by Everly Frost
“He’s already here, Jace.”
Jace freezes, his hands clamping around Tristan’s shoulders. “Already? It’s too soon.”
“I can sense him,” Tristan says, holding Jace’s gaze, his expression like stone. “The three-headed beast is coming for me the same way he came for my dad.”
“Fuck.” Jace lowers his hands, his shoulders slumping, more beta than alpha now. “Tristan… you know I can’t help you…”
Tristan’s jaw clenches. “But Tessa can. She’s strong enough. She might be the only one who is.”
Jace’s head flies up. “She’s your answer to this? Fuck, Tristan. This is the reason you want her?”
“If I make sure she doesn’t get close to me, she’ll be able to kill the three-headed wolf for good,” Tristan replies, his voice a low growl. “She’ll be the end of him. Once and for all. Then everyone will be safe.”
Jace runs his hand through his hair. “Be careful, Tristan. You’re playing with wildfire that could get out of your control.”
Tristan suddenly grins, reckless, his green eyes gleaming. “I’m not trying to control the fire, Jace. I just want to light it and watch it burn.”
Jace gives a heavy exhale, a troubled crease forming in his forehead. “If the wolf is coming for you, then we need to deal with Baxter Griffin sooner rather than later. We need to make sure the pack is safe from the threat of the other alphas.”
“One enemy at a time,” Tristan says.
His head suddenly snaps to the right. “There’s trouble under the bridge.”
He breaks into a run and Jace follows, both men so fast and agile that the human passersby barely register their sprinting forms before they’re gone.
I race after them, slower than they are as I attempt to keep to the shadows between streetlights, following the trail of their scents, my thoughts in turmoil.
Who or what is the three-headed wolf? And why is he coming for Tristan?
More importantly, why does Tristan think I can stop him?
Racing after Tristan and Jace, I follow them much farther than my wolf’s energy has ever traveled from my human form, all the way toward the river.
I sense the disturbance ahead when we’re still a block away. I blank out the sounds of vehicles traveling across the bridge above us to isolate the growls and snarls from the grassy area ahead that sits in the shadows under the bridge.
Five wolves are fighting in the darkness. I don’t know any members of Tristan’s pack yet, so I can’t tell who is a friend and who is an enemy. I can’t help them anyway—other than calming Becca, I haven’t ever impacted anything with my wolf’s energy. I can only observe.
Tristan and Jace split up as they race toward the fight, charging at the wolves from either side. Jace’s fists are already forming. He uses his momentum to ram into the dark gray wolf on the far right just as it’s about to leap at a smaller russet-colored wolf. The dark gray wolf yelps and rolls, transforming back into his human form seconds before Jace hauls him up and lands a cracking punch against the man’s broad face.
The man darts to the side to avoid another punch, shouting, “It’s Tristan and Jace! Time to scatter!”
Tristan remains in his human form, leaping onto a second dark gray wolf on the other side of the fight before it can escape. He charges into it, lifts it off the ground, and throws it back down into the earth. It yelps and I sense its fear seconds before Tristan drops his full weight onto the wolf’s body, his knee landing on its spine.
There’s a sickening crack.
The wolf’s scream is cut short as Tristan grabs its head and breaks its neck with an efficiency that makes my world spin.
Helen warned me about Tristan’s capacity for violence, but the way he killed so quietly, without even a roar of effort, makes my wolf’s heart beat cold and quick.
Tristan hauls up the body and throws it at the man with the broad face, who froze at the death howl of his comrade. The body hits the man in the chest and he loses his footing, scrambling to get back to his feet, dragging the body with him. The third attacking wolf yelps and darts out of reach, shifting into the form of a smaller man who races away with the broad-faced man, carrying the slain wolf between them.
Within seconds, the sound of doors slam and a vehicle speeds away in the dark.
Jace races to Tristan’s side.
“You let them leave,” Jace says.
“I want to send a message. I won’t be so merciful next time.” Tristan strides over to the two shifters who remain in the shadows, helping them to their feet and checking over their wounds.
One of them is a woman with auburn hair—she was the russet wolf. She quickly turns and reaches for her discarded clothing, but nobody seems to mind—least of all her—that she’s giving everyone an eyeful of her naked body.
“That’s the second time they’ve tried to get past us here tonight, Tristan,” she says, pulling on a black T-shirt and jeans. “I know we’re stretched, but we need reinforcements. Those fuckers love this bridge.”
Tristan exchanges a look with Jace before he turns back to the woman. “Do you have any problem with vampires, Bridget?” Tristan asks.
She doesn’t appear to turn a hair. “Nope. As long as the vampire’s on my side, I don’t have any problem at all.” Her face suddenly lights up with anticipation. “Wait! Is Iyana here?”
Tristan grins. “She is.”
The woman tips her head back with a whoop. “Best news all day. I’d love to have her help.”
“Then I’ll have reinforcements for you tomorrow night,” Tristan says. “Can you hold out here tonight?”
“Yeah,” she says, still catching her breath, checking her partner’s response. He’s a tall man, wiry, who appears slightly older. He has also hurried to dress.
He nods. “They shouldn’t attack again now that one of them is dead.”
Jace studies the bridge for a moment. “I’ll stay here just in case.”
Tristan also considers the bridge and the parking lot nearby.
“That felt too easy,” he says, a crease suddenly forming in his forehead. “What if—?”
His focus suddenly snaps to Jace. Even in the dim light, I see the blood leave Tristan’s face. “It could be a diversion like the one this afternoon.”
Jace grips Tristan’s shoulders, steadying his alpha, giving Tristan the same look that Helen gives me before she tells me to take a deep breath. “Do you sense anyone in trouble?”
Tristan’s gaze becomes distant. “No. But I can’t sense Tessa’s wolf. She’s invisible to me. Not like that first night.” He’s suddenly agitated. “Fuck! I never should have let her out of my sight tonight. I need to make sure she’s okay.”
“There’s no way Baxter Griffin could know where she is,” Jace hurries to say.
Tristan pulls away from him, already launching into a sprint, his arms and legs pumping as he runs back along the street.
Jace yells after him. “If you can’t sense her, then neither can he! Nobody can.” He lowers his voice. “Fuck, I hope I’m right.”
I pull back into the shadows so that Tristan doesn’t see me as he races past. He won’t be able to sense my presence with his power, but he could still see me with his human eyes.
I’m shocked at the focus and determination on his face as he runs past. I remind myself that I’m important for his plans. He doesn’t care about me. He can’t afford to lose control of me.
And I can’t afford to lose control of myself right now.
I need to return to my human body as fast as I can.
I tell myself that even when I’m separated from my wolf’s energy, I’m still strong. I still have my power. She’s one part of me, but not all of me. If Tristan returns to the penthouse before she does, then I can keep her outside until she can rejoin me when he won’t see her.
I’m not ready for him to discover that I can separate from her.
Tristan is a running blur ahead of me on the street now. The rain starts to f
all and suddenly, all the smells of the city overwhelm me. Tristan’s scent becomes harder to detect.
No! I need his scent to find my way back to the penthouse.
I squint in the rain, panic rising inside me before I recognize the square up ahead.
Relief fills me, but it’s suddenly ripped away from me as if my heart’s on a hook and someone just yanked it out of my chest.
An energy I’ve never felt before hauls me to the left, nearly lifting me off my feet, pulling me savagely off course.
I slide to a stop inside the dark entrance of an alley, scrambling to find my feet and struggling to get my bearings.
The energy uncurls from around me just as quickly as it took hold. Released, I raise my head, peering down the alley.
My panic increases for too many reasons. I need to get back to the penthouse and now my chances of reaching it before Tristan are even slimmer.
What’s worse is the wrenching power that dragged me off course. My wolf’s energy is insubstantial. I can be seen, but nothing should be able to take hold of me.
What sort of being would have the power to stop me?
I shiver inside the alley’s entrance, ready to run as soon as my damn legs begin obeying instructions again.
I freeze as a form takes shape in the darkness several paces away from me. A bright swirl of white light rises and grows between the alley walls. The light stretches out, rippling, streams of energy morphing into a shape that nails me to the spot.
A large, ivory wolf snarls at me from within the darkness, its teeth glowing, sharp and deadly. It’s twice as big as me, but its body is just as insubstantial. Electrifying. Terrifying.
It’s pure energy.
It’s just like me.
The white wolf lowers his head, his eyes glowing crimson red. “Hello, little one,” he says.
Chapter Eighteen
My hackles rise, growls growing in the back of my throat. “What the fuck are you?”
The white wolf snarls, giving me a threatening growl as he prowls toward me, pushing me toward the entrance of the alley.
“I am the same as you,” he says, tipping his head at me. “But I see the confusion in your eyes, little one. I wonder if you know what you are?”
I glance around me, wary of the streetlight directly behind me and the humans walking past, worried about being seen by them. My human heart is also beating hard inside my chest all the way back in Tristan’s penthouse because he’s only minutes away from reaching me.
The white wolf laughs. “Are you worried that the humans can see you? Don’t be. Only other supernaturals can see you.”
“Then you should be worried,” I snap. “There are shifters everywhere around here. Powerful ones.”
“Shifters.” The wolf pulls back its lips in a derisive snarl. “They are pitiful shadows of true wolves. They are nothing compared to me.” He casts a gaze over me that feels like acid tearing through my fur down to the skin beneath. “And now, it seems, I should say that they are pitiful shadows compared to you.”
He takes another step toward me, but this time, I stand my ground.
“Who are you?” I ask.
“That’s a better question.” He has the most expressive mouth. Now, his snarl is a smile. “I have three names, but they all mean the same thing in the end.”
“Three names,” I murmur, shuddering. Tristan mentioned a three-headed wolf. He said he could sense him coming for him. I look for shadows around the white wolf’s head that might indicate he has more than one head, but I don’t see anything. Maybe the three heads aren’t literal. It could be a reference to this wolf’s three names.
I lower my snout with a threatening snarl. “Where is your human body?”
The white wolf smiles again. “My human form is surprised but delighted to discover that you exist, little one. I thought I was alone.”
He takes another step toward me, ending up so close to me that the tip of his nose could touch mine. He has no scent. Nothing at all. But the fiery glow in his eyes suddenly feels scorching.
“Tell me: Where have you been all this time?” His growl deepens and the crimson light in his eyes increases, a deep flame that burns hot. “Tell me who was hiding you from me so I can end them.”
“Nobody was hiding me,” I snap.
I’ve completely lost Tristan’s scent now. I’m running out of time. Have already run out of time to make it back to the penthouse before him.
The white wolf laughs. “Oh, little one. Someone was hiding you from me. Even if you didn’t know they were doing it. It must have been somewhere that my power couldn’t reach. A place blessed by old magic, perhaps. To hide you from me all your life is quite a feat.”
His laughter turns into a snarl. “I will find out who kept you from me and I will end them.”
His attention suddenly shifts to the sky. Above us, the storm clouds part briefly, revealing a clear night sky.
He stares up at the stars for the fleeting moment that they are visible and takes a deep breath, sighing the air out as if he were expelling his anger. “Now that we’ve finally met, the future has shifted. Some paths have closed and others have opened. We will see where these new paths lead us, little one, on our journey together.”
I shiver, my hackles rising again. He claims that someone was hiding me from him for my whole life. He can’t mean Helen because I was only staying with her for the last two months. Before that, I was in the mountains with my father. There’s no way my father was hiding me from this creature… unless he was.
I shudder as I remember how many times my father told me not to reveal my wolf’s energy. That it would get me killed. That the other alphas would see me as a threat and do everything they could to kill me. As a consequence of his warnings, I rarely accessed my wolf’s energy, only releasing my power for short bursts at a time, never as long as I have tonight.
Tonight is the first time I have separated from my wolf outside of the protected environment provided by Hidden House.
What if the other alphas weren’t the only threat my father was protecting me from?
What if I alerted this creature to my presence by releasing my wolf tonight for the first time in the outside world?
“We do not have a path together,” I say, raising my head, snarling at the white wolf. “Nobody was hiding me. And you will stay away from me. Whoever the hell you are.”
He leans in, his nostrils flaring as he inhales. The air tugs around me, the smallest pull, a gentler version of the wrench that hauled me into this alleyway. “There’s no stopping the future, little one,” he whispers. “I sensed your energy for the first time tonight, but you won’t be able to hide from me again.”
He backs up, a delighted snarl revealing his sharp teeth. “I have to go now, but I will see you again soon.”
He backs away from me into the darkness, his form disintegrating into swirls that fade into the night. I’m left with a bright spot in my vision, as if I stared into a light for too long.
I try to blink it away.
I don’t have time to process what just happened.
Back in the penthouse, I can hear the whir of the elevator rising. Tristan is twenty seconds away from reaching my human form.
It’s time to return all of my senses to my human body.
Opening my eyes in the penthouse again, I stare through the window at the square below me, seeking the spot in the distance where my wolf’s energy is hiding in the shadows.
I make a sudden, determined decision.
I want her back with me.
Now.
Gritting my teeth, I pull on her with all of my will and determination. I sense her disintegrate, just like the white wolf’s form did before he disappeared. My wolf’s dark energy rushes into the air and toward me, a black spot, a blur in the night. If the white wolf’s claim is correct, then the humans won’t see her. As for supernaturals, most won’t look high enough. Even if they do, she’ll pass by too fast for them to figure out what she is
.
Her energy rushes toward me and I brace for impact.
The elevator’s doors are opening.
My wolf’s dark blur of energy is a silent arrow. She pours through the window glass and hits my heart, knocking me onto my back in an awkward heap, my crossed legs tangled beneath me on the floor.
I fall back just as Tristan runs into the room.
“Tessa!” He charges toward me, shifting into his wolf form so fast that I gasp at the speed of it, let alone how easily he slips his human clothing. His jeans are still airborne as he lands in his wolf form, looming over the top of me.
He’s large enough that his paws can rest easily on either side of me, his body covering mine, while his head is lowered and alert, swinging to assess the space around us. His teeth are bared, his growls aimed at anyone who might be about to attack.
If I weren’t aware of the events that led him to this moment, I’d thump him for scaring the crap out of me. I should probably act as if I don’t have any clue what’s gotten into him—scream at him, maybe—but I’m not good at pretending.
Tristan’s wolf is the same color as his hair—raven black—its fur seeming to suck the light out of the room, unnervingly similar to my wolf’s power. Her energy has only just returned to my body, but already, she rattles inside me, begging me to shift fully and find out what it would be like to look eye to eye with Tristan’s wolf.
I try to find my voice, finding it more difficult than I expected since I was using my wolf’s energy to speak in growls and snarls moments ago. Come to think of it, speaking in wolf was easier than using my human vocal chords. Now my human voice feels harsh inside my throat.
“If this is your idea of standing guard over me, it’s not necessary,” I say.
Tristan’s wolf snarls down at me, turning his full fury on me.
Okay, well, I wondered what it would be like to look eye to eye with his wolf. It’s an unsettling experience. His wolf’s eyes are as crisply green as his human eyes, rimmed just as darkly, but they’re flecked with amber, a startling combination.
The white wolf is a distant threat to me now. I can’t worry about him when the real threat is right in front of me.