Page 64 of Way of the Wolf

As had happened so long ago, my wolf instincts took over completely. The wild rage of a hurt animal, anangryanimal, drove all rational thought out of my mind. I barely felt the pain from my wounds as I sprinted at the hunters. All I knew was that I had to keep them from killing my mother, from hurting the pack.

The men heard my splashes as I raced out of the water and paused.

“Look out for that one!” One hunter swung his rifle toward me.

“That message wasn’t kidding.” The other man pointed in my direction. “Wolves are all over.”

I dove sideways as they fired. One bullet ricochetted off the rocky bank. One grazed my shoulder, fiery pain blasting me.

They swore and took aim again, but, by then, I’d reached them. With nothing but werewolf instincts and savagery guiding me, I tore into them.

My last conscious thought before my awareness disappeared into a red and black haze was that it was happening again. It was like it had been all those years ago when I’d killed Raoul. I couldn’t stop the magic and wildness that took me over the edge. Ibit and snarled and knocked my targets down, driven by fury, driven by the instincts and intense power of the werewolf.

That magical imperative didn’t wane until the hunters lay dead, their rifles fallen near their bodies.

Awareness returned slowly, as my ragged panting sounded in my ears, and water and blood dripped onto the rocky bank under my paws. My numerous wounds tingled with warmth as much as pain, some unfamiliar magic affecting them. Healing them? The tingling wasn’t something I’d experienced before, so maybe it had to do with that locket. I didn’t know, but I was on my feet when I probably shouldn’t have been. And I had the strength to turn and look for more threats as my rational mind returned, along with the awareness that my cousin had laid this trap. I had no doubt that he had told these hunters that wolves would be available to bag tonight in this spot. He and his allies had intentionally driven me in this direction.

On my side of the river but downstream, the dark-gray wolf that was Augustus limped into view, wet and glaring at me. I snarled, ready to rip his throat out.Wantingto rip his throat out.

Emilio padded out of the woods and onto the rock ledge, not far from me. Jasmine and several others followed. Finally, my mother and Lorenzo came out of the trees, her pelt even more silver under the moonlight. Fortunately, she didn’t appear wounded. Neither of them did.

Uncertainty trickled into me, displacing the rage. Or maybe it was simply that my battle lust was fading.

Mom stopped, sitting on her haunches, and gazed at the dead men. Later, I would feel regret for allowing the savagery of the werewolf magic to take me over, to turn me into a crazed monster. I had been defending myself and my mother, but it was too similar to when I’d lost Raoul.

As my fury waned, the magic did too. I’d answered the call of the wolf, and that was done for now. I changed back into myhuman form, as did some of the others. With the absence of fur, the chill autumn air was biting, but I didn’t shy away from it. In my human form, the memory of all that I’d longed to learn returned to me. It was time to get some answers.

“My daughter,” Mom said, having also changed. “You have returned to us.”

I grimaced and glanced at the bodies. There probably wouldn’t be ramifications when the authorities found them, since their wounds proclaimed they’d been killed by a wild animal, and the law didn’t acknowledge the existence ofwerewolves, but I couldn’t help but worry and feel that I’d been forced into this. To kill. Again.

“Were you part of setting this up?” I didn’t think she had been, but… I had to ask. I had toknow.

“Not I.” Mom frowned sternly toward Augustus.

His battle lust must have also cooled, because he slumped against a tree in his human form, chest abraded and bleeding from the fall.

“Come here, Augustus,” Mom called. “I will hear your explanation, or I will ask you to leave the pack.”

Scowling, he looked into the woods behind him, as if he was considering leaving of his own accord. But, ultimately, he walked up the bank toward us. The rest of the pack, some still in wolf form, stood or sat on their haunches to watch.

Augustus stopped several paces away. “You said you were going to leave the wolf medallion to your daughter. Even though she rejected our pack and our kind. Until this night, she kept mutilating herself with magic so she wouldn’t turn into a werewolf anymore.”

“I’m aware,” my mother said coolly. “But when I tested others, including your mate, nobody else caused the artifact to react with acceptance. Even with her power dulled, the medallion desired her touch above all others who gripped it.”

I rocked back, feeling dense. Mom had told me about that testing and that Augustus’s mate had been in consideration for inheriting the artifact. But I hadn’t realized it was so valuable, so important, that it would prompt someone to kill for it. Augustus must have resented me already. For a long time.

“It glowedsomefor my mate,” he said.

“Little. It glowed more for my daughter.”

“Sherejected us.” Augustus pointed a finger at me. “What does it matter?”

“Once, she did leave us, yes,” Mom said. “For reasons that made sense to her at the time. But now… Now she is here. I knew she would return.”

I swallowed. I hadn’t decided to do that. All this had been about figuring out why Augustus wanted me dead. That was it.

Well, maybe that wasn’t true. Since I’d learned Mom was dying… That had changed something too, hadn’t it?

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