Dodger kicked open his door. He wore jeans, and no shirt. His injuries looked awful. His torso was shredded, but the bleeding had stopped, and the gashes looked to be angry red scars already. Most of them were closed. His eyes were the color of frost as he barked out something to the crowd.
He lowered the tailgate of his truck roughly and grabbed something out of the back. Her stomach dropped to the floor as he dragged two bodies from it.
The werewolves were dead. She could tell. He threw them at the others and yelled, “Where is my mate?” in a booming voice that rattled the house.
She’d never witnessed such volatile rage on a man’s face before. Her skin electrified with chills as a wolf came out of the woods behind him.Dodger, watch out!
Wait. She blinked hard. The wolf was dark brown with red laced in it’s topcoat. It was enormous. She knew that wolf. She’d grown up with that wolf. She’d been protected by that wolf.
“I’m going to guess that’s Behren Young,” Lyric growled. She turned Destiny in her arms. “Fight me but save me from them. I’m going to take you to them. Fight me but save me.” She arched her dark eyebrows and lowered her chin, leveling her with a serious look. “Do you understand?”
Weakly, Destiny nodded.
Another snarl racked her body, and she buckled.
“Change now. If you’re going to Change, do it while you can help them.”
“Help them,” she gasped out on her hands and knees.
“It is your man and your father against three Packs. No more gun, girl. You have different weapons now. You have teeth. You have rage. You want to help them? Give them your rage!”
Lyric pitched forward and Changed into the gray wolf that had bitten her arm out in those haunted woods.
She stood over her and snarled, and it did something awful to her. It made the darkness inside of her swell and grow.
Destiny cried out in pain and writhed as something inside of her broke. “Dodger,” she gasped in the moment before her bones broke.
Lyric’s attack happened fast. Destiny wasn’t even upright yet. She twisted and latched her teeth into Lyric’s neck, but the gray wolf shook her off. Destiny hit the wall and yelped. Her skin was on fire, and every nerve ending felt like lightning was striking it. She felt skinned. God, it hurt! Everything hurt!
Give them your rage.
Destiny struggled up and absorbed the impact of Lyric slamming into her. She didn’t know what she was doing. She didn’t know how to fight in this body. All she knew was she had to relinquish control to the monster she’d become.
She was strong. As the ache faded away, Destiny stretched her muscles and tested her jaw strength. Lyric yelped in pain, and the bloodlust took her. This was power. She could hurt. She could defend herself.
Dodger.
Destiny slammed Lyric into a desk in the corner and the furniture splintered. She pitched forward and grabbed her by the scruff of the neck and slung her to the side. Lyric’s wolf went flying through the window to the deafening sound of shattering glass. The shards rained down on her, but Destiny closed her eyes and went straight out that breaking window with Lyric. She landed on her and latched onto her shoulder. The snarling in theclearing didn’t come from the Changing wolves. That deafening sound that took up all of her senses was her voice. Her wolf. Her wolf?
This was her now.
Give them your rage.
She kicked off Lyric and spun, faced Dodger. Two wolves had Changed on her left and they were loping toward her. Destiny peeled her lips back, exposing her blood-soaked teeth. She flattened her ears. I will kill you.
“No,” Dodger said. He swung his gaze to the others. “No!” he roared.
Behind him, her father was pacing, eyes trained on her and filled with fury.
Oh, they knew who she was.
She limped toward them and turned, stood in front of Dodger to protect his Change. He didn’t need it. This wasn’t like the first time she’d seen it. This was almost instant. It was a tight grouping of pops and a huff of his breath as he broke into his wolf.
He pushed up on all fours, and came to stand beside her, his furious glowing eyes on the others. On her other side, her father stood. They both towered over her petit wolf, and she could feel it—the dominance and anger that roiled from their animals.
She’d known in some capacity that Dodger was big, and her father was big, but now? As the wolf? She understood it.
They were terrifying.
