Page 56 of Sinful Shifters

"She won't be able to keep this up for long," I warn Adar, as Teller's magic ripples out faster and our hold on time loosens. "We can't save them all."

"I know," he says, his tone dark and grim. "I know."

Twenty-seven. Twenty-eight.

When we push through the thirty-third member of the Fury Pack, shoving them to safety, the shield snaps closed behind us.

Time speeds up, all at once.

And all I can do is cry out in pain as Teller slaughters them all.

Every werewolf on his side of the shield dies in a ripple of magic.

Ali screams at us. "Run! Run now!"

She holds her hands up to form shields of her own. We do as she says, grabbing for the little ones and winding their arms around our necks as we shift into wolves and race into the forest.

As we head back to the Mountain Pack's borders, a tiny number of his kin in tow, I can feel Adar's grief and rage.

Teller will pay for this,he says, sending images of a burning forest fire out with the words.Hewillburn.

I will burn him with you, my love,I swear to my fiery mate.They will pay with blood and fury for what they've taken from our people.

Chapter44

Lucian

No other wolf pack has a culture quite like the Fury Pack.

Every pack here in the Appalachian mountains is a little bit different. From the Mountain Pack, which summons the soul of the long-dead alpha, to the Sky Pack, which lives in isolation, they all have their quirks. Witches are more common here, and covens trade freely with werewolves, neither of them minding the other.

But the Fury Pack doesn't settle down. They have a small wellspring that they carry with them, drawing its powers from the wolves and nature. From time to time, they settle for a few years, but for the most part they remain nomadic.

That means that their magic has seeped into the land around us.

And the blood rot spreading in the wake of their alpha's death, followed by the death of most of their pack, is overwhelming.

"I don't understand." One of the pack members, a woman named Lisa, is having trouble coming to terms with the betrayal. "He said that our alpha was infecting the wellspring. We all saw it—when Eduardo touched the magic, it changed color, and the blood rot spread. Killing him was supposed to restore us, not destroy us."

No one knows how to tell her that she murdered her own alpha for two madmen and a coward, all so they could still the magic of her ancient, unique wellspring.

Mercy killings are, we're discovering, a part of Fury Pack's unique culture. I suppose it makes sense to cull the sick and elderly when your pack is constantly moving—but I wouldn't call it mercy. It makes my stomach turn, but I don't have to be a part of the pack, or lead it.

"You idiots killed your own alpha and doomed the whole pack for nothing," Adar spits out, confirming that he's the right leader for this pack of angry would-be murderers. "Teller used magic to fool you. Now he has all your power on his side, and if the spreading blood rot is any indication, he's just separated each of the four Destiny Packs from each other."

They've never heard the packs called Destiny Packs, so they don't understand. This is all new for them—something that is going to get old soon. I'm thankful that the Sky Pack, in all its isolation, has somehow retained their knowledge of alphas and omegas from the old world.

What I'm worried about now is how we'll stop Teller from taking over further packs, and get the Fury Pack wellspring restored. Because, as I tap into my connection to my pack and its land, I can sense the vampires already rising up in the foothills.

They're hungry for blood, many of them left behind from Teller's ill-fought battle with us. Now that the blood rot is spreading, some of the land's wards are weakening. Soon, the more adventurous vampires will venture up into the mountains to attack my people.

Something their aging population isn't prepared for, especially since they just barely survived a harsh winter that cut them off from outside resources. They have plenty of food in storage, but very few weapons or spells. We'll have to take the entire army of vampires down before they get the chance to invade.

I lean into my wind senses, letting gossip and scents flow to me. Getting the sense that something is wrong, I ask Everett, "Can you sense the River Pack?"

They're very far away, further than he normally sends his senses. He warns me, "If I tap into too much magic, it could make the wellspring agitated."

"We have to find out how they're doing," I tell him. "We can combine elements and reach further."

---