The pack met the attack with coordinated fury. Jonah and Sienna worked as a pair, flanking a corrupted wolf and bringing it down together. Alaric darted between enemies, smaller but faster, opening wounds that others could exploit. The younger wolves held the perimeter, keeping the creatures from breaking through to where I stood.
And Daniel.
Three creatures came at him at once, and he met them head-on, taking hits that would have dropped lesser wolves just to get close enough to end them.
A rogue wolf broke through the line, heading straight for me.
I pulled the silver dagger from my belt. I dropped into the stance Gideon had taught me, blade up, weight balanced, and met the creature's charge.
It slammed into me with enough force to drive the air from my lungs, but I'd braced for the impact. The dagger found its mark, silver sinking deep into corrupted flesh, and the wolf screamed that awful wrong sound as it dissolved into shadow and ash.
I didn't have time to feel relief. Another one was already coming.
This one was smarter. Circled instead of charging, looking for an opening, those empty eyes tracking my movements with intelligence that shouldn't have been possible. I turned with it, kept the blade between us, felt my heart hammering against my ribs.
It lunged.
I pivoted, let its momentum carry it past me, drove the dagger into its flank as it went by. Not a killing blow, but enough to make it stumble, enough to give me time to reposition. The creature spun, snarling, and I saw its muscles bunch for another attack.
Then Rafe was there.
His dark gray form hit the corrupted wolf from the side, jaws closing around its throat with brutal precision. They went down together, rolling across the forest floor, and Rafe's teeth tore through flesh and sinew until the creature dissolved into nothing.
He rose from the ash, amber eyes finding mine, and something passed between us. Acknowledgment. Thanks.
The corrupted wolves weren't attacking him.
Not the way they were attacking everyone else. When they came near Rafe, they seemed to hesitate. Pull back. Like they recognized something in him that made them uncertain.
I didn't have time to think about it. A corrupted wolf had gotten past the perimeter, was heading for Nate, who was fighting beside Evan against two others. I ran without thinking, dagger raised, putting myself between the creature and my son.
The wolf hit me hard enough to send me flying.
I landed badly, pain exploding through my shoulder, the dagger spinning away into darkness. The creature was on me before I could rise, teeth closing around my arm, and I screamed as fire tore through muscle and bone.
Then dark gray fur slammed into the creature from the side.
Rafe. His jaws closed around the corrupted wolf's throat, tearing it away from me with savage efficiency. They rolled across the forest floor, snarling, and Rafe's teeth found purchase, crushed, ended it. The creature dissolved into shadow and ash, and Rafe stood over the remains, barely winded.
He looked at me. Amber eyes unreadable in the moonlight.
Daniel’s massive wolf form barreled into another corrupted wolf that had been circling toward us, bringing it down with the kind of brutal violence that left no room for survival. Jaws crushed windpipe. Claws opened belly. Shadow and ash.
The sounds of battle were fading. The pack had won, driving off or destroying the remaining corrupted wolves.
But at a cost.
Jonah was limping badly. Sienna had a gash across her shoulder that was bleeding freely. Several of the younger wolves were down, being tended to by packmates.
And Rafe stood at the edge of the carnage, barely touched, watching the treeline with an expression I couldn't read.
Daniel shifted. The transformation was rougher this time, pain evident in the way his body reshaped itself, and when hewas human again I could see the wounds. Claw marks across his ribs, a bite on his shoulder that was bleeding sluggishly.
“Michael.” He cupped my face, checked my eyes, ran his hands down my arms checking for damage. His fingers found the bite on my arm and his jaw tightened. “How bad?”
“I've had worse.” I hadn't. But saying it felt important. “Rafe got to me in time.”
Daniel's eyes flicked to Rafe, something complicated passing through them. Gratitude and something else. Something I couldn't name.
