Page 27 of Dead Wolf Rising (Bad Moon Academy 3)

“It is?” Layla asks, covering her mouth and screaming at the same time. “You did it, Raven!” She runs to me and yanks me into a fierce hug, a sob tears from her throat, and I pinch my eyes shut to keep from crying as well.

Draco chuckles in delight, and I slide my gaze to his. He holds up his leather bracelet and grins.

“Whatever you did took care of Jinx’s binding bracelets too.”

“The magic must have been connected,” Carter says, tugging off his own. “Can’t say I’m sad to see them go.” He runs his thumb over the jade stone and shakes his head. “Thank you.”

“I don’t really know how I did it, but you’re welcome.”

Everett chucks his over the wall without a word and grins. “Freedom at last.”

“We’re free?” Erron, the omega and headmaster asks with a shaky voice. “We’re really free?”

Holding back an eyeroll, I say, “Yes.” Of everyone here, he’s the least deserving of freedom, but I’m not going to make him a prisoner. He can live with his guilt. I go to the gate, take a deep breath, glance at all the shifters behind me, and wrench it open.

A sharp squeak sounds and the metal hinges groan as they work open, but the iron bars swing wide and countless gasps sound behind me. One woman starts to cry, and I turn around and spread my hands wide.

“You’re not prisoners anymore.”

I expect clapping, or cheering, but one by one they all grow pale and their eyes widen. A fierce howl, one packed with the power of an alpha, sounds a few hundred yards behind me, and I whirl around, eyeing the trees on either side of the road.

“Run!” someone shouts to the shifters behind me, and I look back, watching as a handful of them make a mad dash away from the gate.

“Stop!” I call to them. “We need to stay together.”

But the howl sounds again, and Layla shrieks when a boom of dominance blasts through the gate. It’s so strong my stomach tightens and Joan throws her head back and releases her own howl inside my head.

The alpha has returned.

“Raven, come here.” Adler’s stern words are meant to make me listen, but if anything, hearing his voice makes me all the more determined to take down the son of a bitch who thinks he can steal power from changed shifters.

“No.” I shake my head and face the oncoming threat. “This ends now.”

Chapter 11

RAVEN

The forest is quiet, too quiet. It’s eerily similar to how it felt the night Draco bit me, like every other creature is smart enough to stop breathing in order to hide from the predator. I may not be a warrior, but Joan is, and I’m a luna. If I can’t protect these people from the alpha, I don’t deserve the title.

I’ll rip him to shreds.Joan’s unwavering confidence helps me stand tall.

The men spread out beside me. Everett’s chest is rumbling with a warning growl for the approaching beast, but Draco is the one I’d be most afraid of right now if I were the enemy. His light blue eyes have turned yellow, his wolf bleeding through, and there’s not an ounce of sanity within the depths of those irises. A deadly warrior. If I couldn’t feel the steady thrumming of his being through the bond, I’d be worried about him. As it is, I know the murderous rage etched across his features has nothing to do with us and everything to do with the alpha.

Can’t say I blame him.

Brayden rolls his neck and shoots me a wink. “And then he said: let there be blood.”

Adler glares at him and shakes his head. “Don’t do anything crazy.” He cracks his knuckles and glances at me. “Ready?”

I nod, then check in with Carter. He’s the delta, the most vulnerable, but his steady gaze is burning with vengeance so strong I know he’ll be all right. The bond has made each of them stronger, and between the six of us, it’ll take a lot more than one Peter to take us down.

A chilling song drifts along the breeze, an alpha and his promise of violence making it known he’s gaining on us. Tuning into my supe hearing, I pick up one shifter and five other beings that aren’t shifters but aren’t human either.

I frown at that and grind my teeth together. He came with reinforcements, but that doesn’t change anything. If I can make him submit, the other wolves will as well.

“Steady,” I say, moving my feet shoulder distance apart and bending at the knees. Joan will be doing the fighting, but I’m not going to let the enemy know I don’t have a clue what to do when it comes to fighting.

My supe senses tingle when I hear gravel crunching under foot. There’s a bend in the road, so I can’t tell who it is, but every muscle in my body tightens as the sound grows louder. A stiff breeze blows my hair in front of me, and I bat it away, eyes widening when I see a woman dressed in a pencil skirt and a crimson top strutting down the gravel road like it’s her personal runway. Her hips sway so much it’s almost dangerous, and I fight the urge to glance at the men and see if they’re checking her out. Even from this far away, I can tell she’s gorgeous.

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