Through the Ether (Force of Nature Book 5) - Amber Lynn Natusch Page 0,45

I could to keep my voice low. “Our meeting was a shitshow—everything went to hell the second we walked in.”

“I feared that might happen,” Merc said, as though the words escaped him without thought.

“I think the pack had a plan, and Knox walked right into it—made it worse, even.”

Merc quirked his brow. “How so?”

“What seemed to be their strongest wolf challenged him right off, and the others looked like they knew that would happen—like they’d discussed how to take Knox out. But it only escalated after Knox said he wouldn’t kill any of them. Whenever he’d put one down, another was right there, ready to take his place. They just kept coming...” I shuddered at the image of him, bloodied and beaten, calling the next opponent forward.

“Why the fuck would Knox do that?” Dean asked, genuine shock in his voice.

“To avoid taking on their power,” Merc replied. “Please continue, Piper.”

“I don’t even remember how many he fought before things got really dicey. Kat and Brunton told me I couldn’t interfere or his life would be forfeit, so I just stood back and watched until it became clear that he wouldn’t last much longer. I don’t know what I planned to do, but I rushed through the pack toward the shitty little fight circle they’d made, ready to do something. Someone stopped me, and I screamed his name. Whatever he saw when he looked at me...something changed inside him. The fight turned on a dime, and then—”

“Then what?” Jase asked, though it seemed like he already knew the answer.

“He snapped the guy’s neck.” A sound in the hall drew our attention, but it quieted as quickly as it had come, so I continued. “There was this…this surge of magic and power unlike anything I’ve ever felt, and Knox’s reaction to it was primal. His eyes flared like beacons and he howled…and then, one by one, he took down the challengers he’d rendered unconscious from the beginning. It was as if he were possessed by something—like it wasn’t him at all, just this feral being bent on killing.”

The brothers’ expressions were grim.

“Where is he now?” Merc asked, headed for the door.

“We just got home—that’s why I’m here.” I jumped in front of him just as his hand reached the knob. “He’s still not himself yet, Merc. Kat said he’d come out of it—that the rush of what had happened would subside—but in the car…” I trailed off, not sure how to put into words what I’d seen in Knox. Anger? Paranoia? Or something far worse that I didn’t dare say out loud because words had power and I didn’t wish to fuel whatever magic had taken over the new alpha of NYC?

“Kat told you what you needed to hear to keep you safe,” Merc said, pinning me in place with a cold stare, “and for that, I am thankful. But I need to see him now—see what the transfer of power has done to him.” He turned the knob and brushed me aside with the door as it opened. I turned to chase after him and ran right into his back.

Standing in the hall, blocking the exit, stood a very angry, very yellow-eyed werewolf on the edge of fully changing. There was nothing in his expression that resembled the man I loved, and I feared that, in a matter of seconds, he’d challenge the vampire who also had my heart to a battle that only one would survive.

“Having a meeting, are we?” Knox asked. Those inhuman eyes drifted down to where I peeked past Merc and narrowed to furious slits. “More secrets, Piper? I thought we’d settled that matter in the car.”

“Your behavior is hardly a secret,” Merc answered for me.

“Not anymore. Perhaps Piper and I will have to discuss the importance of pack loyalty.”

“Except she is not pack,” Jase said, his voice full of a protective note I recognized well. “She is your mate.”

“Knox,” I said cautiously, working my way past Merc, “I’m just worried, that’s all.”

He cocked his head, the movement so alien—so like Liam when he’d been under the control of the fey king—that it made my skin crawl.

“Worried about what?”

Merc pressed his hand to the small of my back in warning. “She told us what happened at your meeting with the pack.”

“And why was that something that needed to be shared?” Knox asked, his attention laser-focused on me.

“Supernatural matters in this city are always the enforcers’ business—”

“I asked Piper, not you.” Knox leaned in closer to me. “Why