“NO!” Cindel wails.
Casey kicks deliberately, and I smell blood and feel hot, wet, slippery things land on my paws.
Jonas lets out an exhale, and the life leaves him.
Casey lets go first, backing off and staring up into the stands. They are all silent now. I nudge her back, away from them all, keeping my body between them and her, growling low in my throat.
She trembles, but her scent smells spicy with anger, not fear. I turn and butt my head against hers.
She lets me do it, lowering her head and panting.
“Daddy, look what she did!”
Casey’s father rubs his face and looks down at the dead body of his best fighter. There is fear there, and I love it.
“Daddy!”
“Shut up! I’m thinking.”
I hear a distant sound. One that I almost miss. One that brings hope and a great deal of satisfaction.
I tilt my head back and howl and howl and howl.
She’s here. I’ve found her. Help.
The pack responds, their attention zeroing in on us. The threat grows in the air, even if our enemies are unaware.
Five seconds.
Five long seconds to watch the smug and furious expressions of the Foster pack and then…they howl back, all around us, in directions I can’t even tell, I hear my pack.
Their families.
Everyone I grew up with. When I thought I was an island alone, the pack was always there, and here they are. Answering my call like I am one of them.
Wrath’s mother always said a pack was simply a bigger family. If you ask…they will come.
I’m asking.
They’re coming.
I put my head down and let out a huff of pure emotion. She leans into me, and I look back, seeing again the horror that they inflicted on my mate, hearing them scream for her to kill for them.
I howl again, changing the song.
War.
Battle.
Bring death.
The answer is silence.
But it's deadly.
And now they are all going to pay for every moment they made her suffer.
I bare my teeth and brace myself for the fight that’s coming.
