Page 34 of A Wolf's Heart

Me.

“I’d rather die with my son than live another day with you,” she growled, her body instinctively trying to shift.

SAVE HER!I cried out within.

My mother looked down at me, the fear and pain in her eyes hitting me somewhere deep inside with a snap.

Out.

I cried out in shock. Instead of being in my body during the first transition of my life, I was sucked back.

Sensing the danger he was in, my father shifted into his black wolf form , and then I attacked. But it wasn’t me; I had no control.

The beast went for the neck, teeth sinking in like butter, and then he shook the body until my father fell limp. That’s when the feast began. I watched in shock and horror as the man that raised me had his flesh torn and ripped. Within a matter of seconds, the beast had my father’s chest cavity opened and devoured his heart.

I could feel it. The power. The high. The hot coppery liquid hit our taste buds, and an electric current coursed throughus. We were at the top. We were indestructible. We were…not done.

No!I screamed at the beast. I tried to run forward, pushing my way to the top to stop him, but I couldn’t. He laughed as he launched himself at the only pack member that ever cared about me, while I remained powerless. Mom. He shredded her, with no regard for the person she was, for the mother she was.

This time, as the heart hit our tongue, it was only the beast that felt the high. I felt sick to my stomach. He didn’t stop there, going after his next fix. The two wolves that had been in the arena ran for their lives, but he merely howled with ecstasy.

My mother and father already dead from the destruction of the beast, I pulled back, giving up, and letting him have complete control. He ran through the town, killing men, women, and children. Anyone in his path was fair game. The beast was a starved monster set loose at a buffet.

Until Kage’s father stepped forward. With one look of those blue eyes, I felt every bone in my body snap back into place, and there I knelt before him. A scrawny boy covered with the blood of those I had murdered. Shaking uncontrollably.

“I’m sorry,” I said to him.

“You’ll do just fine.” His eyes shone as he stared at me. It was as if he had just won a prize.

The buzzingof a phone caught my attention, the screen lighting up the scraps of clothing on the ground. The beast was panting and limping, injuries from his violent outburst with the wall.

“Beast,” Kage called from the other side of the door. “If you wish to see Lila, allow Rainor to answer the phone.”

Lila?

I tried to push the beast out of the way, but still, he wasn’t letting me have control back. He did, however, move towards thephone. With a large paw, he swiped the clothes away until the phone lay on the ground. One more swipe, and the beast had answered the video call.

It was a three-way call between Weylin, Kage, and me.

“Hey.” Weylin’s voice came through, his face filling the screen. “Thought maybe this would help you calm down.”

The camera flipped, and we were now peering into Lila’s open living room window.

The beast tilted his head to the side, ears perked up in an attempt to hear her better. Max sat on the sofa, staring at his wild owner as she danced around a whiteboard. On the whiteboard, I recognized pictures of the victims, dates they went missing, dates they showed up dead. She had her laptop on a stand and a video playing.

“Did you see that?” She jumped from one foot to the other as she talked to Max. Her was hair up in a messy bun, with strands falling down here and there. She wore a pink oversized shirt, a pair of underwear shorts, and big fluffy socks. She nearly slipped on the socks in her innocent excitement but caught herself. The beast huffed out a breath…or was it me?

It was almost as if I was sharing the light with the beast in this moment, side by side.

“Okay, when they questioned the alpha’s luna on this, you see how she reacted? The woman is heartbroken! That kind of pain, you can’t fake that. They had no idea what had happened to their alpha. Don’t you see, Max? After reviewing these interrogation tapes, I don’t think anyone in their pack took their own alpha. Look how they mourn him!” She brought up footage of a vigil held in honor of the Nadair Pack alpha.

I reached out for the phone. I hadn’t even registered that I’d shifted back to my human form.

“She’s pretty amazing,” Weylin whispered.

“Yeah. She is.” My voice remained a hushed tone. I curled up on the scraps of clothes and just stared at Lila, listening to all the points she made on the case.

“Why is her window open?” Kage asked. From the view on the screen, I could see he was sitting just on the other side of my door.

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