Destiny stared at Lyric in disbelief. She didn’t know what to feel around for. She could hear better and smell better, but…
“Does it feel like your heart is ripping out?” Lyric said, jamming a needle into her arm. A numbing sensation spread through her skin.
“No.”
Lyric pursed her lips. “I know the wolves my dad left behind to kill your mate. I saw Dodger fighting. He’s big. Do you understand? He’s bigger than they expected. More dominant. He fights like a monster. He’s trained. The wolves that were left behind in that fight don’t stand a chance.”
“If you knew that, why didn’t you warn your Pack?”
“Because we are new, and what they’re doing is fucked up. What my dad is doing is fucked up. I saw you out there. You weren’t afraid at all. You had silver bullets and you had your mate’s back. We shouldn’t have been in those woods.”
“Is that why you bit me?”
Lyric’s bi-colored eyes glanced at her and then back to where she was injecting her with a numbing liquid. She didn’t answer.
A soft knock rapped on the door and in came a man carrying a bowl of steaming water. He set it down and left.
Lyric’s eyes were full of determination as she said, “This is going to hurt.”
Destiny was scared. This wasn’t how she imagined any of this happening. It wasn’t fair. Everything had gone so wrong.
“Listen,” Lyric said. “If you want to go home, you have to live. Are you ready?”
Tears burning Destiny’s eyes, she nodded. “I want to go home.”
Chapter Nineteen
Something strange happened when a person had nothing to lose.
When it was do or die.
When the only option was to survive something awful out of spite, or to lose oneself completely.
Succumbing to the dark meant the bad guys would win, and the good guys would lose.
She couldn’t let Dodger down. If he was out there in those woods somewhere, fighting to stay for her? She could fight too.
Lyric struck her across the face. “I need you to fight me the second your wolf comes out of you. Hey!” She yelled over the snarling that filled the room.
Destiny gasped air and arched her back against the mattress. The pain was excruciating.
Lyric cupped her cheeks and leveled her with that bi-colored glowing gaze. “You have to fight me. Your wolf has to hate me, or it will be bound to this Pack. To me! Fight me. Do you understand?”
No. She didn’t understand. She could barely put together the words. “Home,” she choked out.
Lyric grabbed her by the neck and dragged her to the window, shoved her face up to the glass.
Destiny buckled against the pain in her body. She had a new bite on the back of her good arm, and one on her ribs, and one under her knee. Lyric was trying to bring the wolf to life. She was trying to keep it alive long enough to heal the poisoned arm. She couldn’t hate her. She was trying to save her.
Outside, a truck pulled through the trees. In the yard, the Packs were gathering. Some were Changing.
She knew that truck. It looked so familiar. White. Big. She frowned and blinked hard, trying to stay lucid.
Dodger.
“Wait,” she whispered, locking her arms against the windowsill. She cried out at the pain, and when she sagged, Lyric held her up roughly.
“That’s your man, isn’t it?”
