“You coming?” Trig asked quietly.

Ava and Colt had already been let out of their cell across the room. If it could be called a cell. Really, the two cells under the precinct were cages built for shifters like them. Not many people knew about them, but according to Officer Hamilton, that was all a-changin’. Kurt had always thought it was the crows who would get shifters busted to the public, and he was kind of right. If they hadn’t gone after Ten, shifters would’ve remained in hiding longer.

God, he hoped she and Gunner were okay.

Officer Hamilton led Colt and Ava toward a set of stairs on the back wall, but Kurt was lacking motivation to drag his aching body through the precinct.

“Kurt?” Trig asked, waiting for him at the open door.

Everything hurt. Wouldn’t be long now. “Will you watch after them when I’m gone?” he asked the Alpha of Two Claws.

Trig’s mouth set in a grim line, and he sighed. There was no use saying “I won’t have to because you’ll be around for a long time.” Trig could tell how sick he was. He’d been trapped in this cage with him for three days, trying not to Change and kill Kurt. Predator shifters didn’t like to be around other injured or weak monsters.

Trig nodded. “Come on. Let’s get you home.”

Kurt chuckled. “I’m gonna die in a barn.”

“It’s a nice barn, though,” Trig joked.

Good, he was glad they could joke about this, but Trig’s eyes stopped dancing and he went all serious again. “You know I’m grateful for all the sacrifices you made for us.”

“Shiiit. You know I’d do it again.”

“Ava’s here because of you. And Tenlee and Gunner. You carried a ton of weight on your shoulders to make other people’s lives easier. You’re the best man I know, Kurt. One of my best friends.”

“Eh, stop bein’ all mushy.” Kurt grunted as he forced himself upward. “You know what your dad would say if he was watching us right now?”

Trig laughed and led the way out. “He’d probably say something like, ‘Y’all park your motorcycles in the garage until you earn ’em again. Until then you can ride pink tricycles and I’ll even put glittery streamers on the handlebars for you.’ And then he’d say, ‘Now stop lookin’ like you want to hug away your feelings and muck out them stalls.’”

Kurt laughed low because, really, Trig had nailed the impression of his late father. Mr. Massey had been one tough sonofabitch. “Yeah, he wasn’t much for mushy moments. He would find us something to do to put some hair on our chests again.”

“Yep, and Colt would be sittin’ up on the porch drinkin’ a beer and giving us shit, talkin’ about how he was my dad’s favorite until Dad booted his ass to the barn and made him get to work, too.”

“Well, I would’ve been the favorite, clearly,” Colt said from the bottom of the stairs. “I always minded what he said.”

“Bullshit,” Kurt said. “I only knew him a few years, and I saw y’all pop off at each other more times than I could count.”

“Cussing at me was a sign of affection.” Colt shot Kurt his middle finger and followed Ava up the stairs.

“You know,” Officer Hamilton said from in front of them. “You should really take this more seriously. There’s news coverage all over the world showing a girl turning into a Polar Bear and chasing a bunch of motorcycles down the street.”

“Correction,” Ava said from behind the officer. “I chased a Suburban full of assholes down the street.”

“And you killed three men.”

“Correction, there were three dead crows that were obviously dead when we got there,” Colt said.

Kurt snorted and shook his head. He was pretty sure the cops in this town all knew them by name. How many nights had he spent down here with Trig and Colt when they were in that MC? A dozen? Two-dozen? The cops all knew about shifters in this town. “Look,” he called up to Officer Hamilton as Kurt scaled the top stair, “you all took these jobs to protect the outside world from finding out about us. You failed just as much as we did by protecting them crows too much.”

“We fuckin’ told y’all to stay away from Red Dead Mayhem the last time you were arrested!”

“In my defense, I wasn’t arrested that time,” Ava said smartly. “I didn’t hear your directions.”

Colt snorted and Trigger laughed, and Kurt was pretty sure she was going to be just as outlaw as the rest of them. God, he wished he could live long enough to see the hell they were going to raise. “I wasn’t arrested that time either,” Kurt backed her up. “Y’all need to send us memos or something.”

“Yeah, a list of laws you don’t want us to break for a while,” Ava muttered.

“All of them! Avoid breaking all of them! Avoid murder and mayhem and fighting and property damage and eating other ranchers’ livestock!”

“That’s a lot of rules, Tim,” Ava said.

“My name is Harold.”

Oooh, it hurt to laugh.

Harold smelled mad as hell as he led them through the precinct and up front to gather their belongings they’d been arrested with. After that was done, he marched to the exit, opened it, and ordered them to “Don’t leave town!”

“Okay,” Trig said nonchalantly.

“See you tomorrow, Tim!”

“What?” Officer Hamilton yelled. “Why are you seeing me tomorrow? Are you planning on getting arrested again?”

“Maybe,” Colt said. “Tomorrow is a new day, and we do get bored easy.”

Officer Hamilton just stood there with his mouth hanging open.

“You won’t see me tomorrow,” Kurt promised with a cheeky grin. “I’m dyin’.”

“Good! One less of you assholes to deal with.”

“The Salisbury steak was real good this time!” Colt called over his shoulder. “Potatoes were kinda watery, though.”

“I hate this job,” Officer Hamilton muttered, right before he slammed the door closed behind him.

Kurt was dizzy with the pain, but the second he saw Tenlee, he huffed a breath of utter relief. God, she looked amazing. Like a beautiful badass, straddling his motorcycle in black ripped-up jeans and a black tank top as if the cold didn’t bother her at all. She’d done something different with her hair, smoothed it out a little, but it still looked wild enough. And she’d put make-up on her face. She didn’t need it, but he’d always found dark eyeshadow and red lipstick hot as fuuuuck. And that smile…

It had been the forced smile at first, but the second they locked eyes, her lips had softened into the real one he’d fallen head over heels for. She didn’t have much meat on her bones, but she looked strong, back straight, chin up, confident. His girl looked like she could take on the world. He didn’t even know she could ride. He was so damn proud of how far she’d come in such a short amount of time.

Pain blasted through his middle. Fuck, he wanted to watch her grow into the fiery phoenix she was turning into.

He was going to miss too much.

She dismounted the bike smoothly, like she’d done it a thousand times before, and bolted for him. He opened his arms just in time to catch the wall of affection. Was she crying?

“Ten, what’s wrong?” he murmured, petting her soft hair in the back.

“Nothing, nothing.” Sounded like a lie. “I just really missed you.”

“Okay. Is Gunner all right?” But he could already see the answer since his boy was speed-racing right for them.

Hugs had never hurt so bad in his life, but he didn’t want them to see how bad off he was, so he swallowed the pain and closed his eyes at the relief of having his little family together in his arms.

Ten was laying sweet kisses along his jawline, and his body felt like it was floating. At least the pain was dulling, so he just let himself get wrapped up in the moment.

“Kurt?” Ten asked.

“Yeah, babe?” His voice sounded weird, like it was far away and echoing off canyon walls.

“Kurt?” she asked again, but her pretty bell voice was pitched high and had an edge of panic to it. And when he opened his eyes, the first thing he saw was the Two Claws Clan sprinting for him. Trig’s eyes were locked on his and blazing gold. What the hell? Hell. Hell was a funny word. He would be there soon.

Everything smelled like copper. Like pennies. His skin was tingling with the cold wind, and his hands were going numb. He couldn’t feel Tenlee or Gunner anymore. Ten eased back to look down at herself, but he didn’t understand. Her tank top was wet, and her arms were painted with crimson.

“What happened? Ten? Whaa…” Shocked, Kurt looked down at his own chest.

Ten wasn’t the one bleeding.

He was.

The edges of his vision were shattering inward, darkening the edges until he could only see them—his Ten and his boy.

“I’m sorry,” he whispered to them. “I’m so sorry.”

And then his legs gave out and the world went black. And the last thing he heard was Ten saying over and over, “I love you. I can fix it. I love you. I can fix it.” And then her soft plead right next to his ear. “I wish you won’t leave me.”

And in the final moments of his life, Kurt’s heart broke, because she’d never asked for anything for herself. His wishing squirrel had never made a wish for herself…until now.

And he couldn’t grant it.