaled a deep breath, sifting through the scents. Catching Dexter’s, Tao turned to their right. “He went this way.”
“I’ve got the stroller, go,” said Trey.
Riley, Tao, and Taryn sprinted down the path, following Dexter’s scent. Whatever was on their faces made the throngs of people gasp and part.
“There’s another scent tight with his,” Riley realized. And both scents were leading to the exit. Riley didn’t think. She just shifted right on the spot.
The raven shook off Riley’s clothes and flapped her wings hard, pushing herself off the ground. She sailed through the air and over the exit of the park. Soaring above the rows of vehicles, the raven searched for the cub. She saw him. He was limp. An adult male was dragging him to a vehicle where another male waited.
The raven swooped down and knotted her talons in the male’s hair. Enraged with this male who would try to steal the cub, she clawed at his scalp, drawing blood. With a loud cry of pain, he released the cub and slapped at the raven. She didn’t let him go. She dug her talons in harder. Bit his fingers. Shrieked at him.
“Get the fuck off me!”
A burning pain blazed along the raven’s leg and pricked her belly. She released the human and recoiled. He turned toward the cub, knife in a hand that dripped with blood. The raven blocked his path, aggressively flapping her wings at him.
“Leave the kid, Mathers! Get back in the car!”
The male glaring at the raven froze, looking from her to the cub.
“The others are fucking coming, move!”
The male spat a curse and hurried to the car. The raven wanted to chase him, wanted to pursue the vehicle as it raced away, but her human half urged her to stay with the cub and guard him—something her human half felt she’d failed to do herself.
Tao dropped to his knees beside Dexter and the raven, his lungs burning. He could see the gentle rise and fall of the cub’s chest, could smell the drug. “He’s unconscious, but he’s alive.” But that didn’t calm Tao whatsofuckingever, because he had the image in his head of the human pulling a knife on Riley. The tang of her blood scented the air. His wolf snarled, offended by the scent and wanting to hunt the human who would dare harm her.
Panicking that she might have been stabbed, Tao reached out to the raven, who stood on the grass. “Come here.” She backed up instead. He gritted his teeth. “I need to check you out.” She snapped her beak at him. “Riley, shift back for me.”
“I’m not sure her raven will pull back anytime soon,” said Trey. “Let’s just get in the SUV and get out of here. Taryn can fix her when we get back.”
Kye touched Tao’s shoulder. “I want to go home.”
“We’re going home,” Tao told him, gently scooping up Dexter, knowing the raven would follow. They all made a quick dash to the SUV. Trey slid open the side door and ushered Savannah and Kye inside. The raven followed and perched herself on a headrest.
Instead of hopping inside, Taryn spoke to Tao. “They’re both okay, Tao. Please don’t lose it on me.”
“I won’t,” Tao ground out, hanging on to his control by the thinnest, most fragile thread.
“The raven’s leg is bleeding and there’s a little blood on her stomach, but I don’t think he stabbed her or there would be a lot more blood. Dexter’s drugged and unconscious, but he’s otherwise fine. Don’t get yourself wound up. The kids need you to be calm while Riley can’t be.”
After Tao gave a curt nod, Taryn slid into the third row of passenger seats, where Kye was already waiting. Tao then sat in the second row, placing himself beside Savannah.
It was mere moments before Trey was in the driver’s seat and they were on the road, heading home. “The scent on Dexter is human,” said the Alpha.
“The guy who tried to take him was one of the people who were with Ramón that day outside the diner,” Tao told him. Silently he cursed himself. He should have considered that Ramón might still present a threat. He hadn’t even thought that Ramón could simply have been biding his time. He’d been so sure that they were fine, and now both Riley and Dexter were hurt.
Savannah clicked off her seat belt and moved to Tao, chewing her thumb and looking from the raven to Dexter. “Will they be all right?”
The tremor in her voice made Tao’s chest ache. “They’ll be fine. Dexter’s just sleeping; he’ll wake up soon. The raven’s a little hurt, but Taryn can heal her as soon as she shifts back.”
“Why won’t she shift back now?” asked Savannah.
“She’s angry and worried, so she wants to stay close and watch over you.”
“But if she does that, Taryn won’t be able to heal her because she needs their mouths to touch.” Savannah crawled on his lap and stroked Dexter’s hair. “You have to shift back,” she told the raven, but the avian didn’t.
Taryn leaned over the seat and handed Tao a T-shirt. They kept plenty of spare clothes in the pack vehicles. “Use this for her leg,” she told him.
Tao shook his head. “There’s no way she’ll let me wrap that around her.” The raven was strung too tight, so all he could do was hope she didn’t lose too much blood and pass out.