Page 119 of The Alpha Dire Wolf
Bloodbound.
The voice in my skull sounded triumphant as once more liquid black shadow flowed up and out of me and into the tree-thing.
“You lose,” I whispered as it held me there.
The tree-thing’s head cocked sideways and exposed its throat to Lincoln as he landed on it, ripping its throat out. Rearing upward, the tree-thing hesitated.
Which is when I screamed again. Violet waves of sounded poured from my mouth this time, more powerful than before. I couldseeit. I stared in shock but didn’t let up. The tree-thing was disintegrating under the attack. It threw both arms up to try to save itself, but I let loose with everything I had.
Weakened by the attacks and bleeding from everywhere, it finally reached the limit. Wood splintered with deep, bone-shaking cracks, and the entire thing came apart at the seams, flying backward as it ceased resisting my scream.
Lightning shot from the sky, and the tree-thing exploded in a burst of white brilliance that momentarily burned my retinas. Something dropped from the sky while at the same time, a spear of shadowy darkness raced out of the light right for me.
I didn’t have time to scream before it hit me on my right shoulder, directly where the tree-thing had opened a wound. It disappeared into my flesh.
And the light in my brain went out. The power I had felt, the energy I had tapped to destroy the tree-thing, was gone like a switch being turned off. I grabbed at my head in surprise, the sudden lack of pressure a relief and fear all at once.
Twenty feet or so away, the remnants of the tree-thing collapsed to the muddy ground of the forest clearing, landing in a pile of knocking sounds.
“What the hell?” Lincoln growled, having shifted forms as he raced to my side.
“I don’t know,” I whispered, staring at the human skull staring out at me from the remains. “What the hell was it? What happened to me?”
“I don’t know,” he said, staring at the wound on my upper chest. “But it smelled like—”
“The Chained,” a third voice chimed in, rife with suspicion.
Chapter Forty-Six
Lincoln
“Rome,” I said warningly as my best friend kept his distance, looking worriedly from me to Sylvie. “This isn’t what it looks like.”
With the death of the tree-thing, the remaining smaller versions had apparently fled. We were soon surrounded by the rest of the wolves from my pack that had come with me. Fought with me.
“Not what it looks like? Linc, please, you can’t be serious here. It’sexactlywhat it looks like.”
“What does it look like?” Sylvie asked, speaking up. “What does it mean?”
Rome threw a disrespectful glance her way. My snarl whipped his head back around in surprise. Then disappointment, as he realized why I had done it.
I was defending her, making it clear that he wasn’t to be rude to her like that ever again.
“It means,” Rome said with quiet fury, “that the power of the Chained flows through you.”
Sylvie gasped, looking at Rome and then to me. Desperation filled her eyes. “Is that true? Am I evil?”
“No,” I said, not taking my eyes off Rome. “You aren’t evil.”
“But he just said its power flows through me. It’sinme, Lincoln, and its evil.” She shook her head. “That’s how I killed the tree-thing?”
“No.” Both Rome and I spoke as one.
“That was something else,” I said. “A different magic, if that’s even what it was. I’ve never seen or smelled anything like it before.”
“Wait.” She held up both her hands, one directed at either of us. “You’re telling me, that this evil power is in me … but also another power? More magic? I havetwoof them?”
“I don’t know,” I said softly. “I don’t have any answers for you. I’m sorry.”
