His omega reacted, throwing vicious left-handed punches that would have killed a human. Strickland only laughed and started thrashing his head left and right like a damn shark. Somewhere way in the back of his mind—or the omega’s—Carter realized he was about to lose his hand.
“Carter!” someone shouted, the voice vaguely familiar but seemingly coming from somewhere far away. “Get Kamden and get the hell out of the circle!”
He continued to pummel Strickland in an attempt to free himself even as he turned his head to the side to find Hadley kneeling on the edge of the warding circle, her hands resting on the glowing shield, eyes wide with panic.
“Carter,” she said, her voice muted by the wall of magic between them. “Your eyes are blue so I know your omega is in charge right now, but I know you’re still in there somewhere, and I need you to come back. You can’t brute force your way out of this situation. You need to be the one in charge. Carter, please. I need you to come back.”
Surprisingly, he was able to comprehend what Hadley was saying and agreed with her. He needed his omega’s strength, but if he kept yanking at his arm like this, he was going to maim himself long before Strickland could do it for him. But knowing that didn’t mean he had any idea how to take control back from his omega after he’d freely given it up.
His first instinct was to fight his omega. But truthfully, that’s what he’d been doing from the moment his omega started causing trouble and it hadn’t exactly gotten him anywhere.
“Don’t fight,” Hadley said from outside the circle, almost as if she could read Carter’s mind. “Remember when I said that if you fight, your omega will fight back just as hard? Instead, maybe try to compromise. Please, Carter. You have to get out of the circle or I’m going to come in there and get you.”
Even buried deep beneath his omega, Hadley’s announcement still rattled the hell out of him. Unfortunately, he wasn’t sure how he was supposed to compromise with himself.
Turning back to look down at Strickland, he found the skinwalker still gnawing on the thick log Carter didn’t remember shoving into the a-hole’s mouth like a dog’s chew toy. The urge to go back to punching the skinwalker until the creature let go was hard to ignore. Or more specifically, it was hard for his omega to ignore. Because punching, slashing, growling, and running was all his omega understood.
Listen to me, Carter murmured in his own head, feeling stupid for talking to himself like this. We have to get out of here, and for that to happen, you need to let me have control again.
Carter registered absolutely nothing from his omega that suggested the thing was even listening. Which wasn’t surprising since he had no idea if that part of his inner werewolf was even capable of communicating that way. For the past few weeks, it had mostly been his omega simply showing up in a time of crisis and taking over, only letting go once everything was over. But Carter knew he couldn’t let that happen this time.
Please, he downright begged. We need to get out of here before our soul mate does something stupid. We can’t let her do that. You can’t let her do that.
Carter didn’t expect his omega to respond, but at that moment, in the face of all the chaos, a sense of calm descended that was like nothing he’d ever experienced. His omega had heard him and understood. In some way that was impossible to describe, he swore he could feel his omega standing right beside him, and then take a step back.
As Carter’s own awareness moved to the front, all the pain that had been suppressed up until now hit again. The ache in his back from being thrown all over the place, the pain from the repeated blows to his face, and beyond all of that, the searing agony from where Strickland’s oversized teeth had crushed the bones of his forearm.
Carter clamped down on the near-overwhelming fear that came with the knowledge that Strickland was eating him and aimed an awkward left-handed strike at the skinwalker’s jaw, hoping to cause enough damage to stop him, the punch aided by a strength he knew was coming from his omega. Something audibly cracked and Strickland’s lower jaw flopped down until it was practically resting on the skinwalker’s chest. Carter started to yank his hand out of the creature’s mouth, relief flooding through him.
But at the last moment, he stopped himself. Getting his hand free would put him right back to where he’d been before, standing toe-to-toe with a supernatural creature that was stronger than he was. In that situation, how long would it be before he was back in trouble? Especially considering how messed up his right arm was.
So instead of yanking his hand out of the skinwalker’s mouth, Carter shoved it forward, ramming it as far down Strickland’s throat as he could. Which turned out to be disgustingly far.
Strickland’s eyes widened in panic, and he began to struggle like mad, punching and shoving at Carter’s chest.
Carter knocked Strickland’s hands away, keeping his fist where it was, energized at the realization that the skinwalker was starting to weaken. He was beginning to think he might actually be able to end this, but then Strickland got both palms on Carter’s chest, shoving him so hard he was thrown across the warding circle.
He hit the ground hard. Favoring his heavily damaged right hand, Carter pushed himself upright. He had to get to the skinwalker before he recovered. But then, from the corner of his eye, he caught sight of Hadley and Lydia both gesturing frantically at something to his right.
Kamden.
Crap.
Carter threw himself that way, getting a grip on Kamden with his left hand before lunging for the edge of the warding circle. He braced for impact, remembering how solid Kat’s shield had felt on the way in. He was more than a little surprised when he discovered the shield seemed more like thick Jell-O from this direction. It was still difficult to get through, especially with Kamden being dead weight in his left arm.
Hadley and Lydia were there to meet him as he pushed through the glowing green shield, both of them grabbing hold of his arms and yanking frantically. He couldn’t understand why until something latched onto one of his legs, trying to drag him back inside the warding circle.
It was a tug of war for a few seconds until Carter tossed Kamden the rest of the way out of the circle and then twisted around to kick Strickland in the face, distracting the skinwalker enough for him to finally drag himself free of the circle.
Hadley’s arms were immediately around him, trying to reach for his injured hand. Carter twisted away, sure Strickland would be coming through the shield in the next two seconds. Instead, Strickland was still in the circle, rage filling his features as he pounded ineffectively at the magical green glow.
Carter turned to Kat, ready to ask what was going on, but the words faded when he realized she was kneeling on the ground again, her eyes closed, and her fingers buried in the dirt.
“Duck!” Lydia shouted, even as Carter felt a hand at his shoulder, yanking him down to the ground.
Carter didn’t even have a chance to ask what the hell was happening before there was a violent thud of exploding air coming at him from the direction of the circle. A fraction of a second later, it felt like a tornado was passing over their heads, the same way it had when Kat had first transferred Kamden’s skinwalker essence into Strickland.
Rolling over, Carter looked around. Kamden was still lying on the ground, unmoving, while Hadley and Lydia were pushing themselves upright, both clearly rattled. Kat was lying on her side several feet away, knocked unconscious again.
