I paused, trying to process my beast’s thought.We do not have a pack.
The beast begged to argue. I didn’t have time to fight with myself. The creature raised its head confidently, as if my impatience was a sign that it had won.
We’re going to talk about this later, I told my dragon.
It grumbled at me but turned its attention toward the problem at hand like I wanted.
Ness whined. She looked the house up and down as she moved impatiently. Her gaze dropped. She darted away from me. I followed after her like she was a magnet, dragging me along. I couldn’t let her far from me.
My dragon warned that there would be hell to pay if I let Ness out of my sight. She was everything to me. This little impetuous shifter had weaseled her way into my heart. If anything happened to her today, my beast would make sure this pack never knew peace.
I’d been so worried about causing trouble here, but I’d been protecting an undeserving pack. They weren’t worth my time. At least, that was what I thought. It seemed they were ready to prove me wrong.
I caught movement out of the corner of my eye. A flash of fur leapt in my direction. I threw my arm up to intercept the incoming bite. The wolf never made it. Two female wolves jumped on him and pinned him to the ground. I eyed the women working together and wondered if they were the same pair that held hands at my meeting earlier.
“It’s about damn time,” Vi grunted as she threw a fireball at another wolf.
Jackson and Marcus, I guessed. They’d been Alvin’s faithful minions. Perhaps they had a grudge after Harvey’s death, because they were putting up quite the fight. I stepped past Vi and felt the lick of flames against my cheek. I caught the wolf by the scruff of his neck and tossed him aside.
He slammed into a tree at the edge of the property and dropped to the ground. While Jackson was out of the way, the elder shifter ran past me. She went to Ness’s side. I couldn’t see what the two of them were doing. The second wolf threw off the female shifters.
I leapt on him before he could retaliate against those who’d helped us. I pinned him to the ground with one hand. The wolf shifter was no match against me. So long as they didn’t have the witch’s poison, I could win this fight.
I heard a soft creak behind me. Looking up, I saw Ness vanish through a narrow window. My jaw dropped. I nearly stood and went to her. The wolf under my hand thrashed, reminding me that I had a job to do.
“Did you really let her go alone?” I couldn’t breathe.
Bri put a hand to my shoulder. “She’ll be fine.”
Ness was gone. I couldn’t see where she was. My beast snarled and lashed its tail. The air around me snapped with electricity. The beast pushed against my skin. It stretched me too thin.
“Ness! Ness, get back here!” My beast pushed, turning my voice into a growl.
“She was the only one who would fit through the window,” the elder shifter said.
“Get back here,” I called out to Ness. “Don’t you dare go in there alone!”
I ran to the window and dropped down, but the gap was too small. My shoulders would never fit through there. It was amazing that Ness had fit at all. My beast roared. It would break down the walls, any magical barrier be damned.
Ness
I triedto breathe to steady myself, but the darkness of the basement reminded me of the day I’d been trapped here. Panic tried to take over. I shook myself and tried to regain control. Every step I took was uncertain. I tucked my tail between my legs and climbed the stairs.
What could I do?
In this form, I was limited. My hound would never be stronger than a wolf shifter, let alone an Alpha. I would need more than my strength. The cool ice in my core wavered and threatened to shatter under the pressure of my panic.
I sucked in another breath and made a decision. I had to do it. I wouldn’t fail again. Alvin had proved to us, time and time again, that he could not be the man we needed. We had to remove him from power. I would see to that one way or another.
The heavy weight of judgement pulled me back together. It cemented the ice in my core and turned my breath so cold that it fogged in the air. I could feel death behind me, waiting like someone about to receive a promised gift.
Perhaps that was what I did. I’d always wondered what made me special. The storms had been odd, never quite in my control. They were an omen, though. They foretold my presence, that I was on my way to make changes.
Shifting back made me shake, but it was worth it. If I had no use for my strength, then there was no harm in weakening myself even further. I didn’t have the strength to fight back in the first place.
It all rested on my voice, on the command that I could barely control. It required confidence and anger. Though my anger had gone cold and frigid, it was still there, nonetheless. I wasn’t going to let Alvin do a damn thing to Cerri behind closed doors. She’d done nothing to earn this.
The wispy presence of my arcana swirled through my lungs and rose to coat my tongue. This was over. I just needed to find him first. He wasn’t hard to find. His scent reeked of death, like Addie had said.