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I raised my head and howled. The sound of it filled the woods and echoed off the lake.
X. Anson.
He had cursed this place. I knew it. Every bad thing that happened to me, my family, or the shifters of Wild Lake had started with him.
My fault. All my fault.
Tempest.
I heard my name in the wind. A trick. An echo.
Tempest.
He was here. He was everywhere. I shifted, then crouched low, kneeling. I gripped the edge of the rock.
Tempest.
“No,” I whispered. “You’re not welcome here. I told you I never want to see you again.”
But he was coming. I felt it in my blood. My bones.
He was coming.
I felt his breath caress my cheek. A ghost. A phantom.
Tempest.
I heard his howl rise in the distance.
X.
Anson.
He was here.
Chapter Two
With one breath, I shifted back into my wolf. Adrenaline pumped through me as I leapt from the rock face and tore down the shoreline. Echoes of my father’s pack reached me. For so long, I’d cut myself off from their telepathic reach. Now, when I needed them, they were lost to me. For the first time since I’d stepped onto Wild Lake lands, I felt their suffering. Their pain. Desolation. Oh, God. These were strong men. Battle-tested Alphas who had claimed their mates and their packs, protecting our territory against threats their grandfathers never could have imagined. Now, they were trapped inside themselves to a man. Like my father, caught in a shift. Unable to lead. Barely able to breathe.
Then there was X.
His strength poured into me. His black wolf rose high, silhouetted against the moonlight as he breached the southern border of Wild Lake.
I felt my father’s strangled call.
“No!” I sent my command back to him. He was too sick. If he tried to fully shift or come to my side, it would kill him. I knew it in my bones. This was up to me now. I would face down the threat alone.
I skidded to a halt as I came to the creek bed tucked in the southern woods. X was above me. He sat back on his haunches and let out a fearsome howl. A warning. A call. It vibrated through me, stirring an ancient need I would not give in to.
I growled back. Pricked my ears. I let the scents of the wood fill my nose. There was game here. Rabbits. Two white-tailed doe had run downhill, away from us.
“Shift!” X’s command reached me. My whole body trembled as I fought against it. I wanted to shift for him. I wanted to bend for him. He still owned my body. Damn him to hell. He would not control my mind.
I barked out a warning. If he came any closer, I would attack. A different need filled me. I wanted blood.
X took a cautious step toward me, then another.
My warning growl rumbled through me.
