Page 100 of Fated to the Lone Shifter
“Apparently, too close. That’s when the first wildfire broke out here, right?”
He nods.
That clarifies a few things. “Thank you for telling me.”
I have so many other questions, but the siren screams. We get the call we’d been expecting.
And the similarity is too eerie. There’s a fire at the Benson’s house.
Bode is after Noah’s parents again.
And I pray we can keep history from repeating itself.
Chapter thirty-one
Pack on the Run
NOAH
When we arrive on the scene, the house is already in flames, but not beyond saving. The crew leaps into action. Sera is already there, directing the hydrant team. Her eyes blaze with concentration—and worry. I can feel it pouring off her in waves.
We work in tandem, dousing the flames, preserving what we can. No bodies. No signs of struggle. Just fire, calculated and precise. Marcus is sweating profusely but focused, dragging the hose like it weighs nothing. For now, he’s holding it together.
Too well.
And I can feel the energy in the air—something unnatural lingering beneath the smoke. And unfortunately, this fire doesn’t feel like an accident.
I catch Sera’s eye. "There was wolf energy here. Old. Faint. They’re long gone,” she says.
I nod in agreement. "Like ghosts."
We scan the rubble, each step crunching over wet ash and charred beams. The house is gutted, but not erased. And the Bensons…or their bodies…are nowhere to be found. Which tells me this wasn’t about murder. Yet.
It was a message.
The question is: what’s next?
That’s when Sera pipes up. "Where’s Marcus?"
I spin, circling as fast as my mind is racing.
But we both know the truth before the evidence is in.
He’s gone.
I close my eyes and reach out with that new, raw connection—the one I didn't ask for, the one that comes with turning someone into a wolf.
Marcus.
A sharp jolt cracks down my spine. I feel it—the shift. The full moon has pulled him under. His thoughts flicker through mine in flashes: pain, power, freedom. Then vision. Trees rush past. His limbs are longer, stronger. He’s running.
No. No, no, no.
My stomach drops as I follow the pull of our link. I see through his eyes now—dark shapes in the woods, familiar. Bode’s pack. They’re there, waiting, welcoming.
Marcus is laughing, full of adrenaline and hunger.
He lunges. Something screams.
