“Faulk Creek Pack!” one of the tall men to her right called out. “Fall back! This is not our fight.”
“The hell it isn’t!” Aro screamed. “You will engage.”
The man’s eyes held fire as he stood between Aro and the five people who were jogging toward a pair of Jeeps parked by the trees. “You said we were eradicating a problem Pack. Elder’s orders.” The man jammed a finger at him. “You stole this humanfrom Rogue Pack and had her Turned, Aro! There are no other Elder’s here supporting you! You are working on your own out of vengeance. My people aren’t responsible for the consequences to that.”
“They killed our people!” Aro yelled.
“Because you attacked them! Werewolf law! Any Pack is allowed to defend themselves. What did you want them to do? Roll over and die quietly? No Pack works like that. Their Alpha reached out for peace, and you do this? It’s messed up.” He was backing toward his people, who were loading up in a rush. “Not our fight.”
“I’ll kill you for this!” Aro yelled.
“I’ll be ready!” the Alpha barked back, his voice echoing through the clearing. The sound of the Jeep engines tickled the fine hairs in Destiny’s ears. She could hear everything now. The murmuring, the uncertainty. The racing heartbeat of her mate beside her. The soft growl of her father. The exact tone of crunching sound the leaves and dry grass made under Dodger’s paw as he stepped forward.
More werewolves were Changing now on the outer edges. There were twenty people in this clearing, at least. Twenty versus three of them.
And for the wolf, numbers didn’t matter. She liked their odds.
She didn’t know how she knew when to charge. It was instinct perhaps. Her wolf was in tune with Dodger and her dad. In this body, she just knew what to do.
The collision of her body against the gold-eyed wolf should’ve hurt, but she didn’t feel anything right now. The pain from her poisoned arm was gone. The pain from the Change was a distant memory. All she felt was power. God, she was fast in this body. Fast and lethal. Her jaws were so strong. They were made for ripping and destruction.
She could see everything, feel everything. Every defined piece of fur on her opponent, the uncertainty in their glowing eyes as she toggled between one to the next. She could be engaged with one, and feel another moving into position. She could see their moves in her mind’s eye. Even if they were behind her. Three piled on, and her confidence grew. She found her rhythm. Latch onto one throat, rip. Spin and grab the front leg of the wolf sailing through the air at her, break it and fling the animal. Dodger was beside her, under a pile. It didn’t matter. His wolf knew what to do like hers did.
Don’t think. Just destroy.
She could feel the dull ache of teeth sinking into her thick skin.
Give them your rage.
Her wolf could sense and see everything happening around her, like a movie. The way the snow flew into the air when the fighting wolves landed hard. She could see some of the people running away, running for the houses, running for the cars parked along the edge of the woods. She could hear the yelling, the yipping, the yelps of pain, the snarling. She could hear the howl that drifted in a haunting melody from the woods, and she knew her people were here. Her fights had been dragged close to the house, and she could see her father brawling with three wolves in a blur of violence and power.
It wasn’t until the click of the handgun that time slowed.
She knew that sound. Destiny jerked her attention to her father and saw him—the Elder, Aro, stood there with her gun…her silver bullet filled gun. She knew there were shots left in it. She’d counted every shot. He aimed the Glock at her father, and before she even realized what she was doing, Destiny was sprinting for him.
His finger brushed the trigger.No!
“Destiny!” Dodger yelled in a demon’s voice.
She latched onto the Elder’s wrist and yanked his aim off her dad.
Boom!
With a gasp, she flung to the snow, skidded ten feet and staggered to her feet, eyes on the snow as she waited for the red stream.
The snow stayed white.
Destiny dragged her attention to the Elder, but he had fallen to his knees, and his glowing eyes were on Nory, who stood fifteen feet away, her weapon still drawn. Her eyes were steady on him, full of anger as her chest rose and fell with her labored breath.
Wolves were trotting from the trees, and beside Nory stood a massive black wolf. Liam?
“You,” the Elder choked out.
His white button-down shirt was being painted red.
The fighting had stopped, and the rival wolves were backing away from Dodger and her father, being pushed by the presence of the snarling Rogue Pack who stalked closer, and closer, and closer.
The clearing was littered with bodies.
