A quick look around tells me Sadie isn’t there, and the four goons are all accounted for, squaring up right in front of me.
Thank God, she ran away. Now I can take my time dealing with these guys.
They stalk forward in formation, trying to flank me. It’s a simple truth that if you outnumber your opponent, you and your pack can’t just jump him at once. It would be nothing but an awkward tangle of bodies.
That means they have to attack in a sequence if they want to knock me out or restrain me. All I have to do is predict who’s coming at me first.
I bend my knees a little, clenching my fists and keeping my eyes front as two of the guys flank me, and Aaron comes at me dead-on with the last one. Even at the peak of adrenaline, I can feel my senses are duller than they should be, and my reaction time is poor.
They can’t shift, either, but they seem stronger than me. I don’t understand how this is happening.
“We’re taking you out, Alpha,” Aaron says. “You’re weak. It’s this insane sympathy to humans that is killing us, and if we want to save our species, we have to take drastic action.”
I know he’s just trying to distract me, and I try to keep my attention on the fight, but his words get stuck in my brain.
What if he’s right? I could be killing my people… and the worst thing is, I still want Sadie. What can I do?
Growling low in my throat, I clench my muscles, ready to spring. I manage to fake out the two guys flanking me by jumping back instead of forward, and they crash into each other as I dodge around them, leaping towards Aaron.
He meets my charge head-on, and we trade blows, punching each other as hard as we can, over and over. He barely reacts to my punches, and I can feel my knuckles splitting open further every time I smash his jaw.
Suddenly, my shoulders are grabbed, and I’m dragged backwards. I struggle as hard as I can, but two of the guys are holding my arms, and I can’t break free. The smaller one comes in and smashes punches into my guts, forcing the air out of my lungs until I’m hanging limp in the arms of the other guys, my head hanging down as blood drips from my nose.
Aaron advances towards me, cracking his knuckles.
This is it. It’s over.
“You’ll never get away with this,” I hiss at him. “The other alphas won’t stand for it, or the council.”
“Well, truth be told, we didn’t want to hurt you,” Aaron says. “I didn’t expect you to fight this hard. But don’t worry, we’ll get rid of the human and think up a cover story. It won’t be too hard.”
“You’re a fool!” I yell, struggling against the grip on my arms.
Their hands just clamp down even tighter, and Aaron pulls his arm back, ready to smash straight into my face.
For a few seconds, nothing happens. It’s as if Aaron has frozen in place, his eyes wide with confusion as he looks at me, then his fist.
What the hell?
Aaron tries to move, an incoherent mumble struggling from his throat. He manages to stagger forward, but before he can punch me, something grabs him and hurls him back against a tree trunk, his whole body slamming against it. I hear his skull strike the wood, and he collapses at the base of the tree, blood pouring from his mouth.
What the fuck was that?
The smaller guy, who seemed to be staying out of the fight as much as possible, watches with fear, and the same force lifts him up and flicks him into the woods as if he weighs nothing more than a feather. I’m staring in shock at the path he made, hurtling through the forest, when the realization hits me.
This is magic… we’re under attack!
“How are you doing this!” one of the guys yells, shaking my arm.
“I’m not—”
The guy howls as his hand is torn from my arm, and he staggers back, blood pouring from his nose. A hard shove from the invisible hand pins him to the ground, and I swing my head back around to see the other guy letting go of me.
“Please!” he gasps, looking at me.
I shake my head and look around, trying to find the source of the strange power.
That’s when I see Sadie, standing next to the hut. At first, I’m afraid—the other guys could still get up and hurt her, or thisvicious new power could come after her—but then I see that she isn’t scared.
