Scarlet

her, just in time to see Ran wrap his fingers around the gun’s handle. She grasped the barrel and snatched it away from him.
    An exhausted chuckle brought more bloodied spittle to Ran’s lips. “I will kill you one day, brother. If Jael doesn’t first.”
    “Stop provoking him!” Scarlet yelled. Climbing to her feet, out of Ran’s reach, she reset the safety and shoved the gun back into the waist of her jeans. “You’re not exactly in any position to be making threats right now, anyway.”
    Ran said nothing. His eyes had closed, his lips left hanging open with a smear of blood on his cheek, taking in slow, rattling breaths.
    Disgusted, she turned back to Wolf, watching as he peeled his hand away from his wound and stared with surprise at the blood coating his palm. He leaned over on his elbow and swished his hand around in the water to get the stain off.
    With a sigh, she scrambled to her forgotten bag and pulled out a small first-aid kit. Wolf didn’t argue as she ripped open the tear in his sleeve caused by the bullet and took over the job of washing and bandaging the wound. The bullet had just grazed his bicep.
    “I’m sorry I shot you,” she said, “but you were going to kill him.”
    “I still might,” Wolf said, watching her hands.
    She shook her head, taping off the bandage. “He’s not your real brother, is he? That’s just a gang thing, isn’t it?”
    Wolf grunted. Said nothing.
    “Wolf?”
    “I never said we got along.”
    Scarlet peered up at the wild contempt filling Wolf’s face. His green eyes were burning, staring at Ran’s prone body behind her.
    “Good.”
    The ferocity in her voice startled away some of his hatred and Wolf turned his attention back to her.
    “You must know his weaknesses. You’ll know how best to question him.”
    That sympathetic look again. “We’re trained to withstand questioning. He won’t help us.”
    “But he already gave us some information.” Packing up the remains of the kit, she tossed it toward her bag. It missed the opening and slid down to the ground. “He obviously knew something when I asked about my grandma. And then this assignment that was canceled—what’s that about? Does it have something to do with her?”
    Wolf shook his head, but she detected a clouding in his eyes. “He told us what he wanted us—me—to know. Or to believe. I wouldn’t put stock in any of it.”
    “How can you be sure?”
    His fingers started up again—clench, release, clench. “I know Ran. He would do anything to improve his standing. By tracking me down and forcing me to return—or even showing proof that he’d fought me and won—he hoped to do just that. As for the assignment I’d been a part of when I left … they wouldn’t cancel it. It was too important to them.”
    “What about my grandmother?”
    He shook off a troubled frown. “Right. We should keep moving.” He tested the strength in his injured arm before using it to push himself to his feet. The fire had burned down to smoldering coals and soon he had stamped them out, ignoring the duck breast that had shriveled up into a chunk of coal.
    “That’s not what I meant,” said Scarlet, staying put on the shore. “Shouldn’t we at least try to question him?”
    “Scarlet, listen to me. Does he know something that would help? Yes, probably. But he won’t give it to us. Unless you plan on torturing it out of him, and even then there’s nothing you could do that would frighten him more than what the pack will do if he talks. We already know where your grandmother is. Dealing with him is a waste of time.”
    “What if we brought him with us and offered him as a trade?” she suggested, watching as Wolf reloaded their bag.
    Wolf laughed. “A trade? For an omega?” He gestured at Ran. “He’s worth nothing. ” Though his temper could be heard just beneath the surface, Scarlet was glad that the temporary insanity was gone from his eyes.
    “He’ll go back to them,” she said, “and tell them you’re with me.”
    “Doesn’t matter.” Slinging the pack over his shoulder, Wolf spared a final scornful look at his brother. “We’ll get there before he does.”

 
    Twenty-Two
    Night crept up fast. The forest leaned in toward them, a solid wall of shadows beneath the dim spotlight of a waning moon. They’d passed only one junction and continued wordlessly north. Seeing another set of tracks combining with theirs had given Scarlet a beat of hope—at least now there was a