in my face so he’s lying beside me. He gently brushes my hair off my forehead. “You have to shift, buddy. Come on. Do it for me. Do it for all of us.”
“Blood.” It’s covering him. My blood. Echo’s. I can’t be sure whose it is anymore.
“I don’t care about that. Just you right now. You have to shift, Cam.” His eyes flash and Sevan shifts into his wolf. He lifts his snout and howls this long, sorrow-filled cry.
My wolf stirs once again inside me. I can feel him pushing against me as if I have him in some sort of cage and won’t let him free. I don’t. I’m so weak I couldn’t possibly hold him back.
“Come on, Cam,” Aries says. He then lowers his voice. It becomes deep and deadly serious. “Shift.”
That’s the final straw to call my wolf completely to the surface. He takes over and pushes the shift through me. I’m barely able to breathe. Barely able to do anything but relent to the animal within.
The first shift has me crying out inside him as I begin to mend. My blood begins to replenish. I’m nudged to the front to take over the shift again. I’m able to this time. When I’m a human once more, I yell in pain as my hands land in blood. My skin knits together. My heart beats stronger. My lungs expand to draw in more air.
“Keep going, Cam,” Sawyer encourages.
I do. I shift repeatedly as I watch Echo slowly come back to life along with me.
8
Whitlock
I haven’t seen Camden since he was last in my bedroom. I don’t think he’s off chasing his brother again, but what do I know is Cam is the type of being who doesn’t do well with threats. He laughs at them and does what he wants. So where did he go? I’m not so full of myself to think it had anything to do with me.
Someone knocks on my door. Glancing over, I notice it’s five in the morning. I haven’t slept at all. I quickly use my magic to dress in something other than boxers and conceal my fae appearance. It’s a hard habit to break.
“Come in,” I call. The house is still quiet. No rumblings of those waking for the day yet.
The door opens and Aries slips in silently then shuts it behind him. I immediately sit up. Aries has a streak of something down his face and over his arms and hands. Reaching out, I quickly flip on the light beside my bed to be sure about what I’m seeing. I was right. He’s covered in blood.
I throw the covers back and jump out of bed to race over to him. “Where are you hurt?” I start moving my hands over him, lifting his shirt, walking in a circle around him to see what happened. His pants do this weird thing like they’re trying to blend in with his surroundings, but his plain white shirt isn’t doing the same.
When I’m in front of him again, he grips my shoulders, forcing me to stop and look at him. Quietly, he says, “It’s not mine. I’m okay. But I need you to come with me.” I nod, not able to get my mouth to work. “Can you open a portal to my living room?” I nod again.
With shaky hands, I use my magic to open a portal. Aries steps through first then I follow. Once on the other side, I turn and close it.
In the room with us is Sevan and Sawyer. Both covered in blood as well. I open my mouth to ask what’s going on, but Aries slips his hand over it. “Put us in a bubble again, Whit. I can’t have anyone knowing what’s going on.” I nod. It’s all I can do.
Using my magic, I build a barrier around us and face Aries.
“I need your help, but in asking for it, I’m going to reveal something that will change things,” he says. “It will let you in on something very few know about, and we’ll need to have Yvonne put a block on your mind so no one else can ever read it from you. Are you okay with that?” Am I okay with that? What the hell is going on?
“What is it you need my help with?” I’m not sure I want to be part of whatever it is if it’s going to end up with me coated in blood like the others.