The sun had dipped low enough to bake the Saints into silence. Their failed side-stage set had wrapped with a sad, sputtering cover of their only semi-viral song, played to a grand total of twelve disinterested campers and one dude selling corn dogs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Backstage, tension buzzed hotter than the desert air.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Bret stormed into the shared artist tent, still shirtless, still sweating, and now sporting a visible sunburn that made him look like a cooked shrimp in distressed denim.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Gabriel was mid-laugh with Maya and Jonah when the flap whipped open. His ears twitched.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOh hell<\/em>,\u201d Maya muttered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Bret stomped up, voice already raised. \u201cI don\u2019t care how many drones or light shows or goddamn howling fans<\/em> you\u2019ve got\u2014you’re a gimmick. Nothing but claws, eyeliner, and PR stunts.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Gabriel\u2019s smile didn\u2019t budge. He just leaned back against a gear crate, arms folded, icy blue eyes locked on target. \u201cAw, Bret. Rough crowd out there today?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cGo to hell,\u201d Bret snapped, pointing a finger in Gabriel\u2019s face. \u201cYou\u2019re just a flavor of the month. You\u2019ll burn out and the world\u2019ll forget you.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Gabriel gave a slow, infuriating grin. \u201cIf we\u2019re so forgettable, why are you this<\/em> mad we played after you?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Bret turned scarlet \u2014 partly from rage, partly from the sunburn \u2014 and shoved Gabriel in the chest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And that\u2019s when it happened.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Not a punch. Not a brawl.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Just one sound.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A deep, guttural, warning growl.<\/p>\n\n\n\n From right behind him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Bret froze.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Very slowly, he turned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Thane was standing there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Six-foot-two. Muscular. Broad. Brown-furred with flecks of gray. Clawed hands half-curled, ice-blue eyes glowing faintly in the filtered light of the tent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Not saying a word.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Just watching.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n The growl rumbled again, just under his breath \u2014 low and ancient and undeniably predatory<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Bret\u2019s finger dropped. His bravado crumbled like a dry leaf.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Mark appeared in the background holding a sandwich and muttered, \u201cThat\u2019s what happens when you run bad code on a garbage system.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Gabriel leaned in, just a breath away from Bret\u2019s face, and whispered, \u201cYou\u2019ve got five seconds to walk away. Or I let him finish the sentence.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Bret backed up. Fast.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He almost tripped over a folding chair on the way out. Someone near the stage curtain snickered, and a crew member who\u2019d caught the whole thing on their phone immediately<\/em> started uploading it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The video would later be titled: A moment later, Mark took a bite of his sandwich and grunted, \u201cTen bucks says that clip hits a million before midnight.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Gabriel grinned as he clapped Thane on the shoulder. \u201cYou didn\u2019t even raise a claw.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Thane just shrugged. \u201cDidn\u2019t have to.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The sun had dipped low enough to bake the Saints into silence. Their failed side-stage set had wrapped with a sad, sputtering cover of their only semi-viral song, played to a grand total of twelve disinterested campers and one dude selling corn dogs. Backstage, tension buzzed hotter than the desert air. Bret stormed into the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-525","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-tour-life"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/threewerewolves.com\/tourblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/525","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/threewerewolves.com\/tourblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/threewerewolves.com\/tourblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/threewerewolves.com\/tourblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/threewerewolves.com\/tourblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=525"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/threewerewolves.com\/tourblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/525\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3180,"href":"https:\/\/threewerewolves.com\/tourblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/525\/revisions\/3180"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/threewerewolves.com\/tourblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=525"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/threewerewolves.com\/tourblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=525"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/threewerewolves.com\/tourblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=525"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\u201cWhen You Step To The Pack\u2026 And The Pack Steps Back.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
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