Page 76 of The Forbidden Wolf

“Go home,” her voice boomed all around us. “Be good to each other. Show them all how it can be done.”

Her eyes flared like an explosion, knocking me off my paws. Falling and falling and falling, I caught flashes of stars and city lights before my soul slammed back into my body. Patches of sticky fur clung to the blood-soaked pavement as I bounced onto my feet, coughing and gagging, the mirror image of my sister three feet away.

“Elyse!” Sebastian cried, and I felt his human arms around my neck before I saw him, felt his wet human face pressing into the fur behind my ear. His strong body trembled with sobs. “I thought you were gone.”

“Same,” I said casually, overwhelmed by his display of vulnerability. But then my heart melted from the ball of ice it had become, and I twisted my neck to rub my cheek against his back.

“What the hell was that?” Kiana demanded, looking angrily around. “And where is my pack? What did you do to them?”

“They thought you were dead, so they fled.” Sebastian pointed in the direction of the Bronx, which was once again sparkling at the end of the bridge.

Kiana’s nostrils flared. Without another word, she leaped past us and ran.

I whirled after her. “Kiana, wait!”

She didn’t slow down.

Leto’s final words echoed in my mind. I licked my blood-stained lips and shouted as loud as I telepathically could. “It wasn’t your fault!”

Her tail disappeared into the fog.

I shifted back to human and cupped my hands around my mouth. “It wasn’t your fault!”

The click of her claws stopped somewhere in the gray shroud.

“It wasn’t your fault!” I screamed, my voice echoing across the river. “Kiana, he killed her! Damian killed her because he knew about the marks! She could have lived!”

Silence. No response.

And then her claws continued clicking into the distance.

My shoulders sagged, and I muttered the word I wasn’t supposed to say in front of Father, which felt extra disrespectful seeing as how he was dead. My knees began to buckle, but Sebastian’s arms snaked around my waist, holding me up. I pressed into the warmth of his body, resting my cheek against his sternum. His heart pounded wildly as both of his hands tenderly cupped the back of my head.

“Your father is alive,” he whispered. “Help is coming.”

I drew back, eyes wide. “He is?!”

Sebastian nodded. “But it was a sound defeat. He is no longer Alpha.”

Tires screeched on the Bronx side of the bridge, and headlights cut through the fog. Sebastian’s shoulders relaxed. That must be our help. They would have to cross over the northbound Willis Bridge to get on the southbound Third Avenue. I started to pull away from Sebastian, eager to get to my Father, but his hands gripped my elbows.

“Wait,” he said. “There is something I must say before I lose my nerve.”

“Sebastian,” I sighed. “Please—”

He pressed his thumb to my lips, fingers lightly grazing my cheek. “I release you.”

“What?” I asked sharply, my lips almost closing over his thumb before he dropped his hand back to my elbow.

He scrunched his eyes shut. “I rescind my claim.”

“What?” I repeated, backing away. His hands fell to his sides where he tried to stuff them in the non-existent pockets of his shiftskin. “Did I do something wrong? Where am I supposed to go? I can’t…” I gestured helplessly at the Bronx.

A black sedan slammed on its brake in the lane across from him. Kenzo leaped out of the back seat and ran toward us, pale and wide-eyed. “Dude—”

“Not now,” Sebastian barked. He jerked his head in the direction of my father. “Help Phelan into the car. I’ll be with you in a moment.

Kenzo bit his lip. “This is—”

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