Page 2 of Shadow Bound

I would like to say that pulling the trigger is hard, but it’s easier than breathing for me. This is my nature; this is who I am.

I’m a killer after all.

And today I’m tasked with killing Pruitt Weylyn.

I can’t stay and watch what happens down there after I pull the trigger, instead I break down my rifle with record-breaking speed, slipping it into the case. My sensitive ears hear the shouting coming from below me, many of the voices scream for help. I know it will only be a matter of minutes before one of them is coming this way to track where the bullet came from. But by the time they get here, I’ll be nothing but a shadow in the woods moving silently. I’ll be untraceable even to wolf shifters.

I swing the case over my shoulder and begin my trek into the thick Montana forest. I’m only fifty yards in when the burner phone in my pants pocket begins to buzz. I don’t even have to look at the caller ID to know who’s calling me. Only one person knows this number and that’s because he’s the one who gave me the phone.

“Is it done?” he asks before I even greet him.

“Yes,” I answer simply.

“Did you hit the target?”

“Have I ever hit anything other than exactly what I’m aiming for?” I challenge him. I can’t believe he’d ask me something like that, considering he’s one of the people who trained me to become a killer. He knows exactly what my skills are, he’s seen them up close and personal multiple times. The only reason he’s not here with me now is he didn’t want to risk being this close to the pack. He has a larger game at play and it’s not time for him to show himself in Montana yet. We’re all just pawns on Sterling’s chessboard. He’s controlling everything, whether we know it or not.

“Don’t get indignant with me,little girl. I know you spent some time with Vance, but I don’t tolerate disrespect like he did. You’re a valuable asset to me, Isabeau, but you’re not irreplaceable. Be sure to remember that.”

I hate him. The idea that someday soon I will be able to spill his blood motivates me.

My brother Alexandre and I were sent to assist one of Sterling’s men, Vance Langdon, with an auction that was taking place in New York three months ago. We were supposed to be just acting as a security detail for the merchandise—themerchandisebeing babies. Vance had been in charge of that particular auction and it’s a good thing he died that night, because if he’d lived, Sterling would have skinned him alive for what happened there. Not only did one of the babies get taken, but my brother was also killed. I’m self-aware enough to know the emotions I feel about Alex’s death are wrong. I’ve long lost the ability to feel the weight of a loss like that. I don’t even know if I can grieve like a normal person. I do feel anger for what happened, but it’s not directed toward the people it should be.

I keep my tone steady when I talk. “Yes, sir.”

“Good. Now get to the pickup location, I will have a team there to collect you in the next hour. We will be traveling back to headquarters at once, I have something I have to deal with there,” he vaguely instructs.

Being the good little soldier I pretend to be, I tell him, “Yes, sir” once more before ending the call. The sound of howling wolves behind me urges me to move faster through the woods, my leather combat boots crunching through the snow. When I know I’m far enough away, I call upon my power.

It starts as a light tingling feeling under my skin, an irritating itch I can’t reach. But the stronger it grows, the more the sensation intensifies. The itching turns into a burning, slicing feeling, like someone is slashing me with fiery knives. I learned a long time ago to submit to the pain, to use it to fuel my power. I no longer cower from it, I embrace it—welcoming it like a friend. There were times in my childhood that pain was all I ever felt.

My body slowly melts into the shadows, becoming one with them. Sterling calls the skill shadow walking. It’s one of the rarer gifts a fae can have and considering I’m not a full-blooded fae, it’s even more shocking I developed the power. I move quickly through the shadows, moving like a mist amongst them.

I have somewhere to be, and it’s not where Sterling told me to go. It took Alexandre dying in front of me to realize I no longer want to be the person I was created to be. I may have been created to be a killer, but that’s not what I choose to be. Not anymore.

They tell you to trust your gut. It’s usually right anyway.

Something has been off all night, there’s a presence in the air that’s making alarm bells go off in my head. My wolf, while notoriously restless and agitated, paces in my head. I learned a long time ago the tricks to pacify him, but tonight none of them are working. My skin pricks as he pushes to the surface, fighting me for dominance, something he does often. I grind my back molars and shove him back down, ignoring his urging to go on patrol again.

I’m supposed to be taking the night off from hunting. As of late, I’ve been spending less and less time at home, instead spending all my time out hunting wolves that’ve turned rogue. It used to be my eldest brother’s job, but now that Ryker is mated to Pruitt, he’s elected to stay at home with her more. Which is fine with me. I don’t have a mate waiting for me like he does, I’m free to take off for weeks on end. My wolf has never been more content than he is when we are tracking a rogue wolf.

I was only on patrol a half hour ago; I checked the surrounding woods and there were no signs of any unwelcome visitors out there, so I ignore the hairs that rise on the back of my neck. I know the enforcers of the pack who are on constant patrol of the pack territory would have stopped someone from entering our land.

Take the night off.I repeat to myself while taking a drink from the mug of spiked hot chocolate in my hand. It’s a chilly January night, snow from a storm last week still lays on the ground around us and I can see my breath in the air when I talk. I’ve always liked the cold, preferred it to the hot summer months.

“Ransom, did you get all the fireworks set up?” Remington, my sister, asks.

I turn around to everyone. “Yep, Ranger and I set them up this afternoon down by the lake.” I gesture at my twin brother sitting in a patio chair with his new mate Winslow in his lap. It makes me happy to see my brother so content with the witch. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him smile as much as he does now with her. There was a time he never smiled at all.

Winslow has only been mated to Ranger for three months now, but I swear it’s like she’s been part of the family forever. In a way, I guess she has, since she’s the long-lost niece of the local witch high priestess Esme. Esme has always been close to our family, so it’s only natural Winslow fits right in. Granted, it was a little touch and go at first. I almost mauled her in my wolf form and Ryker had pinned her against a wall five feet in the air when he first met her.

We’re friends now though. Family actually.

I find myself looking at the trees again, looking for something—anything—that could be causing my wolf’s discomfort.

“I don’t think Addison would have appreciated you buying illegal fireworks and smuggling them back from Wyoming.” Pruitt’s voice cuts through my worrying.

I pull my gaze away from the dark tree line and look at my sister-in-law and alpha female. She’s tucked snuggly against Ryker’s chest as always. I swear these two are glued to each other. “Really? I think she would have loved it. I could sense she was a rebel at heart beneath her turtlenecks and prim and proper attitude.” I smirk.

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