Broken Bond - Callie Rose Page 0,62

slide into place, and magic ripples through me. But this isn’t witch magic—this isn’t black smoke and unsettled motion beneath my skin.

This magic shimmers over me and fills every corner of me with bright light.

My arms and legs elongate and shift.

My face twists into a new bone structure, and my palms hit the ground as paws.

I’ve shifted into a wolf.

22

Dare

While Archer and Trystan focused on the threat ahead of us, I took a step back to keep an eye on the rear.

I know intimately that it’s hard to keep an eye all around you. One wolf can’t watch three-hundred-sixty degrees. Not when standing. Not when moving. Your blind spot could easily turn into the place where your enemy attacks and kills you.

But with Sable and the other three shifters, I feel like we make a complete team. We have eyes on all points, and better still, we all trust one another to keep watch and protect each other.

It’s a weird feeling. I’m not used to it, and sometimes—especially after Sable’s transition to witch—I haven’t been sure I can even trust my own gut anymore. Because my gut told me we make a good team. My gut told me Sable was meant to be mine. Then everything fell apart.

Now, I’m standing behind a wolf more fucking beautiful than I’ve ever seen before. At first glance, her coat is white as snow, but a second look proves that’s not true. She’s shot through with the same flaxen color as her hair, giving her a dappled look, like sand in the moonlight beneath trees.

All four of my paws are frozen to the ground, and I’m not the only one. The entire group, both Lawson’s flunkies and those shifters who threw their support in with us, watch the magic ripple away from Sable with amazement. I can't tell what emotion is strongest in the crowd—shock or confusion.

But I can tell the emotion strongest in me. My wolf howls in my mind, and it takes everything in my power to not let the howl pour from my throat. My wolf knows more than ever before that Sable belongs to him. Despite the witch he’s seen in her.

Sable? Archer asks through the mind-link, projecting so that the rest of our group can hear him too. Is it really you?

She startles, whipping around to look at Archer. Her eyes are just as bright, just as big, just as deep blue as the sky.

I… think so? Yes. Everything is so... fluffy.

She looks down at her body and does a little prance on her front paws. It’s so fucking adorable it makes my chest ache.

I knew it! Trystan crows. We were all fucking right!

That’s mine, I think fondly as she tests out a couple of hesitant steps, wobbling like a newborn foal. But I keep my thoughts to myself.

“What the…” A younger shifter with an almost boyish face looks at Ridge, who’s still in human form. “Is she a wolf or a witch?”

Ridge doesn’t get a chance to answer. Lawson takes advantage of everyone’s stupefied shock as he growls, lunging at Sable.

Trystan, Archer, and I surround her in a heartbeat, ready to rip Lawson into tiny shreds if he so much as blows on her fur. But we aren’t needed. Ridge leaps into action and shifts into wolf in mid-air, taking down his brother with ferocity. There’s something more feral, more vicious, about Ridge’s movements now, and I get it. This is no longer just a fight for alpha status.

This is about a man threatening his mate.

Lawson hits the dirt head first with a solid thunk, and Ridge latches on to his neck with his teeth. He throws the larger wolf across the clearing, where he rolls several times as the crowd backs away. Ridge stalks forward, teeth bared, then attacks again. The fight is short, violent, and bloody. By the end, Lawson is pinned to the ground, bleeding into the grass and whimpering.

He yields. Too much of a coward to die with honor after threatening his brother.

Sable heaves a visible sigh of relief and sits on her haunches. I inch closer to her, my wolf scenting the air around her.

Ridge shifts back into human form and holds up both hands, calming the uneasy crowd.

“Fellow pack members, please give me your attention.” His voice takes the tone of a commanding alpha, and even my wolf sits up and pays attention. “As you can see,” he goes on, motioning to Sable with a beaming smile, “my mate is a wolf.