Page 61 of Empowering the Wolf's Heart

I did not wait for her to finish. I leapt through the door. A beam fell, and I dodged to the side, just avoiding being crushed. A shard snapped up from the impact and tore into my chin. I pawed at the piece and howled when it came out, leaving a hole right beneath my jaw.

I shook off the rest of the debris and stalked further into the barn. Heat beat against my fur. It sought to devour my skin and melt the fat from my bones. I ignored the pain and squinted to see beyond the tears streaming from my eyes as the smoke stung them.

“Help!” cried a tiny voice.

I shifted to human. It was the only way to climb the ladder. The fire roared with the strength of a dozen dragons. The flames leapt at me and caught my fingers and parts of my legs before I jumped from the ladder and rolled to put out my tunic.

“Where are you?” I called, choking off into hacking coughs as I searched the area for the little one. Doc stored his old medical stuff up here; I saw the old chairs and tables and some remedies, but not the child. I strained my ears to hear anything beyond the crackle of flames.

There.

A tiny breath catching as if in a sob.

I peered around a table to find a small boy curled up under a desk. His eyes were wide as he stared up at me. “Come with me, little one. Let me get you to safety,” I said, holding out my hand.

The boy’s dark brown eyes blinked at me before he set his tiny hand in my own. Then he leapt from his hiding place and clung to my neck with the strength of a werewolf. I glanced backin the direction of the ladder; it was no longer a ladder, just two swinging poles being devoured by flames.

I turned to the loft window and kicked it open. The fire sizzled behind me and the floor sagged as creaks of wood foretold what was soon coming.

“Hold tight,” I whispered in the boy’s ear. He nodded.

I jumped.

Wind screamed past my ears as the barn collapsed behind me.

My knees absorbed most of the shock when we hit the ground. It hurt, but we were alive.

“Sammy!” a voice cried out.

A growl erupted from my lips as a woman ran up to us. She stopped, her pale blue eyes widening. “Please, he’s me boy,” she pleaded.

I immediately silenced the growl raging in my chest. She took Sammy from my arms. “Thank ya, sir. Thank ya, thank ya,” she said over and over, clinging to her pup as much as he clung to her.

“It was my pleasure—” My voice cut off as I saw a commotion in the trees. My body was quavering with the after-effects of adrenaline and my ears rang as my lungs sucked in greedy gulps of air. I wanted to give Lycus time to heal us before we fought again.

But it was only Matilda, a grin on her face as she sauntered into the clearing with a group of about ten children clinging to her skirts.

“See, I told ye the Alpha would come. He’s a right good sort, he is.”

“I am not the Alpha, Madame,” I said with a slight smile.

A hint of the tangy silver and the timeless echo of loam hit my nose a moment before a dark outline emerged behind Matildaand the children. Instinct sent a cold warning through my veins. I ran.

Matilda saw where my eyes were and she turned. She shoved the children away as a man in black stepped from the edge of the woods.

A sword erupted from Matilda’s back. The objective part of me noted the blade was silver based on the way her werewolf blood sizzled on contact. Lycus howled as fury descended and scorched a blazing pathway through my soul.

The being in black scowled, jerking the sword from her chest.

He had not a chance to move before I dragged a blade across his throat and let his gurgling carcass fall to the ground as I caught Matilda. I gently lowered her to the ground, a low whimper escaping her.

More beings paused as they saw my speed and the flash of my werewolf. My growl built to a crescendo. A whistle sounded from deeper within the trees and they disappeared back into the thicket at the signal for retreat.

Sammy’s mother fell to her knees next to Matilda. “Ma?” she whispered, clinging tightly to Sammy, who had his head buried in his mother’s shoulder.

Fen met my eyes across the clearing. His eyes were dark with promise and edged with a dangerous insanity I knew could come with his wolven side. “We hunt. Go,” I said.

He nodded and bowed his head, his eyes blazing. No one attacked our pack—no one. He took off into the woods after the beings who were escaping. They would pay.

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