But everything inside me freezes when I see her.Peyton.Pinned beneath a collapsed piece of roofing.Bleeding and barely conscious.
Three Hunters are closing in on her.
My legs move before I can even make the decision.My bones ripple and my claws burst through my fingertips.I shift mid-run.Violent and instinctive.My leopard explodes out of me, roaring so loud the Hunters pause mid-step.My vision sharpens and my muscles coil with lethal intent.
My paws slam into the ground, and I spring forward with a speed I didn’t know I still had.Two Hunters turn toward me with rifles, but they are too slow.
I hit the first before he can fire.My claws sink into his chest.He screams as I rip the weapon out of his hands with my jaws and fling it into the trees.The second Hunter tries to aim but my paw connects with his chest, sending him crashing into the dirt.
More Hunters shout and turn in my direction, others run.
Good.Terrified prey is easier to tear apart.
“Aria!”Silas’s voice cracks the air, full dire wolf fury.
But my leopard barely hears him.All she sees isdanger.All she feels israge.All she knows isprotection.
Peyton.Pack.Mine.
I leap onto the nearest Hunter, slamming him into the ground.He tries to scramble away but I pin him by the spine with one paw and snarl directly in his face.He freezes in terror.
I catch a movement behind me.I whip around with a feral roar ...only to find Silas in his dire wolf form.
His dire wolf hits the ground beside me in a massive surge of dark fur, muscle, and ancient power.He’s huge, larger than any wolf I’ve ever seen, his eyes burning silver.His teeth are as long as my fingers.But he’s not attacking me.
He’s guarding my flank.
Our flanks brush for the briefest moment, fur against fur, and the bond ignites again, fierce, and whole and alive.Together.
We move together.My leopard surges around to one side while Silas lunges to the other.We cut a path through the Hunters with terrifying, glorious, violent synchronicity.They never stood a chance.
Two more Hunters rush Peyton.
A sound rips out of me, raw, primal, and protective.I sprint across the clearing, leaping over debris, dodging a flying bullet that grazes my flank.I feel blood drip but ignore it.
I hit the first attacker like a meteor and he goes down screaming.
The second fires twice, once into my shoulder, once into my leg.Pain tears through me but I don’t stop.I tackle him to the ground and bite down.Hard.His screams echo across the compound until they cut off with a wet snap as I rip out his throat with my teeth.
Silas barrels past me, destroying another pair of Hunters.The pack pours out of the compound, so many wolves, all of them shifting mid-run.
Chaos becomes a battlefield.But for once, I’m not the victim.
I’m the threat.
My leopard roars, leaping at two more Hunters approaching from the same direction.My claws rip through armor.My teeth sink into flesh.Blood splatters warm against my fur.
A bullet hits Silas’s shoulder and he barely flinches.He slams into the shooter with enough force to break ribs.And still my body moves toward Peyton.
Toward the only person I can claim as a friend.
When the last Hunter near her crumples to the dirt, I skid to a stop beside her injured form.Peyton blinks up at me, dazed, blood streaking her forehead.
“A-Aria?”she whispers.
I nudge her gently with my head, whining softly.
“Thank you,” she murmurs, voice breaking.
