Page 90 of Season of the Wolf

I saw … a target.

A deep, guttural roar billowed from my gut and burst from my lungs. Those rifles that had settled when it seemed I’d decided to walk away were raised again, and despite knowing the soldiers were all too willing to pull the triggers, I couldn’t stop myself. On this day, I wanted the blood to run cold in Evie’s veins.

Wanted it so bad I could taste it.

My brothers, Chris, Lucas … they all struggled to hold me, all pleading with the guards not to shoot, all knowing there was only so much time they could stall them.

My will was ironclad. Both feet planted firmly in the soil and I somehow managed to inch forward even with so many fighting to drag me in the opposite direction.

At the door, Evie stood in shock, watching the scene that unfolded before her very eyes. A vision of separating her head from her shoulders filled me with bloodlust. All I needed was one second.

One to end that incessant vibration emanating from within her.

It became clearer to me than it had ever been before.Thiswas the reason I’d been born, my life’s purpose.

I was meant to liberate Evie’s soul from her body.

On this day, suffering a gruesome death at my hand, she would breathe her last breath.

***

Evie

Triggered.

That was the word that came to mind as I stared, frozen in place, watching someone I no longer recognized claw his way toward the gate.

His face was distorted in strange ways, and thick, dark veins became visible through his skin. This was not a transition into the wolf I’d seen manifest in him before. This was something different. The beast I stared at today bore little physical resemblance to the guy I once trusted with my life, and evenlessresemblance in behavior.

This monster … it was wicked, the embodiment of evil.

When I was first awakened by the sound of my name being yelled, I had no idea this was the scene unfolding outside our front door. But now … I knew what brought him here.

An insatiable hunger to end my life.

My instincts should have been to run, but I couldn’t move. A strange mix of disbelief and sadness warred within me. I struggled to grasp the concept of how someone who’d very recently played a huge part in saving my parents’ lives was now crazed, drenched in sweat and nearly tearing his clothes from his body with rage.

All the while, he kept his deadly gaze trained solely on me.

I had no idea what changed, what made him decide that right here and now was the time to end me. Seemed we’d all been dreading this moment for so long. Even Nick himself.

Commotion behind me barely registered. I sensed my brothers, Elise, Hilda, and Dallas.

But IfeltLiam.

A large hand nearly swallowed my arm whole, moving me aside when his massive frame replaced mine in the doorway. As his shadow fell on me, it was clear he aimed to stand in as Nick’s target should he manage to break free.

“Don’t act rashly,” Hilda warned as she pushed her way through.

An onslaught of quickly spoken phrases like,“Excuse me”and“Move it,”flew from her mouth as she elbowed her way to the front door.

Liam answered without taking his eyes off Nick, speaking through gritted teeth and a firm jaw.

“I’ve waited long enough to kill him,” he seethed, adding, “Toolong.”

I could only imagine what must have been going through his head, recalling a moment similar to this—one he hadn’t been able to prevent in the distant past.

Beyond the gate, a powerful scuffle made my skin crawl. Although Liam had blocked my line of sight, it wasn’t hard to imagine Nick growing more enraged as the seconds passed.

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