Moon Child (The Year of the Wolf #2) - Serena Akeroyd Page 0,85

but this was a nightmare unfolding.

Dozens of naturals were being torn to shreds by what looked to be a full clan of hyenas. There were human mates wandering around, armed with guns, and that was what I figured they’d been shielding—using their piss to cover the scent of cordite. Which was, I knew, their way in.

They’d gone hunting and had destroyed a natural pack in the process.

I braked to a halt when I saw Austin on his back, Daniel at his side, the pair of them slouched over, blood pooling beneath both their heads. Ethan snarled at the sight, but I snapped, “Can you feel his heartbeat? Is he still alive?”

“Can’t sense it over the noise in the clearing,” he growled into my mind, his maw on full display, saliva dripping over his fangs as he took in the carnage.

The naturals had been slaughtered, anything from pups to full grown wolves, a pack that I’d spent a good ten years trying to even out their numbers, decimated.

Rage, so pure and violent, hit me square between the eyes, but I knew if I acted on instinct, they’d just shoot us.

I knew we needed help.

“I can sense his heartbeat,” she whispered into my mind. “It’s faint. You three and Knight are usually the first things I sense but—”

“There’s a lot going on tonight,” I said, trying to soothe, but I knew there was no point. This was any woman’s worst nightmare. Fuck, this was any alpha’s, too. “We’re going to have to charge our way in, Sabina. I need you to prepare for what might happen.”

“No! There has to be another way!”

Her scream tore into my mind, ripping into me, but even worse, it had the entire pack juddering in response. It took me a few moments to realize that we weren’t the only ones affected. The hyenas and their human mates had stopped. Their silenced guns no longer randomly popped, and they were no longer feasting on the dead wolves, but their heads were whipping from side to side, as though they could hear that endless scream too.

Seeing their weakness, I leaped into the fray, howling at my pack to carry on. I knew it was madness, knew it could mean death for many, but Sabina was right. We had to defend our land, come what may. I couldn’t say that becoming a father had made me a coward. But cautious? Fuck, yeah. Now wasn’t the time for caution though. Now was the time for action.

A wind whipped up between us, slicing through the wolves who surged forward into battle and somehow gusting back on us as Sabina carried on screaming.

It felt as if my ear drums were going to burst, as if my whole brain was about to explode, but it was our enemies who were driven insane by the sound. Using their distraction to our advantage, we dove into the mass of blood and tissue that littered the clearing and attacked.

A quick glance told me there were over a hundred male hyenas, a good forty females, and a further twenty who were still in human form, armed with guns. Sporadic bullet spray ripped among us, but they were shooting far less than before, which told me Sabina’s effect on them wasn’t as strong as it was on the shifters.

Did they think the naturals were us? Had they mistaken the natural pack for mine?

I knew hyenas’ senses weren’t the strongest. In a pecking order of sagest animals to dumbest, they were definitely closer to the bottom of the pile, but were they that fucking dumb?

The wind stirred even more, turning into a shocking gust that stung my eyes as I tore out the throat of a hyena I attacked, and Sabina’s scream turned higher in pitch, until even the humans were clutching at their ears. I had no idea how she was doing it, but damn, I needed her to keep it going until this disaster was over.

The taste of iron collided with my tongue, permeating my mouth, making everything taste stark and metallic, but I gloried in it as I tore and shredded, my paws and claws slicing into hyena hides as I bit chunks out of those who attacked me.

When a chorus of howls sounded from nearby, I recognized them, and I realized what I’d been hearing before, what Sabina had translated for me—they’d been far away. But Berry had been warning us of their imminent arrival. In her own way, she’d been telling us not to lose