by Kimber White
As we drew closer to the house, I knew it would end here today, one way or another. Jett’s troops with their wolfkiller ammo could pick off plenty of shifters. But, they would keep coming until the bullets ran out. Taking out Able was the only way to stop them from slaughtering whoever was left standing when the bullets stopped flying.
I saw the terror etched on Gunnar’s face. Every instinct in him was screaming out to go to Jett’s side. Payne’s too. He didn’t have to say it, but Lena had been hurt. I saw it go through his eyes just before he tore through the fence.
I covered the ground at a full run. My claws came out and dug into my palms, drawing blood. Soon. I could let the wolf out soon. For now, I had to keep my wits about me.
Gunnar went left, circling around the back of the house. This close up, it struck me how small the place really was. Just a two-story farmhouse with a wraparound porch.
Gunnar ripped open the steel doors of the basement egress. He growled a warning, letting me know Able wasn’t there.
I could see him in my mind. Able stood in the living room. Two wolves stood in front of him, their eyes blazing red. He’d given the order to kill.
To the left of me, six wolves streamed out of the woods. The lead runner leaped through the air at Liam. He ducked and rolled, shifting into his wolf in the span of a heartbeat. He drew first blood, splitting the smaller one open with one swipe of his deadly claws. Every instinct in me wanted to tear off and join his fight. But, I had my own ahead of me.
To the right of us, more of the Pack tore around the corner, crashing through the fence, bearing down on Mac. His infant son’s sleeping face flashed through my mind. I prayed he’d get the chance to see him again.
Ear-splitting yelps echoed across the yard as Mac brought down two wolves at once. One of them managed to sink his fangs into Mac’s shoulder before he died.
“Let’s go!” Gunnar shouted. I knew it tore at him not to go to Mac or Liam’s aid as much as it did me. But, if we didn’t go after Able, he’d get away again. The rest of our people would be at risk. The Alphas like us might be able to fend off Able’s mind control. But, the beta refugees who’d come to join us couldn’t. Able would be able to peel away their mental defenses. They would lead him straight to Mammoth Forest. There would be nowhere to hide.
I crashed through the front door of the house, wild with rage. Able’s guards bore down on us. They were strong. Able had brought one of the last of his Alphas in to protect him. It was a risk. They were harder for him to control.
I felt Able’s command rip through me. My legs buckled.
Kneel!
I took a stagger-step sideways, but righted myself. Payne howled next to me. The command hit him square in the chest as well. He fell against the wall. Able’s guard pressed his advantage. He was a huge, black wolf with gleaming red eyes. Payne got his arm up just in time as the wolf sank his fangs in.
Gunnar shifted. He lunged at the other of Able’s wolves. They two of them tumbled end over end, tearing through a couch against the wall. Stuffing exploded like snow, obscuring my vision.
Able retreated further into the house.
“Jagger! It’s an ambush!”
Payne called after me. I heard bones crack and muscles stretch as Payne gave in to his wolf. Able’s black wolf guard was giving him a fair fight. Pressing my back against the wall, I ventured further into the house.
I threw out my senses. Able was moving. He’d stepped into darkness, putting me at a disadvantage. I couldn’t trust my eyes.
Were there more? Was Payne right? The house felt sterile. I couldn’t scent any other shifter but Able. In the back of my mind, I wondered if he could have other shifter guards that were altered the way Rowan was. Could they be lurking in the shadows, their scent blocked from me?
“Able,” I shouted.
I edged down the hallway. One step. Two. The pounding of my heart drowned out the sounds of Gunnar and Payne’s battle. There were other skirmishes going on all over the state. I could feel them. Mac and Liam fought for their lives against Able’s wolf cavalry out in the yard. In cities all through Kentucky, Able had sent Pack members to root out people who worked with us. Jett had trained and armed them well. I could only pray that it would be enough.
My head crashed into a light fixture. A single bulb swayed above me. I reached up and caught it. Then, two gleaming red orbs floated ahead of me.
Twenty-Six
Jagger
I bent at the knees, letting my nose lead the way. It was Able. The scent of his sweat hit my nostrils. He was old, frail, but still crackling with power.
I reached out, ripping away a curtain from a nearby window. Moonlight flooded in. Able was there, standing against the wall in an empty room.
“Time’s up,” I said through gritted teeth. The urge to shift took my breath from me. I realized with cold horror, Able made it so. He wanted me in my wolf. I would be easier to control. I railed against it.
“Jagger,” he said. His voice grated like sandpaper. I’d only ever heard him in my mind before. “You can set it all down. You want to. You’ve fought for so long.”
His words hit me like strong alcohol, warming me on the way down, fogging my vision. All the burdens of Mammoth Forest snaked their way around me, weighing on me. With Able, I could float away. No pain. No fight. No thought.
No.
Keara’s smiling face flashed before me. I straightened my back.
“You gave the order to kill her,” I said, my voice thick with hate. “She was no threat to you.”
Able reared back. Then, a slow smile lit his face. “Ah. Keara. Your mate. It was easy, Jagger. Too easy. She wasn’t for you. Did you know I’d promised her to Tenley? They would have made a glorious couple.”
I turned to stone. He was trying to rattle me. Able’s smile widened. He’d seen some slight change in my expression, perhaps. “Ah. So she never told you that, eh? She didn’t tell you how I’d had my eye on her for years? So sweet. Like a ripe peach, just aching to be tasted.”
I growled and snapped my jaw. My wolf tore at me. The room brightened and I knew my eyes had gone fully silver. Red rimmed the edges of the room. Again, I felt the Pull.
“You’ve failed at everything you wanted,” I said. “No mate. No more Alphas under your control. You’re just an old, withered man, Able. And today, you’re going to die.”
He threw out a bolt of power. His Pull could attract, but it could also repel. He slammed me against the wall.
Anger. Rage. Grief. It all spewed out of me in one mighty growl. Able took it. His eyes glinted and his smile widened. God. It’s what he wanted. He fed off the dark side of me.
“So you’ve found another mate.” Able reached for me. He threw his head back, closed his eyes and inhaled. Rowan’s face swam in front of me as if he’d conjured it. In a way, I knew he had. He picked through my brain, looking for bits he could use. Clenching my fists, I tried to ward him away.
“Rowan?” he said, his eyes snapping open. He seemed truly shocked. Horror gutted me as I knew I’d given him far too much.
“I’ll kill you,” I hissed.
Able pushed off the wall. “Well, well. It seems my sister kept her secrets after all. She’ll die, you know. Rowan. They all died. Can’t be helped. Maybe I did get a little soft in my old age. Told my sister if she kept giving her those shots, it’d keep her healthy. It kept her off my back. The girl tried to run away so many times. You know, lies can bind more than chains.”
I dropped to all fours, feeling my spine rumble. Of course, I’d guessed Able was the one to lie to Grace about Rowan’s treatment. An easy way to play on her fears and keep Grace and Rowan in line. But, Rowan had been too smart for him. Now, my thoughts had betrayed her.
“Not the addled simpleton I thought she was, eh?” Able said, laughing. “Good on her. I’ll find a place for her in my Pack yet.”
I lunged forward, caught between man and wolf.
“Jagger!” Gunnar’s curdled cry re
ached me. He was hurt. Badly. But, his voice grounded me again and I pushed my wolf back down.
“Maybe I’ll even let you have her,” Able said. “For a while. After that, the boys can have their fun. It’ll serve her right for messing with them all these years. Let’s see what we can make of her yet.”
It was a trick. All of it. Able was stalling for time. He couldn’t turn me outright. He’d need me pliant, feral, half-crazed with fury. I drew in a breath and slowly got to my feet.
It was then I saw the first flicker of fear in Able Valent’s eyes.
“You can’t kill me,” he said. “No shifter can. You think you’re the first to try? It’ll only make me stronger.”
“You’re a shifter, Able,” I said, advancing on two legs. “Not a Jedi. And you’re old. Weak. Scared.”
In that moment, I knew. Able’s eyes flashed with fury and he dropped to his hands and knees. He needed me wild to turn me. But, the same was true for him.
“It’s over, old man. Time for you to die!”
Able’s wolf tore out of him. Yes, he was old. Ancient. But, he was also an Alpha and the biggest I’d ever seen. His silver fur rippled. He dropped his head low and showed me his fangs.
Eons worth of instinct rumbled through me. Submit or challenge. Fight or die.
The door behind me flew off its hinges as Gunnar and Payne staggered through. Both bleeding badly, they stayed on their feet.
Payne started to lose control. He made a move toward Able. I reached out and held him back.
“No,” I said. “He’s mine!”
Able arced through the air. Those two great red eyes turned my heart to ice. I couldn’t move my legs. Then, from far away, a pulse flared inside me and fire ignited my core.
It was Rowan’s heart calling to mine that broke Able’s hold that day. It was Keara’s memory that gave me the strength to fight.
As Able fell on me, I shifted. My fangs dropped and I sank them into his neck. Able’s blood filled my mouth. But he was strong. His hide seemed made of steel as he rolled me. One swipe and blood poured from my side. We rolled end over end, crashing into the wall, shaking the foundation. Plaster rained down from the ceiling.
From the corner of my eye, I could see Gunnar and Payne’s wolves bared their teeth. But, Able and I were a blur of motion and flying fur. He clawed my face. I ripped open his shoulder. Beneath it all, I felt the Pack. When I drew first blood, it set off a chain reaction. No matter how far away they were, Able’s wolves felt their Alpha’s pain.
They were no longer a Pack. They were a horde of wolves streaming toward us in all directions. I saw them through Able’s eyes as his blood mixed with mine. They held no thoughts other than to kill. In some detached part of my brain, I understood what Able meant. No wolf could kill him. Injuring him only made him stronger as the full force of the Pack headed straight for us.
Able faked right, but I was ready for him. Spinning, I pushed up, catching him square in the chest. I shoved him into the wall with such force, he went all the way through.
I pounced again. The power of my landing cracked the foundation. The house began to fall around our ears. Windows exploded outward. We were an earthquake as I batted a lethal paw across Able’s snout. He bit down hard, nearly ripping out one of my claws.
I got back to my feet. Able was on his back. Blood seeped from all his wounds. I felt his heartbeat falter. The ground rumbled with the force of the Pack, tearing through the woods toward us.
I loomed over Able. I pressed one paw against his chest, the other to his neck, exposing his throat. Saliva dripped from my fangs. He’d wounded me badly too, but I couldn’t feel it.
Then, I went in for the kill.
I let out one great howl that split the air. I sank my fangs into Able Valent’s neck and tasted his lifeblood draining from him.
Mac, Gunnar, Payne and Liam got to me at once, forming a circle of threat around us. My chest heaving, I broke my grip and swayed to the side.
A great red patch spread beneath Able’s body. Howls of terror and pain drowned out every other sound. A thousand pairs of red eyes surrounded us as the Pack closed in and cut off every escape route.
Able’s final command echoed through my head.
Kill!
Twenty-Seven
Rowan
Jagger’s pulse thundered through me. Able’s red eyes seemed to hover in the space around me. But, Jagger was stronger. My own inner beast fought with him. I don’t know if I gave him strength. He would probably tell me I did. But, I also felt the Pull as Jagger pushed against it. It was a swirling undertow that could take him away from me forever.
I tore away from Jett and Lena and ran at top speed toward the house. Jett’s warning yell bounced off me. Nothing mattered but getting to Jagger. I would live or die by his side.
Then, a wall came down.
The force of it blew me backward. I landed on my ass. Able Valent’s eyes burst into stars that swam in my field of vision.
“Rowan!” Lena and Jett shouted in unison. The shockwave of Able’s death hit them too. They felt it through Payne and Gunnar. Only Jett stayed on her feet. She was the first to see the gathering threat through the tree line.
“Fuuuck!” she shouted.
I scrambled to my feet beside her. It seemed a thousand pairs of shining eyes blinked through the underbrush.
The Pack.
“Will they stop?” Lena asked. I reached for her. My mind was a jumble of things. Jagger’s wildly beating heart made it hard to breathe. Adrenaline rushed through me. Still shifted, I saw in four dimensions. The wolves streaming through the woods were red with heat.
“They can’t think for themselves!” I shouted over the rising howls. “He told them to kill!”
“Move!” Jett yelled. “Higher ground. Now!”
She grabbed Lena’s rifle off the ground and tossed it to her. Jett’s hair flew behind her as she started up the hill as fast as she could go. She held her rifle over her shoulder. She wore two ammo belts crisscrossed over her shoulders. Sweat glistened off her toned arms. When she reached the highest point she could, she turned and aimed in one fluid movement.
A smaller group of wolves had broken off from the main one. They peeled off, heading straight for us. I shoved Lena behind me and dropped to all fours. Jett fired. The deadly staccato echoed and bounced off the trees. She took out the two closest wolves. A third jumped over his fallen comrades, his eyes blazing with that red bloodlust.
I bared my fangs and growled, letting the beast out all the way. When the wolf caught my scent he skidded sideways. Jett’s rifle jammed, but Lena had her 9mm raised. Her bullet struck true, hitting him square in the chest.
Jett dropped to her belly at the top of the ridge and sighted her scope. Not liking what she saw, she pulled her walkie off her belt clip and shouted into it.
“They’re heading southeast! At least a hundred. Fall back!”
Her radio squawked with static, then a voice rang through. “We see them!” Holy hell, it was Molly!
Jett’s eyes got big as she looked at her radio. Nostrils flaring, she dropped her chin and thumped the radio to her forehead in shocked frustration.
“What the hell are you doing out here?” she yelled into the radio.
“Didn’t want to miss the party.”
Jett didn’t have time to answer. Another group of Able’s last guard headed our way. Instinct fueled me and I got out in front of Jett and Lena. There were two of them, long and lanky, their gray fur was matted and sparse in patches. I’d seen more and more looking like this over the years. Some detached part of my brain told me they were more victims of Able’s failed genetic experiments. Just like me.
I threw out a mental command. It came to me unbidden. Stop! The closest of the two wolves staggered and whined. He ran in a circle, confused. Whatever I’d just done, it worked. It had been enough to break through Able’s last order.
Jett raised her rifle. I spun around and put a hand on her shoulder. “
Let him go! He’s free.”
Sure enough, the wolf cowered before me then rolled to his belly. His companion didn’t. He froze for a second, then charged Lena. She was ready. She hit him cleanly through the shoulder. With the dragonsteel bullets laced with wolfkiller toxins, the wolf’s spine curved the wrong way and he dropped to the ground, writhing.
“They’re weakening!” I shouted. “I can feel it. Half of them don’t know up from down.”
“It’s the other half I’m worried about,” Jett said. “Come on. We need to get down there. Gunnar and the others have their hands full.”
Sure enough, the majority of the Pack held formation around the yellow house. Liam, Gunnar, Payne and Mac were in the center of the circle, fighting off those who dared venture close enough. I couldn’t see Jagger, but I knew he was still inside.
As I rose, my legs nearly gave out. My heart jackhammered and my vision wavered. Lena’s steady hand on my arm brought me out of it. When our eyes met, I knew she could tell something was wrong. But, there was no time for it now. We needed to move.
All through the woods, we heard gunfire as Jett’s troops picked off other members of the Pack. She had trained them well.
I reached out for Jagger with my mind. We were not truly mated. He had not marked me, but my need for him burned through me. I needed to see him. Needed to know he was alive. The wall that had dropped when Able died seemed to go up again. I knew instinctively it was Jagger, trying to protect me.
As Jett, Lena and I got closer to the house, I saw why.
The strongest of Able’s forces were circling the yard. Gunnar’s wolf snapped his fangs and lunged for a huge black wolf. They were well matched. Gunnar had a size advantage, but the black wolf was faster. He blocked Gunnar’s bite and landed a body blow, knocking Gunnar sideways. Jett raised her rifle, but there was no way she could get a shot off without risking hitting Gunnar.
“Dammit,” she said, lowering her gun, she wiped the sweat from her brow with her forearm.