black blood that oozed from his dozing mate’s side.
Knowing that I needed to wrestle back control so we could do as Ethan said—go home—I managed to tear back the reins from the beast, even though that should have been as impossible as Sabina evading my hold.
My issue with the wolf was that he could overtake me utterly, and that was why I never let him have full access.
But here, now, we were both in apparent agreement that our mate needed me as a human.
Which was when it clicked.
Deep in my being, in my psyche, my fucking soul, I suddenly became aware of why this was happening the way it was. Why it had unfolded this way.
Three creatures who weren’t scared of my wolf, one of them so pivotal to me that I wouldn’t be able to take a breath of air without her at my side, and none of them could be suffocated by my wolf’s dominance.
And where she was concerned, my wolf would always give me free rein because, at her core, transformed humans were always exactly that.
Transformed humans.
Human beings first, then wolf second.
For shifters, it was different. We were half and half, and dependent on the animal, the equilibrium could alter.
As was the case with me.
If I didn’t control the beast, he made up more than half of me.
But even though that was true, here, in my new family, my new partnership, I didn’t have to be afraid anymore.
My mate could stand up for herself.
Hadn’t she proven that with Austin?
My mate was strong enough to tear free of my dominance like she was pushing through the chains of a flycatcher hanging over a door.
And, beyond that, she wasn’t afraid to get between two dangerous predators in the middle of a fight.
It didn’t take a fucking genius to figure out that her seeing the cub was why she’d come to the cougar’s aid.
She’d seen the way I’d been leading up to the killing blows, and she’d known that the cougar was injured.
She didn’t want that cub to be without its mom, and now? It wasn’t.
It was wherever the fuck that cougar had been.
My shift took less than three seconds, and while my body was torn apart by the magic, I heard Austin hiss, “For fuck’s sake.”
I almost knew what I’d find the second I was back on two legs.
Even if I wasn’t happy about it.
They were here, but they weren’t.
Just like the first time.
I rubbed a hand over my face, prepared for Austin’s demand of, “What the fuck happened?”
Though his tone pissed me off, I got it. I’d been with our mate. It was my duty to protect her.
Just as he had.
From a pack of eight goddamn wolves.
Me? I couldn’t keep her safe from a fucking cougar.
I shoved my fingers through my hair as mortification and horror filled me. “We were exploring the woods,” I rasped. “We ambled onto a cougar’s territory.”
Austin winced. “Shit. I thought I scented them.”
“You did?” I arched a brow. “Did Sabina?”
He shook his head. “No. That last morning…” His brows wiggled, rising and falling as I saw him trying to process what had happened. From scent alone, I could tell he was still injured, even if he was mostly better. “I headed out to take a piss, and when I did, I knew something was watching me. I went off to try and find it, because that scent—”
My nose curled because we both knew what the scent was like.
Carrion eaters always smelled the same fucking way.
Natural wolves had the odor too, but it was different. On our kind, it wasn’t alien, but it was on others.
“Then, out of nowhere, I heard Sabina scream.” He ran a hand over his head and down to the back of his neck.
When he rubbed it, I just muttered, “You fought them off well.”
He shrugged. “Almost lost. Would have if she hadn’t pulled the goddamn gun out of nowhere.”
I nodded. “That place, fucking weird, right?”
“Yeah. Fucking weird.” He slouched over, his elbows stacking on top of his knees. “Once she’s claimed Ethan, maybe things will be a bit more normal.”
My nose wrinkled at that. When I thought about what had just happened, and what had gone down with Austin, I could only imagine what lesson Ethan would have to learn. I knew, for our mate and him, it didn’t bode well.
I just prayed to the Mother that by the end of it, they were both in one piece.
Ethan
I’d expected the place because Austin had warned me.
They’d only been gone