It took a second for his words to hit me. His lips moved over mine until my brain caught up with what he said and fell in love with him all over again. My hands wrapped around his back, and I kissed him back…until I heard a snicker. I pulled away and turned, finding Toya. She raised her hands. “While I love that you two finally figured everything out. Seriously, watching you two orbit each other but never connect was a hard thing to sit through.” Hanna and Micca both nodded. “Watching you two make out while everyone else is stuck on the ground is funny. But can you pull it back so I can get up?”
I jumped back, earning more snickers. “Sorry.” I reeled in some of my power. “Get up and get into a line.” I aimed it at everyone who followed Garith and allowed Toya and the girls to stand and stretch. I watched as Vince and Brandon both tried to fight the command, but I wasn’t actively hurting them, so there was no way to resist it.
“What are you fucking doing?” Brandon snarled as he stumbled over to the line.
“I already told you…just returning the favor.” I heard a few snarls. But I walked to the front, pulling Rowan with me. “Now follow me.” I started walking, stepping over the bodies we left behind us.
“Where are we going?” Shannon called.
“You’ll see.” I called back.
I walked through the pack lands to a semi-hidden building. Close enough to see the previously empty mate clearing, which now held the makeshift building for Shannon’s mating ceremony. I felt Vince stumble behind me. I turned with a smile. “What’s wrong?”
“How?” His voice was low.
“How what?” I grinned as I turned back and continued walking, pulling everyone along with an invisible string. My power tugged them along, even though Vince was fighting the pull.
“How do you know about this place?” He stumbled again, fighting with everything he had.
I spun at the door and stared at him. “Do you know what happens when a person is both wolf and Lycan, Vince?” My question confused him; it seemed. He stared up at my wolfman face, and I watched as he tried to figure it out.
“They obviously have a lot of power.” I nodded.
I looked at Rowan.How do I shift out of this form?
His smile was a flash. It was there and then gone. His voice floated into my mind and caressed me.Like any other shift. You just have to allow Nix to recede. Once we became mated, Nix unlocked this form, it will be easier and easier to shift into. She can choose as she wants.
Nix pulled back.This will become handy in training.
“We do…but there is another fact that is very unknown.” Megan pushed forward, and I felt my skin ripple. I stared at hisface as I shrank. My six foot seven frame shrank until I was in Megan’s shifted form.
“No.” He trembled as he stared at me.
“Oh, yes.” Megan shook out her fur.
“You have got to be fucking kidding me.” Brandon snarled.
Megan turned and lifted a brow. “Not at all. I know it is so hard to believe that I wasn’t as stupid as you thought I was, but here we are.”
Shannon turned to look at Brandon. “What?” Brandon fumed for a second and then laughed. “What are you laughing at?”
“Because we were playing checkers while Amy was playing chess. She was always steps ahead.” Brandon flung his arm out. “We caught this wolf watching as we tried to drain one kid. We kept her in the cells here. She got away.”
“Not just that…” I shifted back to my human body. “You taunted me…remember. You came in daily to torture me mentally. All because?” I turned to Vince. “Because your father had become obsessed with my wolf form.” I tilted my head. “You were so disgusted with me.” I turned back to Brandon. “Which is actually hilarious…since Megan, my wolf, was your fated mate.”
The words hung there. “What? No, I was mated to Nix.”
I laughed. “No. Never. You were too weak to have been mated to Nix. Rowan was always Nix’s fated mate. He became Megan’s second-chance mate. Thankfully, thankfully the Goddess always had a plan. But you were her fated mate.”
He grimaced in disgust. Vince lifted an eyebrow. “She was a Gamma. I felt her power.”
I nodded. “That she is. Nix is my Alpha. But it shows something, doesn’t it?”
“What?” He looked confused.
“Alphas are mated to someone similar in rank. So that they can support each other. Brandon mated a Gamma…and chose someone unranked.” I turned to face Brandon. “It just showshow weak he truly is. He couldn’t even match a Beta. Morgan would have won easily. If he had gotten his way and had a boy with my mom. The Oakenfang pack would have been overtaken.” I turned back to the door. “But that doesn’t matter anymore.” I grabbed the handle and opened it. I stepped in, and the scent hit me first. Old blood, my blood, hit me in a wave. Burned flesh. Urine.
Everyone filed in. My friends seemed to shiver as the scents washed over them, but Rowan’s growl filled the room when he stepped in. “This is where they held you?” He looked down the hallway of cells. “Why didn’t I notice this place until we were right outside?”
