Jen ignored him and let the change take her. Fur ruffled over her skin as the magic that was a part of her shifted and shaped her body into that of a fierce, powerful predator. When all four paws hit the floor, Jen shook out her fur and then looked at the woman across from her. She lifted the lips of her muzzle in a threatening snarl.“Dec, cover Thia’s eyes. This isn’t going to be pretty.”
“Let me deal with her, Jennifer.”Decebel growled through their bond.
“Not a chance in hell, fur ball. The deal has been made.”Jen tuned out the mental commentary of her mate who was not happy about her impromptu battle. She needed to focus on the woman who had dared to put her hands on one of their children.
Stephanie began taking slow, measured steps, and Jen’s wolf moved with her. The pair rotated in a slow circle as they stared each other down. Jen was shocked the other woman hadn’t phased. Maybe she was a kung fu master or something, or perhaps she just sucked at fighting in her wolf form. Jen had gotten better at fighting in both her human and wolf form thanks to her mate. He was determined to make her a killer even though he was also determined to keep her from ever having to use the skills he’d taught her.Joke’s on him,she thought as she circled the woman.About to use the heck out of those skills now.The third time around was Jen’s breaking point. She hadn’t been kidding when she said she was hungry.
Just as Jen lunged, Stephanie phased. Her wolf met Jen’s in the air, and their bodies slammed together. Jen wasn’t going to lie, she had not seen that coming.
“Pay attention to your opponent!”Decebel snarled.“She was watching you closely enough to know the moment you leapt at her.”
“How am I supposed to pay attention if you’re yapping in my ear!”Jen snapped back at the same time she snapped her teeth at Stephanie, just missing the other wolf’s ear by a centimeter. Their feet hit the ground, and both she-wolves backed up and began circling each other once again.
“Watch her ears,”Decebel said, sounding calmer this time.“When they twitch back, she’s about to attack. She’s checking for any points of weakness. It’s instinct. Then, when the ears twitch back forward, she will lunge.”
Jen focused her eyes on Stephanie’s ears. She ignored the wolf’s snarling and snapping teeth and only focused on the ears. A few heartbeats later, sure enough, her ears twitched back for a couple seconds and then forward. Jen didn’t give the other woman time to lunge. Jen leapt first, landing on the other wolf’s back. Stephanie immediately dropped to the ground and attempted to roll. It reminded Jen of a crocodile’s death roll. Yes, she watched the animal channel. Sue her, why don’t you.
Jen latched her jaws onto the back of Stephanie’s head and bit down hard. The she-wolf yelped in pain, and her attempts at rolling became even more desperate.
“Get the kids out of here. Decebel and Sally, too. She doesn’t need to see this,”Jen told her mate as she clamped her jaws down even harder. She tasted the metallic flavor of blood as her teeth broke through the fur-covered skin.
“Let her go, Jennifer. Vasile needs to deal with her,”Decebel demanded, which almost made her release her prey just so she could laugh at him.
“She put her hands on Titus, one of our pack’s children. You didn’t see the terror in Sally’s eyes when that happened. This wolf is going to die, and I’m going to kill her. Now, get everyone out of here.”
Jen pushed her mate mentally away as she turned her attention back to the wolf she was fighting just in time for Stephanie to abandon her attempt to roll. Instead, the she-wolf began shaking and bucking like a wild horse. Jen’s hold on her loosened, which made the female fight even more to get free.
Suddenly, Jen felt her teeth break free from Stephanie’s head. The force of Stephanie’s flaying body sent Jen toppling to the ground, and her body hit with a thud. Jen heard a snarl just before Stephanie’s wolf form landed on top her. Jen didn’t think. She just reacted on instinct. Before her enemy had time to sink in her teeth, Jen rolled onto her back and thrust her muzzle upward, straight for Stephanie’s vulnerable throat. She felt flesh beneath her teeth. In one smooth motion, Jen jerked her head hard to the side while at the same time rolling herself, putting Stephanie’s body back beneath her. The wolf who had threatened her pack—her family—was on its back with its throat in Jen’s jaws. Jen growled as she ripped her head back. There was a horrible rending sound. Blood sprayed upward, covering Jen’s muzzle. Jen could almost see it in slow motion as the blood flew through the air.
She heard an ear-piercing scream and whipped around, afraid somehow Skender had gotten away from Costin and had come to attempt to take Sally. Instead, she found Zara on the floor. Some of the blood had gotten on the girl and she was staring at it, her eyes wide. She looked as if it was her own blood from her own mortal wound. Zara’s hands shook as she attempted to wipe the blood off her shirt, but she only succeeded in getting blood on her palms and smearing the sticky substance on her clothing.
“What’s wrong with her? And why in bloody hell are you still here?”Jen snapped at her mate.
“You know the answer to that second question. As to the first, I don’t know.”
Wadim reached down and plucked Zara up as if she weighed nothing. He turned his worried eyes to Jen. “I’m going to take her to the back. Can you all deal with this mess?”
Jen gave a slight nod of her head.
“Wadim, do you need help?” Rachel asked.
He looked at the hysterical woman in his arms, and it was the first time Jen had ever seen fear in his eyes.
“I’ll let you know,” he said finally. “I need to pull her out of this first. Unless I can’t. If that’s the case, I will call for you or Sally.”
He turned and ran down one of the dark hallways that would take him and his mate deeper into the archives.
Jen glanced down at the bleeding wolf only to find that her eyes were glazed over and she wasn’t breathing.“Is it horrible of me to admit that the only thing I am feeling in this moment is hunger? Like, I am so freaking hungry,”she asked her mate.
“You’re in shock. It will hit you later,”he said. “Killing someone, no matter how deserving they might be, is never easy and never as black-and-white to your soul as it is to your mind.”
“If you’re saying I’m going to mourn this chick, you don’t know me very well.”She growled through their bond.
“It’s because I know you so well that I can say with certainty that you will mourn her. You will fall apart for the life you had to take, and I will be there to put you back together.”
Jen did not like the idea of weeping over a woman who was hell-bent on hurting people she loved. She did not like the thought of being so weak she couldn’t stomach what she knew had to be done in order to remove the threat to their pack.
“Falling apart over death is not a weakness, Jennifer. It is a sign that you still have a conscience and that your moral compass isn’t broken.”
