cutting across my path before he slammed into the white Wolf with a bone-cracking thud! Both Wolves rolled end over end on the ground in a ball of fangs and claws and unrelenting rage.
That same desperation rode my brother, loss of her driving him to attack with nearly crazed rage. The white male was on his back in an instant. Arran drove himself to attack with mindless fury, slashing with his claws until they sank into fur and flesh.
His enemy never stood a chance.
I spun, chest heaving, at the sound of a battle cry up ahead. The rogue pack’s Alpha…it had to be. I scanned the dark, catching a glimpse of the Wolf as he tore from the trees and raced ahead.
FIND HER.
I readied my stance and crouched, muscles trembling with the change, then leaped. Charging through the trees, the blood scent of Church was fresh now…so close. I tucked my head and curled my shoulders, charging until that battle cry still trembled, even in the silence. There. I leaped, slamming my paws into the ground hard as gravel replaced the soft pine needle bed.
Eyes bright and white fangs coated red. I caught the Alpha from the corner of my eye, slinking out from behind a boulder. But he wasn’t the Alpha I wanted. This one was older, battle-scarred, and rusty brown.
Still, no one lasted this long without his fair share of kills. I slowed, striding out until Church’s gut-wrenching roar filled the air. I clenched my jaw, fingers curling into fists, and turned my attention back to the walking-dead Alpha.
“Fuck you!” Church howled in the distance.
But the Alpha came for me, his head lowered, watching his quarry…before he grew tired of waiting. He was all fire, all white-hot rage. But he’d never met me. I raced forward and wrenched my fist backwards before I lunged.
He twisted as we hit and punched out with his feet.
Pain lashed down my side as we hit the ground with a thud. I stumbled, the pain stabbing, and looked down as he slowly rose to all four feet. My shirt was slashed, and soaked with blood down my ribs. I lifted my hand, fisted the sodden material, and yanked.
Remnants tore free with a sickening squelch as I lowered my head and looked at the gouges across my side. Blood shimmered black under the moonlight, making me think of her.
NOW…the beast roared in my head. GO TO HER NOW.
“Not yet.” I sucked in hard breaths and turned to the Alpha as he came for me again. “Not until we do what we came for.”
My beast curled his lips, black fur shimmering with blood before he swung that chilling gaze to our opponent. It was kill or be killed…and we weren’t ready to die.
My beast pushed to the surface. I felt that ache, low, chilling, like a fever that wracked my bones. No, I growled, and shook my head. Need to stay in control.
But the beast was no longer listening, no longer cared about anything but the end result. And for him, that was always going to be her. The Alpha feigned a lunge, jaws snapping, a low throaty thunder in the back of his throat.
There were others…a lot more than we’d expected. I grabbed a breath and slowed my body, narrowing in on my beast. “Do it,” I forced. “Be done with this.”
The answer was a resounding snap! as I fell to the ground, letting the beast take over. He roared to the surface, and consumed me whole. I burned from him, then screamed and howled as my spine bowed and grew claws. The pain was blinding, until I didn’t want to look. I just felt, just burned. Just…became what she needed me to become.
And pushed from the ground, standing on all fours, the beat of my heart the only thing familiar now. Through the beast’s eyes, I saw my enemy. There was no curl of his lips now, no rage and hate in his eyes…there was only fear. For him it was far too late.
My beast hunkered, thick thighs trembling from the hunger before he pushed off. We weren’t man and Wolf in that instant—we were death. We hit the older Alpha head-on with a bone-cracking thud, driving him backwards with pure strength. The Alpha twisted and bit, sinking his jaws into my right flank. But there was no agony in the moment, no sting, no cruel punishment. There was only that second when he let go and lifted his head to find my