“Now you hate me.” He shrugged, the gesture carrying the weight of acceptance that came from making choices thatcouldn't be undone. “Fine. But one day you'll understand why I kept it.”
The casual dismissal of my feelings, the assumption that time would heal wounds carved this deep, made rage surge hot behind my ribs. My wolf stirred restlessly under my skin, wanting to shift, wanting to show him exactly what I thought of his protective lies.
That's when Cal and Mason burst through the garage door like they owned the place, bringing with them the scent of pine and pack bonds and the kind of easy camaraderie that felt like salt in an open wound.
“Evan!” Cal called out, grinning like he'd just won the lottery. “You'll never guess what Mason did to piss off Mrs. Henderson this time.”
“I didn't do anything,” Mason protested, but his voice carried that edge of barely contained laughter that meant he absolutely had done something. “She's just overly sensitive about her garden gnomes.”
“You moved them into compromising positions.”
“I gave them character development.”
I stared at them, these two idiots who'd been my friends since we were cubs, and felt something twist painfully in my chest. They looked so normal, so unchanged, while everything I thought I knew about my life was crumbling around me.
“Everything okay?” Cal asked, his grin fading as he picked up on the tension crackling between Gideon and me. “You look like someone kicked your favorite puppy.”
That's when my phone buzzed, and my wolf went absolutely haywire. The sound cut through everything else like a blade, and something primal and terrified clawed its way up my spine.
I stepped away from Cal and Mason, moving toward the corner of the garage. “I need to take this,” I said, trying to keepmy voice level even though my wolf was practically howling inside my skull.
Nate's name flashed on the screen, and my heart dropped into my boots.
“Evan.” His voice came through broken and terrified and wrong in ways that made every instinct I possessed scream danger. “Something's wrong. The house... there are wolves in the fucking house.”
“What happened?” I demanded, but I was already gesturing sharply at Gideon, needing him close, needing someone who understood exactly how bad this could get. “Nate, what the hell happened?”
“I was in the forest,” he said, words tumbling over each other in his panic. “There was a rogue attacking Sienna, and I... I don't know what I did, but I stopped it. I got her to safety and came home, but the back door was completely destroyed. Ripped apart. And when I got inside, they were already here...”
The line erupted in chaos. Crashing sounds, something heavy hitting the floor, and underneath it all, Anna's scream. High and sharp and cutting off too quickly.
“Nate!” I shouted, but the connection was already dead, leaving me staring at a black screen while my wolf clawed at my ribs like it was trying to tear its way out of my chest.
“The Harringtons,” I said to Gideon, voice barely above a whisper but carrying all the urgency of a battle cry. “They're under attack.”
Gideon was already moving, grabbing keys and weapons with the kind of efficiency that spoke of too much practice with crisis situations. “Cal, Mason,” he called over his shoulder, “lock up the shop. Don't leave until we get back.”
“What's going on?” Mason demanded, but I was already bolting for the door.
“Just do it,” I shouted, the shift already building under my skin like electricity before a storm. “Stay here. Keep the shop secure.”
Gideon fell into step beside me without hesitation or question. Whatever lay between us, whatever trust had been shattered, could wait. Nate needed me, and nothing else mattered.
The shift hit me before I reached the tree line, bones snapping and reforming as my wolf exploded outward in a wave of fur and fury. Pain became purpose, agony became speed, and I threw myself into the forest with everything I had.
Hold on, I thought, pushing my wolf harder than I'd ever pushed before.Just hold on. I'm coming.
Trees blurred past in streaks of green and brown, my paws tearing chunks from earth that had never felt this desperate kind of running. Behind me, Gideon kept pace with inhuman endurance, magic crackling around him like he'd forgotten how to contain it.
Faster. Had to go faster. Had to reach them before whatever had broken into their house finished what it started.
The Harrington property opened before us like a crime scene, windows shattered and doors hanging off their hinges. The scent of rogues flooded the air, copper and rot and the kind of wild hunger that belonged in nightmares.
I shifted back to human form while still running, naked feet hitting gravel as I charged through the front door that had been torn off its hinges like it was made of paper.
Michael stood in the center of the living room, back pressed against the overturned couch, swinging a chair leg at a snarling rogue that circled him like death given fur and fangs. Blood ran down his face from a gash above his eye, and his hands shook with adrenaline and terror.
Nate lay crumpled near the kitchen doorway, blood matting his hair where something had struck him. He was moving, trying to crawl, fingers reaching desperately toward the far wall where Anna had fallen.
