“I got you,” a voice said offscreen. “Come on. Come on.”
I recognized the voice immediately. “Aileen?”
The picture spun dizzily. And then Aileen’s face filled the screen. She was bleeding from a wound on her head. Blood covered the right side of her face. Her skin was pale, and she coughed roughly. “Hey,” she said. She looked away from the screen, eyes narrowing. “Bring him here. Goddammit, Patrice. Is there anyone else?”
“No,” we heard Patrice say. “Dis is all dat’s left.”
“Your arm, it’s—”
“Don’t worry about dat,” Patrice said through gritted teeth. He was hurt, but we couldn’t see how bad. “I warded da cabin. It’s—Gordo. Gordo.”
And then another voice spoke. “Give me the phone.”
Ox.
The screen froze before jumping. Ox’s face appeared. His eyes were red and violet. He had blood on his teeth. “Can you hear me?”
“Yes,” Mom said. “Ox, we’re here.”
“Listen,” he said. “We were too late. The wards were destroyed. You need to be ready. He’s coming. He’s coming.”
My skin felt electrified. My blood rushed in my ears, and my heart felt like it was going to burst from my chest. “The witches?”
“Dead,” Ox muttered. “All dead. Patrice and Aileen, they’ve—” Ox grimaced, hand going to his side. He was shirtless, and a jut of bone pressed out from his skin. We heard the audible snap as it healed back into place. “He has a witch. A kid. I don’t—”
“Give me the damn phone,” Aileen growled. “You need to sit your ass down and rest.” The screen grew fuzzy again as she took the phone from Ox. Her face once more filled the screen. “His name is Gregory. Came to me after Caswell. Said he wanted to help.”
“Gregory?” Joe demanded. “I met him. I know him. He’s a fucking teenager.”
Robbie was equally incensed. “I know that name. Livingstone said it once. Back in Caswell when I thought he was Ezra. Said he was helping him, that Gregory was… eager to learn.”
“Fucking teenagers,” Aileen snapped. “And he’s stronger than I gave him credit for. He must have been hiding it from me. He’s the one who let the wolves in. And he’s the one who has let them out.” She choked on her words. “They killed them. All of them. It was a slaughter. Ox was able to kill a couple of the wolves, but Gregory caught him off guard. Knocked him through that old house.”
“Gordo?” Mark asked. He was pleading. “Where is he? Is he….”
“He’s here,” Aileen said. She reached up and touched the wound on her head. She winced, the tips of her fingers bloody. “Unconscious, but here. We have him. We’re holed up in the cabin. Don’t worry about us. We’re safe for now. But Ox is right, you need to be ready. Livingstone is coming. We tried to stop him, but….” She shook her head. “He was stronger than we were.”
“Dere gone,” Patrice said. “I tink dere all gone. Wolves. Gregory. We’ll wait here until we can be sure, and den—”
“No,” Ox said. “We’re leaving. Now. We have to get back to Green Creek.”
Aileen sighed. “How did I know you were going to say that?”
“Because we have no other choice. Carter.”
“I’m here, Ox.”
“You need to warn the town. You—” He groaned somewhere offscreen. Then, “Will knows what to do. Raise the alarms. We’re coming for you, okay? I swear it. Hide. You hear me? I want you all to hide. You can’t do this on your own.”
Chris stepped forward. He looked at all of us before turning toward the screen. “You know we can’t do that, Ox. We have to help Green Creek. As many people as we can. It’s our job, man. It’s what you’ve been training us for. This moment.” He laughed, though it was shaky. “I mean, why else would you make us get up at the crack of dawn to punch each other over and over?”
Ox’s face appeared on the screen again. He looked furious. “No. Don’t. He’s stronger than you. Hide. Don’t make me tell you again.”
And Chris said, “We love you, okay?” as Ox’s face crumpled. “We’ll do what we can to hold them off until you get here.”
“Please,” Ox whispered. “I can’t lose you too.”
“You won’t,” Tanner said, stepping up next to Chris, standing shoulder to shoulder. “You’re our Alpha. You’ve taught us well. You and Joe both. We always knew it could come to this. Trust us, okay? Have the faith we have in you.”