Rachel nodded, her back straightening as all the implications hit her. “I’ll keep you posted,” she said.
“Be careful,” I growled. “I know we ran off the wraith, but I don’t know for how long. We’ve pissed it off, that’s for certain.”
I wouldn’t forget its face as we finally beat it back, more annoyed and inconvenienced than injured, though we had given it some serious injuries to deal with. I had swiped my claws across its face and bitten its neck, and I knew Sam had gouged its stomach and legs before it finally ran off. But it wasn’t dead. We couldn’t kill it, not without Emma and her magic.
As I spoke with Sam and tried to start organizing search efforts to look for survivors in the destroyed buildings, the crowd parted, and I watched as Emma walked toward me, her head high. Grace padded next to her, her tail swishing, large eyes taking in everything, her nose twitching as she smelled a dozen scents she had never known existed before. I remembered that first transformation, how vibrant and new everything, even the most mundane things, had seemed with heightened senses.
Everyone watched her in silence, most with some level of suspicion. I wanted to kill whichever elder had decided to let the truth of Emma’s magic “slip.” At least the part about needing magic to kill the wraith didn’t seem common knowledge. I could sense Emma’s guilt at staying by Grace through the mating bond already. She was blaming herself enough without others piling it on.
Grace sniffed again, and her head swiveled toward me. She panted as her jaw split into a grin, and she trotted past her mother to come up to me. Her tail swished as she nuzzled against me, her head just reaching my knee. I reached out and scratched behind her ears.
“How’s she doing?” I asked as Emma joined us.
“Good, I think. I’m not sure if she knows how to shift out, but she seems happy as a wolf at the moment.”
“They usually are for the first couple of days after the first shift,” I said. “She’ll want to be wolf more than girl for a bit while she figures out that balance. But I’ll show her how to change back later.”
I glanced around at the dozens of terrified pack members, all of them looking for answers that I currently didn’t have.
“How bad is it?” a woman asked.
“Bad,” I admitted. “But we have a plan. We just need to—”
“What good is a plan right now?” another person demanded. “If it can get this far into town without us being able to do anything about it, then what hope do we have?”
At that point, the crowd started to panic.
“How are we supposed to fight it?”
“I don’t want to leave.”
“It’s just going to come back and finish us off.”
“Why weren’t we ready?”
The words and accusations flew through the air. I didn’t blame them. People were scared. Some were angry.
As the throng grew more and more heated, Emma gave my hand a reassuring squeeze, then stepped forward, holding out her hand. The crowd fell silent.
“I know this is hard,” Emma said. “And we’re all struggling. We all feel pain right now, some more acutely than others. My heart breaks for the fallen and for their families, and we will honor them appropriately. However, we aren’t going to give up. The sand wraith took us by surprise this time. We won’t be caught off guard again. We have a plan.”
“It sure as hell doesn’t feel like it!” one man yelled to a murmur of agreement. “Pretty sure we’re all just sitting ducks if we stay here.”
I growled in warning. No one was going to get away with talking to Emma like that. I even took a step forward, only pausing when Emma’s hand reached out and grabbed my bicep. I felt something I could only describe as a reassuring caress through the mating bond—Emma trying to soothe me. She stepped in front of me, leveling her gaze at the man.
“The wraith feeds on fear and despair,” Emma said. “We can’t give in to it.”
“Easy for you to say,” the same male called. “What the hell were you doing while the rest of us were in danger?”
I caught the twinge of guilt through our bond, but she remained composed as she looked down at the man.
“I had to watch my five-year-old daughter shift for the first time because of the wraith,” she said, her voice even as her eyes warned the speaker was flirting with danger. “I know plenty about despair and panic. No one wants to watch their kid go through that. And I’m not the only one who had to go through that today.”
The man still sulked from his position, but he remained silent.
“We’re all hurting right now,” Emma said, her tone gentle and understanding while also remaining firm. “We have to remain strong through it, or we’ll only give the wraith more strength. Our pack is strong, but we have to stick together.” She came to stand next to me, and her fingers slipped through my fingers, holding tight. “Elias and I are here to help in whatever way we can. We’re going to start organizing repairs while also figuring out the best way to protect the pack.”
We also need to plan a vigil,I thought to myself. I would mention it once Emma had finished. Right now, the pack’s attention had locked on her, held under her spell as she continued speaking. They were giving her their undivided attention.
