Page 52 of Wind with a Chance of Wolfsbane

Jonathan hesitated a second before glancing up at the men. “What happened?”

“That’s what we’ve been wondering,” said Dwayne, looking for a moment like he was about to undo the cell. The guarded expression on his face said Jonathan wouldn’t like what he was about to say. “One second, you were fine, and the next, you were wolfing out in the middle of the conference room, yelling about some woman and then asking for help.”

Leo rubbed the back of his head. “Um, I shot you with a tranq dart. Okay, more than one dart.”

Jonathan raised a brow. He’d been so out of it that he’d required tranq darts?

“And it didn’t work,” added Leo. “At least not in the way we hoped. It knocked you out for about a minute, and then you came to even worse than you’d started. Thankfully, we were able to get Dwayne back into the conference room by then.”

Dwayne let out a loud snort. “Not that I was a lot of help. I shifted andtriedto reason with your wolf side.”

That didn’t seem too bad. Had roles been reversed, Jonathan would have attempted the same thing, tapping into the mental pathway he shared with other Harker wolves. “I’m sensing there is more to the story.”

Leo whistled low and through his teeth. “Yeah, you could say that.”

“You were so far past being reasoned with that I don’t even have words to describe it.” Dwayne stared at him with worry on his face.

“Try,” said Jonathan.

“Your eyes were red,” stated Dwayne.

“Red?” asked Jonathan with a sharp intake of breath. Shifted, they were like his eyes normally were, one brown, one green. They increased in intensity, but they didn’t alter colors. A sinking feeling began in his gut as he thought about wolf-shifters he’d come across in all his years who had red eyes when their emotions were heightened.

Lucian, Myron, and Digby.

Red eyes had been the start of the end for his brothers. Signs they were falling into the abyss. Lucian had been dancing on the edge of that bleak existence for as long as Jonathan could remember. At some point, he, too, would plummet. Was it Jonathan’s turn?

At the thought of Lucian, flashes of Romania and the forests there popped into Jonathan’s head, though he wasn’t sure why. Was this another sign that he was cracking?

Did it start with losing control, having strange visions, and then his eyes glowing red? Was that the future Jonathan had to look forward to?

Leo nodded. “Yeah. Glowing red. For a bit there, I was worried we might not get you corralled. You’re a hell of a lot stronger than you look.”

“Uh, thanks,” said Jonathan, praying he’d not harmed anyone during the ordeal. “Was anyone seriously injured?”

Dwayne rubbed his backside. “My pride and jeans were damaged. But other than that, no. We were all kind of banged up though. Leo’s right. You’re damn powerful for a shifter. And you were in some sort of rage state. There was no reasoning with you. I tried to reach you mentally, but all I got back were scattered feelings.”

Jonathan lifted a brow. “What kind of feelings?”

“You don’t remember?” asked Leo, concern in his voice.

“No.” That scared Jonathan more than losing control. If he couldn’t even remember what had driven him to that point, how could he possibly work to prevent it from happening again?

“What’s the last thing you remember?” asked Leo.

Jonathan concentrated, trying to recall what he’d been doing. “We were going over crime reports for the last few months in the conference room. You told me about an informant you had.”

The men nodded but said nothing.

Jonathan rubbed the back of his neck as best he could, considering he was still shackled. His throat was dry, and his stomach rumbled. Pizza sounded delicious. He was famished. A deeper hunger stirred in him, and he tensed. It was a hunger food wouldn’t touch.

He wanted blood.

And freedom.

It took him a moment to gather enough control to answer Leo’s question. “Uh, I remember Leo mentioning an informant and then…I don’t remember much beyond that. Small flashes of things that don’t make any sense. Then nothing. It’s all hazy.”

Dwayne took a big breath. “Do you remember me telling you about the local wolf-shifter packs reaching out, wanting to let us know they didn’t have anything to do with the attacks?”

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