Page 25 of Cast in Shadow
Unsurprisingly, the beta and his second charged me from different angles. In a blink, I turned my body into a livewire with my magic, letting it rush to the surface in a powerful current. One touch and boom. Lights out.
That was one of the benefits of living as long as I had: lots and lots of time to learn new and useful ways to use my magic.
“Last warning,” I said, raising my voice over the overwhelming sounds of rallying wolves. “If one more of you makes a move toward me or either of these women, I will wipe the Clark Ridge pack from existence.”
Stillness fell over the area. A few more wolves backed away, but one brave wolf with a golden hue close to Bridget’s shifted into human form and moved toward his unconscious packmates with his hands up.
I let him go. It was best if they had proof that their leaders weren’t dead.
He knelt beside Levi and checked his pulse. “She’s telling the truth.” Another low rumble spread through the remaining wolves, but it didn’t sound like relief. Unless I was mistaken, it sounded an awful lot like disappointment.
Before I could respond, the man shifted back into wolf form, and with a snarl that raised the hairs at the back of my neck, he tore out Levi’s throat.
“And so it begins,” I said, mostly to myself, with a ripple of dark satisfaction working through me.
Another wolf stepped forward and sank his teeth into the beta’s neck. Two more took out his second.
I pulled my power away from my skin and grabbed the girl by the arm. “Come with me.”
“What are they doing?” Panic threaded through each syllable.
“Taking their pack back.”
A chorus of growls rose in volume as the wolves moved slowly, dividing themselves into two factions: those siding with the wolves who’d taken out their unconscious leaders and those looking for payback.
“We need to get you out of here.” I tightened my grip on her arm and spun her around, forcing her away from the coming violence.
She twisted, looking over her shoulder. “What’s going to happen?”
“Most likely? A very bloody fight.” I kept her moving, but it took some less than delicate pushing.
I’d seen what could happen when a pack was divided like that. A strong alpha could step in to quell the violence, but then they would spend months or even years weeding out the bad actors. Assuming they didn’t catch a knife in the back for their efforts first.
“The pack is poisoned, and in a situation like this, it’s best to let them sort things out internally.”
The girl stumbled over a rock, and Bridget’s wolf growled a warning at me from behind us. I let go of her arm and fell back a few steps, motioning for the big wolf to come around and take the lead.
“Either a new leader will emerge from the survivors, or the pack will scatter,” I added.
She stopped, turning back. It hadn’t devolved into violence yet, but we weren’t sticking around until it did. Still, I half expected her to say she wanted to go back. That she couldn’t stand by and let the pack tear itself apart.
Instead, she closed her eyes and shook her head. “Good riddance.” Then she turned on her heel and followed Bridget’s wolf through the trees.
The walk back to the cabin took longer than I’d anticipated. Or maybe it just felt that way because I was watching our backs every step of the way, trying to stay focused on getting us all to safety, while I still didn’t know the status of Echo.
I could have asked. I still had my earpiece in. But if Dennis told me we’d lost more members of our Lexa family today, there was a damned good chance I wouldn’t be able to stop myself from going back and slaughtering every last wolf in that damned pack. Sure, not all of them had a hand in attacking Echo, but the ones who stood by and watched were just as guilty. Just like the ones who were too scared to intervene when Levi and the others abused their weaker packmates.
There were other things to sort out, too. Like how I was going to get the girl and her grandmother to Salus when I’d left my Jeep at the campground.
We were still about fifty yards out from the cabin when Bridget slowed to a stop. An angry growl rose from her wolf form, and her hackles stood straight up, creating a mohawk oferect reddish-brown fur that stretched from the base of her skull to her tail.
A deep, rumbling warning answered from somewhere in the trees, and I immediately understood the problem.
“Nguyen, stand down!” I yelled ahead. Moving up to stand next to Bridget’s wolf, I spoke more softly. “That’s a member of my team, Nguyen DeBruin. He’s not a threat to us.”
Nguyen chose that moment to step out of the trees in his full grizzly form. He rose up on his hind legs, a towering mass of fur, teeth, and claws that would intimidate any sane creature.
I shot him a glare. “What the hell did I just say?”
