by Knight, Gwen
“Are you sure you want to go out there?” Emma murmured, her arms wrapped around her waist.
“I am. I won’t be gone long, I swear. Promise me you’ll stay here, no matter what. I can’t lose you again.”
She lifted her chin. “I’m not useless, you know.”
“I never said you were. But my pack doesn’t trust humans. Even those who belong to us. Until I can guarantee your safety, I don’t want you anywhere near them.”
Defiance flashed through her eyes, but after a moment’s pause, she nodded. Then she stretched up onto her tiptoes and gave him a quick kiss. “Don’t keep me waiting.”
“Wouldn’t dream of it.”
Cupping the back of her head, he brought their foreheads together and drank in her presence. Afterward, he placed a kiss on the tip of her nose, then stepped off the porch and started across the land.
It didn’t take long, maybe thirty feet from the house when pain exploded through War’s head. Grunting, he reached up and rubbed his brows. Every step he took felt like he was fighting quicksand. As though something was sucking at him, trying to drag him down. When another flash of pain exploded through his gut, he stopped and sucked in a deep breath.
What the hell was happening?
“War?” Emma called out.
“Stay there!” he shouted. He couldn’t protect her out here. Could barely form a functional thought. He took another step, then another, but by the time he struggled through a third, the pain brought him to his knees.
“War!”
Before he could respond, his body initiated the shift, and his wolf burst free. War wobbled on all four legs, his heart racing and his pulse thundering in his ears. He hadn’t wanted this—hadn’t wanted to change. Honestly, he’d feared the idea after being trapped for a year. What if he shifted and couldn’t turn back? But his body had taken charge and forced him into wolf form.
And from the feel of it, refused to let him turn back.
Panic turned his blood cold. He whipped around and stared at Emma.
All the color had drained from her face, and she stood deathly still, her fingers clutching at her chest as though her life depended on it. “War?”
This couldn’t be happening!
No. He refused to lose himself again. Refused to lose Emma again.
He focused on his inner wolf and commanded the beast to retreat. Damn thing didn’t so much as budge. Anger rushed through him as he realized he was trapped. Again.
“No, no, no,” he heard Emma chant.
He lifted his head and watched as she disobeyed his order. She burst free of the homestead and raced toward him, fear shining in her eyes. War growled, and he shook his head, but she didn’t listen.
A heartbeat later, she crashed to the ground next to him, her hands gripping his fur.
The second she touched him, he felt it. The freedom he’d lacked a few minutes ago. His anger and panic melted away as a strange realization crashed over him.
Was Emma the key?
Putting his theory to the test, he initiated the change. This time, it eased over him. His limbs and fur retracted as he shifted from wolf to man.
Emma glanced up with a gasp. “What the…? Are you okay? I thought…I thought…”
“I know. I thought it too.”
“So, you weren’t trapped in wolf form again?”
“No, I absolutely was. Until you touched me.”
“Me?” she squeaked.
War contemplated her with a cocked head. Emma had approached him in the woods the first time he’d shifted back. The instant she’d neared him, he’d been forced back into human form. But his wolves hadn’t. So it couldn’t just be her. It had to be something else. Something about her that allowed him to shift freely.
He glanced behind them into the trees. Right now, he would have wagered any money that if he walked away from her again, he’d be forced back into wolf form. Only one way to find out.
“Go back inside,” he told her.
Emma eyed him and shook her head.
“I need to test a theory. Please, go back inside.”
Biting her lip, Emma scrambled to her feet, then hurried back into the house. The second she stepped inside, the same unimaginable pain wracked him and turned him furry. After the pain passed, he yipped at her, beckoning her closer. And when she did, he turned back human.
“It’s me, isn’t it?” she whispered.
“Maybe, maybe not,” he panted, holding his head. Changing so many times had definitely put a strain on his body. “If it was you, my whole pack would have shifted.”
“Then what?”
War glanced up at the moon, as though searching for answers. So much about shifting was left unexplained. No one knew how or why. They simply were. What if there was a way to break Zara’s curse? It wasn’t Emma, but something about Emma. Something special.
Understanding dawned as he studied the moon.
She was his mate. The reason for this entire curse to begin with. The curse had separated them. But then they’d found one another, which had freed him. It wasn’t Emma so much as her presence. She made him human. Made him whole.
This was good. Better, even. This gave him hope.
He could free his pack.
He just needed to find their mates.
6
Emma stared at War. Judging by the look on his face, he’d had an epiphany while looking up at the moon.
“What is it?” she asked.
“Do you remember what we were doing when the curse struck?”
“We were at my house. You’d just returned, and we were about to finish the mating ceremony since Zara interrupted us earlier.” That night was forever burned in her memory because it was the night she’d lost the love of her life.
“Right. Earlier that day, Zara had said something to me, said that I should enjoy what little time I had with you. It was why I’d sent you away with my men. But If I’d known what she had planned, I would have killed her right then and there.”
“Okay,” she said, letting the word drawl out because she still wasn’t connecting the dots.
“I think your presence has broken the curse for me. But not fully. If there’s too much distance between us, I’m forced back into wolf form.”
“That’s a problem,” she said.
He nodded. “I need to reach out to the pack and make sure things are square with them.” He put an arm around her waist and drew her to him. Her hands landed on his pecs, the firm, warm skin making her body light up.
“My plan is to leave you here in the safety of the homestead, which will force me back into my shift. Unlike before you showed up, I had my human thoughts in my shift this time, so I’m not worried about going feral. I’ll seek out the pack and speak to them.”
“As a wolf?”
“We can communicate with one another, even when in wolf form, remember?”
“Oh, right. But won’t their thoughts be wolfish?”
“You’re asking me something I don’t know.”
“Sorry. This is all so new.”
“I know, love, but I have to try. I just hope they’ll understand me, even if they are mostly wolf.”
“If they don’t?”
“I’ll run like hell back to you.”
She snorted. “I could go with you.”
“No.” His eyes flashed. “I can deal with them in my shift if there’s a problem. You can’t.”
“I know.” She leaned into him, putting her head on his chest, and listening to the steady beat. “I just got you back. I don’t want to lose you.”
He rested his cheek on top of her head and held her firmly. “I don’t have all the answers, Em, but I know that I’ll come back here to you. I can feel our connection all the way to the center of my being. You’re mine and I’m yours, and with the curse broken for me, there isn’t anything on this earth that could keep me from you. Do you trust me?”
“Always.” She lifted her head from his chest and looked up at him.
“Good. I’ll come back for you, I promise.”
“I’ll be waiting.”
“I know,” he said with a smile.
She felt the weight of the situation fall on her shoulders, fresh tears making her eyes sting. Blinking them away rapidly, she rose onto her toes and kissed him. “I love you. Make sure you come back to me.”
“I love you too, Em. And I swear on my life that I’ll be back.”
She nodded, too choked up to say anything else. She didn’t want him to go, but she also knew the gravity of the situation demanded he try to reason with the pack. They needed an alpha, and War was it. He gave her one last kiss and walked away, stepping down from the porch and heading toward the woods. He shifted with a grunt, and her heart clenched at the pain he was enduring.
He turned to look at her, and she could see the recognition in his gaze.
He was still himself under the fur.
She breathed a sigh of relief.
With a sharp bark, he bounded into the woods. She stared into the darkness until she couldn’t see him, and then she walked back into the house.
Exhaustion plucked at her. It was three a.m., and so much had happened today. The night before had been restless. Now that she had War back, she felt like she could rest. First, though, she’d make sure everything was locked up tight. Not that wolves could suddenly unlock doors and windows, but she’d feel better knowing she’d checked.
Taking the flashlight, she walked the entire house from room to room, ensuring the windows were latched. There were two doors on the first floor—glass sliders to the backyard and a regular door at the front. She stared out the back door for a little while, then returned to the couch. She’d liberated a pillow from one of the bedrooms, pounding it out on the front porch to free it of dust.
She took off her boots and set them next to the couch, then blew out the candle. It was light enough with the moonlight through the windows for her to see. There weren’t a lot of candles, and she didn’t want to waste them. She settled on her back with the pillow under her head. She stared up at the ceiling and the way the moonlight made patterns across it, her mind drifting from War and the pack to Luna and the fort. She was straddling two very different worlds, and she didn’t know how either world would feel about her now.
Would the pack ever accept her? She wasn’t a wolf like them. But she doubted the fort would welcome War back, seeing as he couldn’t fully control his shift. And she’d never go anywhere without him. If he wasn’t allowed in the fort with her, then she’d stay here with him.
Hopefully, the pack would accept her because she was his mate. She’d known that wolf shifters could communicate with each other in their shifted form, something akin to a hive mind. She wondered, though, if because he was back to normal, if the wolves would understand him in their feral state.
What she wouldn’t give for a phone to text him a message and ask how things were going. Or to send a picture of the homestead to Luna and tell her she was okay. She was sure her best friend was worried, but she had no way to get a note to her without going in person to the fort, and she wasn’t about to go traipsing through the woods without War.
Yawning, she wiggled until she was comfortable and closed her eyes.
Sleep stole over her, and she drifted away.
She woke with a gasp, her heart pounding, and the hairs on the back of her neck prickling. For a moment, she didn’t know where she was, but it swiftly came back to her, and she pressed her hand to her chest and sat up. She couldn’t figure out what had startled her awake. She listened intently but didn’t hear anything, which meant that War hadn’t come back and knocked on the door.
Just to be sure, she shouted his name but got no response.
Rising to her feet, she hesitated at the door, unsure if she should open it. Something had caused her to wake up suddenly. She could still feel fear tickling her spine. The last time she’d had such an unsettled feeling was when that witch showed up at the ceremony. Moving to the sliding doors, she stared out into the darkness. At the back of the house was a spacious yard enclosed with a mostly broken wooden fence. The woods were thick around the house, so the previous owners had cleared only the land they needed. She could make out six small houses in the cleared space, which she suspected were for guests, and a massive red barn stood to one side.
The area seemed too small for a big crop of anything, which made her wonder if they’d perhaps raised animals. Not that it mattered anymore. Judging by the amount of dust on everything in the house, she didn’t think the previous owners had been around for a long time. She hoped they’d made it to safety.
Awareness pricked at the back of her neck as she stared into the darkness. Turning away from the sliding doors, she strode to the front door and peered out the window into the front yard. The tree line was much closer in the front than the back, and she swore that she could see movement in the trees.
Something was coming, and she didn’t think it was War or his pack.
* * *
It didn’t take long to find his pack. The second War shifted, he caught their scent among the trees. He knew they’d followed him and Emma to the homestead, but he was a little surprised to learn they’d stuck around. The question, though, was why? Were they here out of loyalty? Or were they planning an attack?
Only one way to find out.
War didn’t like advertising his position, but he had to ensure the pack wasn’t his enemy now. He couldn’t endanger Emma. And he would do anything to protect her—even if that meant risking his own life or abandoning his pack.
Nose to the ground, War caught Snow’s scent and tracked it to the west. Before the curse, every pack member could communicate with one another telepathically. Part of the shifter magic. But afterward, everyone’s thoughts had become too chaotic, too wild. The idea of returning to that state of mind twisted War’s stomach. He never wanted to go fully wild ever again. It was like losing a part of yourself. Becoming a stranger in your own body. Hopefully, the pack still trusted him so he could help free their minds as well.
War heard rustling and stopped. There, atop a small mound, stood Snow, his wintry coat gleaming beneath the moonlight. And surrounding him was War’s pack—all seventy-three members. He’d never stood on the outside before, looking in. This was his pack. He just needed to remind them of that.
Every pair of gleaming eyes turned toward War, but their minds were silent, and he had no idea if that was a good sign or not.
War inched forward, his paws easing through the underbrush as he met Snow’s steely gaze. “Can you understand me?”
Silence.
War cursed inwardly. If he couldn’t communicate with his pack, then things were truly hopeless. “Can any of you hear me?”
“We hear you, brother,” Snow finally responded, his distinctly deep voice rumbling through War’s head.
Relief loosened War’s muscles. “Why didn’t you answer me right away?”
“I said we hear you. I didn’t say we trust you.”
War’s eyes narrowed. He’d done nothing to warrant a lack of trust. “There’s no reason for you not to trust me. I’m still your alpha.”
Uncomfortable murmuring echoed through his head. Apparently, the pack didn’t agree with that statement. The last thing War wanted was a fight. These men and women were his family. His pack. For the last ten years, he’d protected and led them. He refused to lose them all because he’d been reunited with his mate.
But perhaps that was the angle he needed to take. Remind them they were more than wolves, that they were humans too.
“When you last saw me, I was human again. But before that, I was just like you, trapped in wolf form. All because of Zara!” The witch’s name prompted a flurry of snarls and growls. “She placed a curse on us, forcing every single one of us into wolf form! Simply because she felt slighted. For a year, we’ve been stuck like this, and the world has suffered. The only reason I shifted back was because of Emma. My mate.”
/> “We know Emma,” Snow commented. “She’s the only reason we didn’t attack. We remember her.”
War nodded. This was good, and such a relief. A sign their humanity lingered. He’d feared the opposite. That they’d fall deeper into madness without him. Maybe his shifting back had weakened the curse? Allowed them to retain a bit of their humanity? Not only were they more cognizant, but they were calmer. More like the people they once were, while still being trapped in wolf form. “Together, she and I discovered a loophole to the curse. I can only be human when in her presence. Do you understand what that means?”
The noise in his head quieted as his pack contemplated his information.
“It means there’s a way to break this curse even though it isn’t permanent.” Excitement deafened him. “Quiet down, please. I’ve returned to share this news with you. I’ve returned to give you hope. To tell you there’s a way to end this madness.”
“And what is it?” Snow insisted.
War stole another step toward the pack. “It won’t be easy. But if we can find your mates, you can be human again.”
Confusion crashed through his head. The pack threw so many questions at him, too many. He couldn’t hear them. But he understood the gist. The task he’d laid before them was far from simple. For those who’d already found their mates, they had no way of knowing where they were now. Or if they were even alive. Those who hadn’t, how could they possibly find them with the humans locked away in the forts?
“I know this is hard to believe,” War called out. “But trust me when I tell you I will do everything in my power to break this curse. And I will do all that I can to find your mates.”
The voices dimmed to a dull roar.
“I have always been your alpha,” he proclaimed, his voice rising above the chaos. “And I will always be your alpha. Trust in me. I will protect you.”
The pack fell quiet, all eyes turning to Snow, which was exactly what War had expected. Wolves were nothing if not predictable. When they’d scattered, they would have looked immediately to their strongest. Snow had always been his second, his beta. His people trusted him. And they showed that trust now as they waited for his decision.