Over the last few days, I’d allowed myself to accept Dale’s benign diagnosis since there was no hard evidence pointing to my wolf as culprit and since the episodes seemed to have faded into the past. But now I was standing alone on the beach a short distance away from unwitting one-bodies, my wolf craving blood and my own consciousness fading fast.
Wolf! Stop! I berated her. Or I tried to berate her.
Instead, I found my human half sinking deeper into the wolf’s growling belly. I found myself drowning beneath an abrupt undertow that dragged me relentlessly away from any ability to influence the actions of the beast.
And, as a mental image of a grinning Stormwinder unaccountably flashed in front of my eyes, I felt the wolf’s haunches bunch beneath her.
The one-bodies were holidaying, unaware of any dangers in the National Seashore where they’d chosen to vacation. They’d planted a shade umbrella in the sand, had rolled out blankets and settled in to enjoy the empty beach.
Only the beach wasn’t empty. I—my wolf—had stalked up behind them until she was only a short sprint away from their defenseless skins. Then, with Stormwinder’s deep laughter echoing in our ears, my wolf ignored her ties to humanity. Growling, slobbering, she sprang.
“THIS ISN’T WHO YOU are. This isn’t who you want to be,” Hunter continued as he paced ever so slowly toward his prey. My mate’s strength only made my own cowardice shine more brightly. Because I’d left my wolf behind and returned here, refusing to consider what my physical body might be doing while I watched my mate face down an uber-alpha werewolf stronger than himself.
Beside us, Robert’s breath caught as he fully took in Grey’s destructive power for the first time. Despite my caginess on other topics, I had warned the agent about alpha battles of will, figuring he deserved to know those details for the sake of preserving his own skin. So he understood as well as I did that the tiny icicles popping into existence in mid-air were a very bad sign indeed.
“You can’t stop me,” Grey growled now, his words more human than I would have expected given the waves of wolf rolling off his skin. Bright blue eyes peered up at us and the measured nature of his words almost felt worse than when his wolf had been entirely in the lead.
“And why would you want to try?” the enforcer continued when no one else seemed inclined to speak. “I’ve done everything I could to make Fen happy. I obeyed my alpha and planted the ram leg, sent her wolf fleeing as ordered. But I didn’t go further, even though Stormwinder wanted me to. I didn’t force her wolf to kill.”
Even as he spoke, Grey clawed at Goodpasture’s bare chest with blunt human fingernails, ripping toward the life-giving cavity underneath. The scent of blood on the air grew yet stronger and the smile on the enforcer’s face turned more lupine as he raised one hand to his mouth and licked away a trail of blood.
I expected Hunter to launch himself forward and prevent further destruction. But my mate simply waited, letting the enforcer talk himself out.
“Now I can finally give Fen what she wants,” Grey said dreamily. “Emails and voice mails are so easy to access.” He cocked his head to one side, his intense gaze turning to the one-body by Hunter’s side. “I have you to thank for that, meat. So I won’t kill you, even though it’s the Law. I’ll let you live.”
“That’s big of you,” Robert said, his tone dry. He shifted uneasily and I felt Hunter’s hand reach out and still an incipient advance.
Then the enforcer’s icy gaze returned to me, to us. “Your mate wants this,” Grey continued simply, reaching out once more toward the bleeding body of the terrified one-body restrained by his knees and arm. “I can give it to her. A heart for her heart.”
And in response, my mate’s iron control cracked as eerie possessiveness surrounded me. It was strange to be on the inside, watching Hunter’s wolf rise to encompass his human mind. Glorified images of myself flickered across our shared vision. Me rumpled but far more beautiful than I’d actually been as I slept by Hunter’s side in that sleeping bag not many mornings past. Me triumphant, wolves trailing in my wake as I dove into battle Joan of Arc style.
Me smiling...but not at my mate. Instead, the light in my eyes stemmed from love for the uber-alpha crouched atop the human serial killer there in the darkened cabin that hemmed all of us in.
This last, fictional image was what pushed Hunter’s wolf over the edge. “Mine,” he growled, his tone more lupine than that of the feral enforcer. And I was distressed to realize that my mate’s footsteps were no longer stealthy as they beat toward the shifter crouched atop the one-body’s unmoving form. Toward the shifter who had, with three short sentences, become Hunter’s sworn enemy.
Smiling, Grey rose, leaving the wounded human behind at his feet. Goodpasture was just the bait, I realized, irrelevant now that Hunter was firmly on the hook. Was the enforcer actually obsessed with me, or had he been simply looking for a way to break through my mate’s iron control? And did the reason really matter when Hunter appeared so willing to relinquish his rational mind in the face of Grey’s maneuverings?
“I challenge you,” the stronger uber-alpha growled as Hunter approached. His words were a taunt and I could feel Hunter’s heart rate increase in response to the tone. “Loser submits completely,” Grey intoned. “Winner takes all.”
Around us, the air hummed with the magic of the oath about to be sworn. This was something strong alphas could do—take and give pure power with the weight of words. If Hunter accepted and lost, he’d be ceding his bloodlings, his territory, his mate to the other male.
As the mate in question, this seemed like a particularly terrible idea.
I attempted to speak, to pull Hunter out of whatever territorial daze he’d fallen into. I’d seen with my own eyes how Grey had bested the previously impenetrable fortress that was my mate at their initial meeting. An alpha battle of wills and Hunter the loser.
Until recently, the idea had seemed inconceivable. But now failure was not only conceivable but also likely as Hunter grinned at the younger alpha before him, ready to throw everything away for the chance to trounce his opponent.
Don’t do it! I screamed. Or tried to scream. But I was only a silent passenger, my own body caught in another battle not of my choosing. I could look and feel, but I couldn’t speak or touch. Instead, I drifted, lost and alone in the mind of a mate who abruptly felt like a stranger.
“Loser submits completely,” Hunter agreed. “Winner takes all.”
And with his words, the magic of the oath latched on and took hold of both males.
Chapter 25
MY MATE ADVANCED ONE more step until he could have reached out and grabbed the other male’s shoulder, tossed him aside, and done the job he’d come to do—saving the life of the one-body behind Grey’s back.
But he didn’t. Instead, Hunter planted his feet, smiled slightly, and stared into Grey’s cold, blue eyes.
Immediately, the air between the opponents solidified into a semi-solid haze. So this is what an alpha stare-down looks like from the inside, I thought, interested despite myself by the way the world appeared entirely different through someone else’s vision. Tendrils reminiscent of the pack bonds I’d created on my own teased outward from each uber-alpha, twisting around throats, stopping up ears, flooding senses.
The view should have been beautiful. Unfortunately, the magical scenery was counteracted by my mate’s agony, the pain intense as Grey’s force of will nearly drove him to his knees.
In response, the stronger uber-alpha growled out his pleasure, took another step forward, reached out hands to finish the battle once and for all. Because why stop with demanding complete and total submission? No, Grey intended to follow through by snapping my mate’s unyielding neck. A battle between two alphas was never truly complete until one lay silent and dead on the floor at the other’s feet.
No! I wanted to shout. Stop! This is insanity!
And maybe Hunter heard me this time around. Because the force that had been crushing
against our shared chest eased ever so slightly as my mate inhaled a tremendous gulp of life-giving air. Vision that had dimmed gradually cleared. And legs that had faltered now stood firm.
“Robert, step back,” my mate said, preventing the intrusion of a one-body who wanted to help but would only get himself killed in the process. I was surprised at the clarity of both the thought and the command. Because wasn’t Hunter’s wordless wolf at the helm? Wasn’t he straining with all of his might against an unbeatable foe?
Nope, he wasn’t. Instead, my mate broke free of the encircling tendrils of alpha compulsion as easily as if they had been spiderwebs. He brushed aside the intangible ropes pulling him toward the ground, swept intrusive threads away from his eyes and out of his ears. Then he stood erect, strong, and tall. Unbreachable.
“But you failed the last time,” Grey ground out. Our opponent was the one struggling against invisible weights now. Sweat beaded on his forehead despite the cold air still streaming in from the outdoors. His arms trembled then rose of their own volition to encircle his throat with clenched fingers.
“I let you win before,” Hunter said coldly, the tone of his voice matching the ice-cold wind that flooded out from his body. Here inside his brain, I couldn’t smell the freezing spring-water aroma that came along with the compulsion. But I’d been caught with wolf awake enough times when Hunter was deeply angry to imagine what Grey must be experiencing.
Even without the hands squeezing at his throat, Grey would be unable to breathe. The air would catch in his lungs, would burn at the mucous membranes of his mouth and nose. He’d gasp, terrified, flail wildly in search of succor.
But none would come. Because Grey had crossed a line he never should have crossed when he threatened to rip me away from Hunter’s side. My mate’s wolf would never deign to let me go.
I appreciated the sentiment, really I did. But there were times and places for overprotectiveness and this wasn’t one of them. If Hunter forced his opponent to squeeze the life out of his own body directly in front of a FBI agent, our tenuous truce with humankind would splinter and fall irredeemably away.
Worse, Hunter would never forgive himself for the monstrous work of his own inner beast.
It was hypocritical to worry, I knew. After all, my own animal half was doing who-knew-what back on that beach and I’d fled here rather than dealing with the consequences. But I couldn’t allow Hunter to face the same trauma that was waiting for me. Silent passenger or no, I was abruptly intent upon making myself heard.
It was tough to act upon that resolve, though, since I wasn’t currently able to speak. On the other hand, it occurred to me that I was still able to move, which meant I could affect the course of further events if I was clever. So, following in the footsteps of my oft overlooked wolf, I slipped down Hunter’s trachea and squeezed at his lungs. When that didn’t work, I dug deeper, ripping at the soft flesh inside his belly.
A hand cupped bare skin, rubbing at the spot that must have twinged with inexplicable agony. And as he rubbed, I realized that Hunter had run here in lupine form and was even now unclad, never mind the human sensibilities of the one-body behind his back.
If we make it out of this mess alive, I’m going to have a bunch of explaining to do for the sake of mending my relationship with Robert, I couldn’t help thinking.
Then: Fen? My mate was abruptly beside me, his human chest warm against my bare skin. I realized I was as naked as he was, stripped down to my fundamental essence as I hopped from wolf’s body to mate’s brain.
Or perhaps my extremities were numb because my wolf currently raced through whipping winds toward witless one-bodies she hoped to turn into lunch. Worse, the sensation might have been due to Stormwinder cutting me off entirely from the body I’d formerly shared with my animal half. Neither option sounded like a church picnic.
My teeth began to chatter as I remembered the dangers I’d left behind, and I winced against the thought of returning to murder and mayhem. Then fingers brushed across my face as Hunter slipped into my recent memories. Together, we replayed my wolf’s rebellion, her unilateral decision to tear, to kill...just as Hunter’s wolf was about to rip the life out of the enforcer dropping to his knees before our physical body.
I’m not going to kill him. And you need to go back, Hunter demanded. Face Stormwinder. Face your wolf. I’ve got this.
He was right, of course. Because my mate’s human half was already mitigating the ire of his inner beast. As we watched, Grey’s hands loosened and the enforcer sucked in a gasping breath even as he bowed his head in total surrender.
Then the air hummed as the previously sworn oath kicked in. To my surprise, Grey didn’t attempt to fight the change, didn’t rip and claw at the pack tether materializing between the two males. Instead, I got the distinct impression that the enforcer was relieved. That he was tired of attempting to cling to the moral high ground while following an alpha as twisted and wily as Lucas Stormwinder had proven to be.
“I’m yours,” Grey breathed, his eyes now trained on the floor in total submission to the alpha who held the enforcer’s life in the palm of his hand.
And, with Hunter’s human brain awake, I was now confident that my mate would treat Grey as kindly as he treated everyone else in our pack. All that was left was the cleanup.
My task, on the other hand, wasn’t so easy. I lacked uber-alpha superpowers. My wolf was weak and currently, or at least so I suspected, being controlled by Stormwinder’s much more dominant inner beast.
Like Lupe, I wanted to rail against my own handicaps, yearned to beg for help from someone older and stronger than myself. But, instead, I closed my virtual eyes to better see the tether linking me to my physical body. Then, with a sigh, I accepted the responsibility I’d long since shouldered.
See you on the other side, I told my mate. Finally, I yanked.
Chapter 26
MY WOLF STUMBLED AS her foot caught on a sharp shard of seashell inches away from the vacationing family. “Oh!” exclaimed the wife, turning toward the sound. “Honey, I think...!”
As she spoke, she jerked away from my sudden presence and I certainly couldn’t blame her for retreating. I must have been a terrifying sight with spittle oozing wetly out of the corners of my mouth while a rumble of a growl rose up out of my chest.
Meanwhile, a red haze of bloodlust dimmed my vision, but I could still make out a terrified scuffling as the one-bodies attempted to flee. They weren’t fast enough, though. No, these weak two-leggers would never be able to outrun a wolf.
Vainly, I struggled against the compulsion that continued to barrel me forward. Because this wasn’t my wolf in charge. This wasn’t the meek animal who obeyed commands to cease and desist despite her instinctive yearning to lap up blood and gnaw on corpses.
Instead, a quick survey of my inner landscape turned up the fact that my lupine half was currently quiescent, still present but unable to influence the muscles and tendons pulling us forward across the beach. Our shared body was being compelled from the outside in, moved like a puppet by somebody else.
Stormwinder, I guessed. Grey had suggested that he was acting on the older male’s orders, mentioning that the Tribunal member had wanted me to do much more than to lose a few conscious hours and scare a few sheep.
Not that the identity of the shifter behind my current behavior really mattered. The relevant point was finding a way to stop this travesty before I tore apart vacationers and signed my own death warrant in the process.
Still, as I strained and fought against the external force moving my muscles, I couldn’t help thinking that Stormwinder was more clever than I’d initially thought. The older male had been playing a long game for the last couple of weeks and no one would be able to argue with the evidence now. Even I had been halfway convinced that my wolf was responsible for the problems rising up around Wolf Landing in the recent past. So when I broke cover here in a very public setting, murdering humans in a way that would make the national news, n
o one would be able to argue with the results.
Instead, I’d be executed and Wolf Landing would disappear without a trace. The bloodlings would be split up, used and abused by pack leaders who considered their new lackeys a means to an end rather than scared children in need of a loving home.
And Hunter? Would my mate resign himself to the inevitable and drag his bloodling body back to Stormwinder with tail between his legs, seeking the only remaining place where he could possibly belong?
Not happening, I thought grimly. I’d made no headway fighting against the compulsion directly, though, so I ignored my outer body for the moment and focused on my inner world instead.
My wolf was still frozen in place, awake but unmoving...which was fine since I intended to force her into a retreat she wouldn’t have wanted to consider. My proposed action felt like a betrayal, but it was the best solution I’d been able to come up with on such short notice. So, pressing frozen fingers beneath soggy fur, I hefted at the animal’s dead weight. She flopped over a single turn then continued to lie still.
Outside, I could hear screams of terror interspersed with splashing water. But I couldn’t afford to take my attention away from the task at hand for long enough to look. Instead, I put my back into the effort and rolled the wolf over again and again and again, inching ever closer to my goal.
I hesitated as we neared the cliff separating higher brain functioning from the intuitive realm of the lower body. Was I really willing to go through with an action that might do more harm than good? And would sending my wolf tumbling down into the depths actually manage to break Stormwinder’s iron grip over our outer body?
Unfortunately, I was well aware that this divide was more than merely metaphorical. I remembered all too well what it had felt like to be pushed deep into the bowels of our shared body. I remembered the terror of the void, the way I’d nearly lost myself in the sea of darkness before finally dragging my aching muscles up the steep slope to regain the helm at long last.
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