Page 76 of Wolf Marked

Jerrick roared with fury. He tried to yank the spear out of his flesh, but the tip was embedded too deep. Instead, he tore at his clothes, ripping them off just as black fur sprouted out of every pore. Bones cracked and muscles bunched and reformed. His face lengthened into a snout and massive jaws. He lurched forward on all four legs, and the spear’s staff snapped in two, sending wood flying. With its ears pinned back, it snarled, revealing rows of sharp yellow fangs.

Jerrick the man was no more. They were staring into the menacing onyx eyes of a savage two-hundred-pound beast.

Chapter Twenty-Five

Erec jumped in front of Astrid, clutching his sword in one hand and his wounded side with the other. His heart pounded. “Go, Astrid! Run!”

“I’m not leaving you,” she yelled, pushing past to stand by his side.

The black wolf growled viciously. Then pounced.

Erec shoved Astrid hard out of the way as the beast’s claws dug into his chest, knocking him onto the ground. His own animal climbed to the surface, but when the black wolf’s jaws entrenched into his shoulder, the immense pain made him blind to anything else. He kicked out, nailing its soft underbelly, but it did nothing to make him let go.

Movement flashed at the corner of his eye, and the wolf released him and was rearing back. That’s when Erec saw the axe impaled in the animal’s hind leg and Astrid standing there, breathing hard. It whipped its huge head her way, sharp teeth flashing, and snarled.

Erec glanced up to see his sword had landed inches out of reach. He stretched and grabbed for it, but his fingers only brushed the handle. His stomach dropped.

Jerrick inched closer at Astrid, who was frantically glancing around for another weapon to grab. There were none.

Bracing himself on one elbow, Erec heaved himself closer to the sword, ignoring the immense pain raking through his body. The second his fingers wrapped around the hilt, the wolf spun around again. He plunged the sword upward, impaling its skull through the jaw.

For a long moment, the animal didn’t move. Only its nostrils flared as one last steamy breath leaked from its nose. Then, its massive body shuddered once more before collapsing on top of Erec, dead.

When Jerrick shifted back into his human form, Erec pushed the lifeless weight off him and climbed to his feet. As he rose, his muscles clenched painfully and his woundsstung, but the rain was a refreshing beat against his aching body.

He suddenly realized that there was an odd silence gripping the night, and when his gaze swept over the campsite, he saw that everyone—both the pack’s warriors and Jerrick’s men—had stopped fighting and were now watching him intently. Henrick, Dana, Astrid, even Boden. Every eye, human and wolf, was locked on him.

Something zinged through his veins, a growing, pulsing power unlike anything he’d ever felt before. As it rushed throughout his body, the pains and aches disappeared and he was stronger. Unstoppable.

Then, a flood of emotions crashed against his aura—pain, relief, absolute joy, pride. He felt them all. But instead of being overwhelmed, his heartbeat slowed, and a calm washed over him, and he knew right then what was happening.

He was an alpha.

Erec glanced down at his hands and saw the golden glow hovering around his skin, the same thing he’d seen around Filip before.

Him? An alpha?

But he couldn’t be. Not him. He wasn’t—

“One day you’ll be able to see the greatness that I see in you.”Mikel’s rich voice echoed from the recesses of Erec’s memory.

He couldn’t do this. He wasn’t like Boden, a warrior through and through. Or a natural-born leader like Filip.

He was…justhim.

A light pressure touched his back, and he glanced over to see Astrid at his side. Seeing her there, alive, knowing she was indeed the other half of his soul, made a smile lift his lips. The warmth of her love encased him through their newly strengthened bond, bringing with it a new sense of confidence.

She didn’t care who his real father had been. It didn’t matter to her. After years of being on his own, he never imagined finding someone to accept and love him unconditionally. She had accepted himself as a rogue, even when her father had wanted to cast him out.

Maybe being alpha wasn’t an absurd idea. Mikel had been right about everything else. He could be right about this, too. And Filip had thought him capable of leading. He had believed in him as well.

Maybe this was meant to be.

He could do this.

Staring out at the many trusting and hopeful faces of the west-side pack, the men and women he had befriended over the last few weeks and fought alongside, any lingering uncertainty within him washed away. They had accepted him. Completely. They trusted him. He should believe in himself, too.

He could do this.

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