by Mila Young
The gun from the back of my head falls away, and panicked voices burst around us. I curl my fingers as Dušan climbs to his feet. Bardhyl and I follow suit.
Mad whips around to us, his eyes bulging. “Shoot these three now!” he shouts at the guards behind us.
My stomach tightens, squeezing the terror right up to my throat.
When I glance over my shoulder, the guards have recoiled, the guns in their hands trembling. It’s one thing to shoot zombies from the safety of a fence, but to be in front of them brings out a raw, primal fear.
An explosive shot sounds, and my attention turns to a guard aiming for the monsters running down toward us.
Meira. I can’t see her. Has she given the monsters a command? Where the hell is she if Mad’s men are firing? The terror of something happening to her grips me.
The wave of undead is like a tsunami, relentless, and it sends a shudder down my back.
“We need to move and find her,” I suggest. “We don’t know what order she gave them.”
Dušan swings around and runs up behind Mad, who’s distracted.
Bardhyl charges toward a guard who has his back turned to him and takes him down.
And suddenly, the walls of chaos close in around us. All I can think about is finding Meira, then finishing Mad, and I pivot toward the undead.
A sudden slamming into my side so hard, it has me hissing, my spine arching inward.
I whip around to the guard pointing his gun directly at my chest, and a dull, cold ache fills me. My feet are glued to the ground while the commotion around me fades and only the pounding of my heart sounds that this is it.
BARDHYL
Zombies rush toward us while guards with weapons are running to stop them, shooting wildly.
Pop. Pop. Pop.
I frantically scan the area for Meira. One moment she stood at the top of the hill with the zombies, then she merged into their mass and vanished.
Fury skids across my mind as the siren in the distance howls like a wolf. Where the hell is she? With bullets flying, my insides clench at the thought that she’ll get shot.
A hard punch comes to my shoulder “Get the fuck to the ground!”
I grunt with pain and swing around, my fist swinging. Clipping the bastard in the head, I follow his fall, delivering two more blows into his face.
Someone shoves a foot into my back, driving me flat on top of the guard. Rapidly, I roll off the first guy, seeing the other culprit stumbling to catch his step from being pushed by a zombie. But he’s now lifting his gun toward me. So I kick out my leg, my heel striking him in the groin. He stumbles backward, crying like a baby, and I get up.
Several feet away, I spot Lucien iced over, looking at the man pointing a gun at his chest. I swallow hard.
Acid spills into my veins, scorching my insides. I don’t even remember moving, but I sprint over to them, slamming into the guard, coming in from his side like an avalanche.
He hits the ground as his gun goes off, shooting into the air.
My ears ring with a tremendous buzz.
Frantically, I snatch the man’s wrist and squeeze it until he drops the gun. I headbutt him in the face for good measure. My head spins, but it’s damn worth it. He cries out, blood spilling from his nose.
Lucien is there in seconds, punching the shit out of him as I climb to my feet.
“Always saving your ass.” I groan, smirking at my friend. He turns to me, a slash of blood across his cheek from the guy he just beat up. Looks like war paint, and it suits him.
“I had him right where I wanted him,” he answers, but he smiles his thanks. “Where’s Dušan? Last I saw, he was dashing for Mad.”
I scan the yard.
There’s madness all around, but there’s no sign of him. Did Mad take him? “We gotta find them and Meira.”
The zombies are closing in. They fan out, covering the slopes like locusts coming in for a feed. The three or so dozen guards don’t even bother with us anymore, not when they’re anticipating being eaten alive.
“Maybe it’s not a bad idea to stay out of the zombies’ way until we know they aren’t going to eat us,” I suggest. “And let’s take out these disloyal motherfuckers working for Mad in the process.”
“Hell yeah.” Lucien rips his top up and over his head, undressing so fast, he’s already half-transformed by the time his pants hit the ground. He bounds out as his gray wolf, and I call mine just as quickly, the sharp pain of transforming deep and agonizing, but I embrace it as I ready for war.
The moment I leap forward, the first wave of zombies reaches us. They scramble onward, not attacking, but slamming into whoever stands in their way.
Everyone is screaming as pandemonium strikes.
Lucien and I make a mad rush to the side and out of their way. From my perspective, not one undead has attacked anyone. They’re stopping once they reach the fortress, so that must have been Meira’s command.
Those terrified guards don’t seem to notice and deliriously shout, shoving against the creatures spreading around the yard, shooting them. But there’s no way they have enough ammunition for the whole herd.
And this is our moment. I exchange a glance with Lucien, then I crash into the masses, him doing the same. It’s a strange feeling to be pressing against the undead… monsters I feared my whole life, and now look at me. Rubbing shoulders with them.
It’s ridiculous.
But I also wonder if this is how Meira feels being immune around them.
Like she’s untouchable.
A squeal comes from my left from a guy shuddering, trying to avoid touching the monsters all around him.
Darkness slips over me and I have no regrets. It’s time to bring these dickheads their long overdue punishment.
Chapter 24
Meira
I sprint away from the zombies, cutting across the grounds and hurrying toward the side of the fortress. Moments ago, I rode the wave of the undead, using them as a shield against the bullets. My pulse is still in my throat. And now it beats frantically after I had spotted Dušan darting after Mad. They headed down this wide path between the building and lofty fence. Several of his guards followed, and that worries the hell out of me.
I desperately bolt after them because I want Mad dead, and I don’t trust anything about him, let alone him not trapping Dušan.
The main yard is exploding with combat. There are so many Shadow Monsters that it’s difficult to discern who is who down there. I instructed the undead to run down to the building, hoping that was enough to drive fear into the guards and get them to back away. It seems to have worked with them desperately trying to get away from the zombies.
My feet punch the ground, and with my head low, I sprint down the slope and toward the passage alongside the fortress.
Up ahead, two wolves are spiraling in a wild battle. Fur and fangs are all I see in the vicious fight. Dušan against Mad by his wolf size. Thunderous roars spill around us, primal and explosive. The way they tumble and bite into each other in violent motions has me shivering. Two guards still in human form watch them, and I don’t miss that one is holding a rifle.
Ice fills my veins.
Will he shoot Dušan?
My legs explode in rapid movement just as the gray wolf with black ears who has to be Mad is tossed aside from the fight. He rolls and lands on his side with a huff. Blood mats his fur, peppering his body, and he scrambles upright.
My Alpha stands tall, heaving for each breath, blood running down the side of his wolf face. But he remains strong, head high and a growl erupting from his throat, his teeth exposed. The image is terrifying. Yet seeing him this powerful, this brutal, warms my heart. I love every inch of him even more when he’s this dominant.
I duck behind several trees against the fortress. Everyone is too occupied with the fight to notice me, and I don’t intend to get shot, either.
Dušan doesn’t spare Mad a second. He charges him, headbutting him in the side, throwing him of
f his paws. But in that same moment, the two guards snarl and drop to their hands and knees. A heartbeat is all it takes for their clothes to shred and fall away as their bodies enlarge, giving way to an explosion of charcoal fur. The snap of bones fills the air.
It happens so fast that terror sinks through me. My wolf rises in me at my heightened anxiety. She pushes to escape, to deal with this for me. Except that would be suicidal. If I let her loose, I can never shift back.
“Dušan, watch out!” I scream, throwing myself out from behind the tree.
The two guards are already on him, the fight suddenly three against one.
Anger flares over me, my body heating with the rage of them all turning on him. Of course they wouldn’t make this a fair fight.
I rush toward them and snatch the first rock I lay my sights on, something the size of my fist, then I grab a short, thick branch.
My brain is numb from the horrendous, cruel sounds of their barbaric brawl. My head spins, but they all leap as one after another, taking bites at Dušan. They move with tremendous speed.
The sight of my soulmate butchered will haunt me forever. I suck in shaky breaths and with all my strength, I hurl a rock at one of the guard wolves.
Thump.
It smacks right into his head, just below his ear, hard enough that it knocks him off Dušan. He teeters on his feet, then shakes his head. But I don’t waste a second and sprint toward him.
My knees tremble as I rush to him. Before he reacts, I jab the pointy end of my stick right at his ribs. With all my weight behind me, I drive the branch into him, piercing skin. It sinks deeper than I expect.
He yelps and flinches away from me, sucking the branch right out of my hands, still jabbed between his ribs. His cries add to the chaotic sounds flooding the air. He collapses and starts transforming back into his human form, already passed out.
I turn to the fight, where I notice now it’s only Dušan on top of the guard, but Mad has slipped from the fight. My heart speeds up. Where the hell is he?
A sudden, loud whistle carves through the sounds. My head swings toward the back of the fortress.
Mad stands about fifteen feet away, naked, his body covered in bitemarks and bruises. He’s now holding the rifle the other guard carried. The butt is tucked into the pocket against his shoulder, one hand gripping the stock, and the other on the trigger. He’s aiming at Dušan.
Darkness sweeps over me, stealing all my thoughts… taking everything but the ringing of the gun firing.
I scream, catapulting myself toward Dušan. “Run!”
My heart thunders as my world dissolves and moves too fucking slow for me to ever reach him in time.
The bullet strikes Dušan right in the chest with such force, it throws him backward. He hits the ground with a heavy thump. The guard next to him throws himself to the ground, barely missed by the bullet.
My insides shatter like glass, and I’m at his side in a flash. Dropping to my knees, I cry out, “Dušan, please tell me you’re okay! Please.”
So much blood pours from his chest where he got shot. I can’t even see the bullet in the tangle of blood and fur.
His eyes are glassy and he’s looking up at me.
Tears run down my cheeks. I’m breaking apart. “Y-You h-have to heal.” I hiccup my breaths, hating the feeling coming over me. I’ll lose him. And the emptiness I lived with all my life rushes forward.
The hurt, the agonizing despair, the constant battle to make it through another day. All those feelings are tangled in a knot, swelling inside me.
He’s still breathing, drawing in rugged, hissing breaths.
I’m sobbing uncontrollably as his body changes back to his human form.
Lying before me is my Dušan, trembling, curled on his side. Deep gash wounds cover his body, just as they did on Mad. I press my hands to his chest to stop the bleeding. His mouth moves, but no words come out.
“Just hold on. You’ll heal. It’s what wolves do. Please don’t leave me. Don’t you dare, Dušan.”
Blood seeps between my fingers, dribbling down my hand and splattering into the soil.
He needs help.
“Hold on.” My pleading slips past my lips as more tears fall.
Suddenly, someone grabs my hair and yanks me backward.
I cry out, reaching back to free my hair, my feet moving with the motion, all the while, my heart thundering.
“It’s over. He’s dead and you are mine.” Mad’s hoarse words tear over me.
I can’t breathe from the anger crashing into me. My lungs tighten, as do my muscles. And I can’t stop looking at Dušan, but I don’t know if his ability can heal a bullet wound. He’s on the ground, in a pool of blood.
This is too fucking much. I scream and shake violently.
I’ve lost everything once already, and I won’t let someone take it from me again. I thrust and buck against Mad, my hands clawing at his grip on my hair. But on the inside, I’m dying at Dušan being left to suffer.
My entire body pulses with adrenaline.
With it comes a hatred that rages inside me, beating through me.
I’m broken. I’ve always been this way, and there’s only one way to really finish this.
My monster lingers just beneath the surface, nudging me to come out, to be free.
She is my salvation, always has been, I see this now. And without her, I can’t stop Mad.
And in an abrupt moment of desperation, I open my floodgates to my wolf.
She doesn’t need coaxing and rushes out of me, coming so fast, her brutal growl startles even me. She’s a tempest of vengeance, and I set her free, well aware of the consequences she brings to me. And I don’t have a single regret.
I can’t live with myself if I don’t do everything in my power to finish this fucking bastard who should have died long ago.
His grip slackens as my transformation rocks through me, ripping me apart like someone’s taken a blade to my body, and then stitched me back together. The world sharpens, and for the first time, I ease my grasp over my wolf.
You are free, I tell her. This is all you now. I shudder, my thoughts constantly on Dušan. While the other half of me drowns in violent fury.
My wolf whips around without any encouragement from me.
Mad’s raising his rifle, his lips twisted when he looks at me, but my wolf pounces on him, shoving him backward. The gun drops from his grip as he shouts for backup.
A large form slams into my side so abruptly, the world tilts around me.
With a snap, my wolf bites right into the side of the guard’s face while bent over me. The ferociousness is stark and animalistic.
He screeches with terror, clutching the side of his head, batting me away with his other hand. I taste his blood, the metallic, coppery tang drowning me. My wolf spits out the man’s ear on the ground, and that grosses me out.
As I get to my feet, a snarl soars from my mouth, and my wolf’s bloodthirsty hunger floods me. For the first time, a new sense of confidence flares over me.
Lifting my gaze, I meet Mad’s eyes.
He’s backing away, his eyes locked on the rifle he had dropped several feet away.
And I dare him with my sneer alone to collect it.
My wolf freezes, watching him, my ears flat, breaths shallow.
Go for it, asshole.
He makes his call, and it’s just as I hoped.
Mad scrambles desperately for the weapon.
My wolf takes off.
We crash into him before he takes another step. Adrenaline races through my veins. Sharp teeth bite into his neck, my wolf savagely shaking him, and she rips free with a chunk of him dangling from her mouth… my mouth. It’s hard to tell when I feel and taste everything, like it’s me moving.
There’s no stopping her now. She goes back and rips him to shreds. Breaks bones, tears flesh. His terrifying gurgling sounds are too fast a death for him. Yet he doesn’t deserve another moment to be alive. He’s a pitiful excuse for
a life.
After he took my Dušan, he needs to suffer.
My grip on my wolf hardens suddenly as blind fury burns me. And before I know it, it’s me there with my wolf, greedily stealing Mad’s last breaths away, stealing everything from him, as he’s done to me and so many others.
Coppery blood fills my senses, and warm blood drips down my face.
Anger burns me. I’m screaming in my head for what I lost, for how hard I fought to finally have a fair life. Now it’s gone.
I glance down at Mad. His eyes are wide and frozen with shock, staring into the sky. Gone from this world but not soon enough.
Stars dance in my vision, and I blink them away. Instead, my wolf presses forward once more and tilts her head up. She unleashes an ear-shattering howl.
Darkness comes at me, curling around me.
My wolf darts back toward Dušan, who hasn’t moved. Then she recoils within me. I feel her pulling back until it’s only me left.
The ache in my heart deepens to the point where it hurts like hell each time I stare down at him gasping for each breath. I need to get him help. It may not be too late.
I turn to fetch someone, when the agony, the exhaustion, the grief swallows me. My legs buckle out from under me, and I’m falling into a darkness that sweeps in and carries me away.
Chapter 25
Dušan
I startle awake, sitting upright so damn fast that the room spins. An excruciating ache burrows through my chest. I cry out with the pain and clutch my chest as I fall onto my back. Eyes shut, I inhale each deep breath, wading through the pain that comes and goes, but slowly, it eases.
Wait… Room?
I peel open one eye and then the other and stare up to a white ceiling with a single lightbulb. Turning my head, I take in the door and wardrobe in my bedroom.
Memories rush at me.
The zombies in the settlement.
Mad shooting me, and well, I’d have expected him to throw me into a prison if I’d survived. He sure as hell wouldn’t take the time to try and fix me. I finger the bandages wrapped around my chest, confused as to how I survived that. When I really look at myself, I notice most of my bruises and bites from the fight have healed. But a bullet wound is something else.