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They wanted me dead. They wanted to punch a new hole into this world. They wanted to use shifters to do it. Only now, Anson had smashed the last link I had to save my family.
“No!” I screamed. “Stop!”
But he’d turned. Brimming with borrowed fae magic, on the edge of becoming the one thing I feared the most, I could not feel Anson at all.
There was only X.
I shifted into my wolf, racing down the ravine toward the house.
X’s blood streaked across the lawn as soon as I broke through the tree line. There was so much. The fae had wounded him. I knew there was no cure.
I skidded to a halt. X’s trail disappeared. He’d come this way, past the barn toward the back of Pat’s house, but then the tracks vanished. It was as if X had somehow gone airborne. I could feel him. Sense him. But I couldn’t see him anywhere.
I shifted again, letting my toes sink into the soft grass. Ahead of me, headlights floated as two black Jeeps pulled into the driveway. I grabbed a pair of pants and a t-shirt off a hook on the barn and ran toward them.
Dr. Olivet got out of one of the vehicles. Behind her, Pat and her son, Luke Tully, got out of the other. He was weak, having lost a ton of weight. But he was on his feet. As soon as he saw me, his wolf eyes flashed.
“X,” I said to Dr. Olivet, breathless. “Have you seen him? He came this way. There was…I found…”
“Tempest,” she said, rushing toward me. She grabbed me by the shoulders and searched my face.
“Where is he?” Luke growled. He seemed to be having trouble staying out of his wolf. His beast shimmered below the surface, making the bones of his face jut out at too-sharp angles.
The front door flew open. My father and Jarred stepped out. Jarred was holding a shotgun. Behind him, I heard my mother call from upstairs.
“What’s going on?” I said to Dr. Olivet. “I thought you said the packs shouldn’t get near each other until…”
“I tried to stop it,” she said. “They won’t…”
Before she could finish, a deathly howl filled the air. It seemed to come from all sides. I brought my hands to my ears, trying to drive out the sound. It was maddening. Beside me, Luke doubled over, his hands over his ears as well. Same with my father and brother on the porch.
A siren. A call. A summoning.
Then, I saw him in silhouette on the ridge just past the house.
It was X’s wolf. Pure black. His eyes were shining blood red.
“No,” I said, my mouth dry. Not those eyes. He’d fully turned. He’d gone Tyrannous. As if I needed any other proof, I felt his command fill my body, calling to every single cell.
I was his. Submit. Submit. Submit.
Jarred raised the shotgun. With a shaky grip, he aimed it at X.
X howled again. I fought against my shift. My fangs dropped. My claws dug into the grass.
I wasn’t alone. Luke shifted. My father. My brother. And then, streaming through the trees, the rest of the packs of Wild Lake came too.
“No!” Dr. Olivet shouted. “Christ! Tempest. Come on. We have to get inside.”
It was too late. All around us, I saw the pack leaders fall into formation. Luke Tully. Sebastian Lanier. Malcolm Devane. Derek Monroe. Alec Martel. Ravaged by illness, but still strong. Still fierce. Still ready to die and kill for their packs.
X came down from the hill.
“Tempest,” Pat said. “You have to stop him. You have to call to him. You’re the only one he’ll listen to.”
I tried. Reaching out with my mind, calling from the darkest parts of myself.
“X,” I whispered. “Anson!”
