Page 109 of Fated to be Enemies

I was shifting.

My body reformed, bigger, stronger, more powerful than ever. I didn’t think about the height difference. That they might as well have been dogs compared to my size. All I knew was anger. The desire to hurt and to kill overrode all empathy or reason.

I bit down on one wolf's head, severing it clean from their body, then I whipped my neck back and forth. Their carcass landed with a dull thud. I dropped its head, turning on the others.

They turned and hauled ass. Terrified and running like their lives depended on it.

It did.

But while they were as small as foxes, they weren’t nearly as agile. I trampled them with my great paws, bending to pick them up by their backs and throwing them into each other. My massive form knocked into trees as I ran, uprooting them from the ground. The earth sank beneath my paws. Gunshots echoed in the distance, but they were a far-off cry. The noise barely registered as I hunted down these traitors.

I was their heir. Their alpha. They’d followed a horrible man who beat his wife and children instead of standing up to him.

Mathis was no leader. He needed others to fight his battles. He needed to murder to gain his power.

They could have changed this. Anyone could have. Shade. Andreas. The other wolves in our pack alone could have united and kept my mom in charge, but they hadn’t. They’d let him destroy us. Destroy my family.

I would kill them all for their betrayal.

One by one, I pinned them with claws and teeth. Their bodies were little more than rag dolls for me to use. And when I caught the last one, and their bones snapped, signaling the finality of my fight—I couldn’t stop.

The forest was quiet.

The carnage, incredible.

The rage, uncontrollable.

CHAPTER 36

Elias

Iturned from the dead at my feet to look for Mathis, but he was nowhere to be found. Bodies littered the silent forest, but I knew none were Danni’s. The invisible line between us existed, but the scenery didn’t make sense. Trees were smashed. Overturned. Limbs, both human and wolf, haphazardly tossed about. Paw prints two feet in diameter were pressed into the dirt.

Something other than fury touched me for the first time since Mathis had shown his face.

Concern. Worry. Fear.

Where is Danni?

I wanted to go to her. To find her. A gun clicked, but I didn’t bother looking. Only Mathis would stay to end this amidst whatever had happened here.

“I gotta say, I didn’t see that one coming,” he called. “Scott was a big bastard, but his daughter . . .” Mathis let out a whistle.

Dear gods. Dannika had shifted.

Under other conditions, that might have brought me joy. But she never had before, and she only had under duress—after I’d changed her. That her wolf may have been the size of a dinosaur and in some kind of killing rage . . .

I needed to deal with Mathis and find my mate.

With a glance back toward where the Alpha Supreme lingered, I started walking that way. His hands on the gun tightened. “You’d do well to stay where you are.”

I cocked an eyebrow. “If you think that pathetic piece of metal will stop me from killing you, you’re mistaken.”

Mathis squeezed the trigger, firing off a warning shot. I whipped my head to the side, only dodging the bullet by a hairsbreadth. His eyes widened.

“Fun fact about master vampires, Mathis. We’re faster.” I punctuated my statement with another dodge as he fired again. “Stronger. More powerful in every way.”

He emptied the clip, but this time I couldn’t dodge them all. One bullet sank into my shoulder, the final shot slamming into my forehead. My skull split instantly as the bullet imbedded itself into my brain. I grit my teeth as the edges of my vision turned black—threatening unconsciousness. My legs turned stiff, brittle. My head burned like someone had stuck a hot poker through it.

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