Page 105 of Fated to the Lone Shifter
Not bureau-issued, I think with a rush of admiration. That's witch-issued. Custom work.
Her efficiency buys me time. I twist the head off the nearest wolf with a sickening crack and lunge for another, sinking my fangs into the soft tissue at the throat. Blood gushes. The wolf collapses under me.
Then Marcus is there—hovering over the broken wolf, his body trembling, fists clenched at his sides. His golden eyes shimmerwith pain, disbelief, and the weight of a thousand unspoken regrets.
His mate I see.
I freeze for a second.
Her body is motionless. Her neck lies at an unnatural angle. Marcus stares down at her, breath labored, and I feel his pain like it’s my own.
Before I can speak, Sera appears beside me, silent and sure, athame in hand. Marcus bolts into the darkness as she plunges the blade into the dying wolf beneath me. The creature lets out one final, blood-curdling scream before she slices its head clean off.
She’s ruthless. Controlled. And utterly terrifying.
I stare at her, breath heaving, chest soaked in blood—hers, mine, theirs, who knows. There’s something wild in her eyes. But she doesn’t flinch. She pushes the decapitated wolf’s limp body and offers it to me.
Grateful, I feed.
My gaze never leaves her.
Around us, the field is eerily quiet. The dead are finally still. And we—Sera and I—are the last two standing.
The fire wall begins to burn itself out. An eerie silence falls over the space.
Until…
A low laugh echoes through the trees.
I spin, blood still on my tongue.
Bode.
He stands just behind the pyre, in human form, bold as hell. His salt-and-pepper hair is slicked back, his shirt half-buttoned, chest streaked with sweat and blood. He doesn’t even glance at the corpses around us. His eyes—those predatory red-rimmed eyes—are locked on me. He holds a gas can in his hand.
“Ah, you won’t charge me yet, Little Noah.”
The nickname hits like a slap. No one’s called me that in twenty years. Not since—
I snarl, low and warning.
“You have too many questions,” Bode continues, taking a lazy step forward. “Questions momma and daddy couldn’t answer. Questions you’ve always been too scared to ask.”
I study him, calmly pacing. His posture’s loose, cocky. But there’s tension in his limbs, a readiness to strike. He’s baiting me, waiting for the exact right moment.
“You can’t take my fated mate,” he says. “We’re bonded. Aren’t we, Sera?”
I don’t look at her. I don’t have to. My wolf answers for me, a deep, guttural growl that shakes in my chest.
“You can’t take her from me, Noah. I am the alpha. I’ve always been the alpha. Just ask your father.”
I clench my fists so hard my claws pierce skin.
“He thought he could take your mother from me after we were bonded. They thought I’d just let it go. Thought banishment was enough to keep me quiet. But you? You were as much mine as theirs.”
My breath stutters.
Sera steps forward. Her voice is steel. “Then why did you leave him behind?”
