Will never took note of the exact changes to his body, but the moment he sucked in the first breath with his wolf lungs, when he could smell so much more than he could in his human form, it all registered, and the wolf stretched and flexed, happy to be in this shape again.
“Oh my sweet fucking gods,” Sage said.“That was fucking amazing.”
Will loved hearing that from Sage.Normally, one of the first things Will wanted to do was lick Sage’s lips, but today, a sharp restlessness came over him.It was a familiar feeling, one he wished he’d forgotten.
It was the fear.It was what he’d felt right before the loups-garous had shifted and started hunting him.
He sniffed the air and listened.
“You okay?”Sage asked.
Will cast a look at him.Sage washis.As a human, he wouldn’t have dared make that statement, but he was a wolf now, and that right there was his mate.
Will would protect his soft human who lacked the sharp teeth, strong claws, and thick fur to do it himself.The thought made the fear bite a little less, and he walked around the house, sniffing and listening.Something wasn’t right, he could feel that in his bones, and every second that ticked away made Will more anxious.
“Hey, you need to go pee under a tree or something?”Sage had followed him past the staircase and down the narrow hallway that led to the laundry room, and the still room beyond, which Sage used to dry herbs and make and store jams and other preserves.
Will’s hackles rose.There was something in the air here, something he hadn’t scented in the house before.The laundry room smelled of detergent and fabric softener, and the still room came with its own earthy, medicinal scents.He carefully walked to the laundry room, though he didn’t go inside.He saw better in the dark in his wolf form, but he still peered into the shadows—until they moved.
No, theyshifted, and the scent tore all those terrors from the depths of Will’s memories and brought them roaring back to the surface—everything he’d tried so hard to forget.In mere seconds, the sound of a snarling loup-garou filled the house Will had begun to think of as his home.
Will bared his teeth and snarled at the intruder.The loup-garou was bigger, stronger.It was a monster in fur, teeth, and unnaturally long claws.It could tear through Will, and he wouldn’t care, but his mate was here, and Will needed to protect him.Before the loup-garou could come at them, Will attacked.
“Will, stop!”
Will did not.He jumped at the beast and closed his jaws around a foreleg.As Will sank his teeth into the muscle and did his best to clamp down as hard as he could, a moment of intense clarity made time slow to a trickle.
Behind him, Sage was singing a spell.Will wasn’t able to listen to the words, but the voice…he focused on that.Sage’s voice.
If I die here, I want to do it with his voice in my ears.
The loup-garou was growling and raising one clawed paw, and Will knew he would feel those claws, feel that pain tear into his flesh just like the other loups-garous had forced pain into him.
But this time around, things took a different turn.Will was no longer prey, he was protecting what was his.
I can’t die.I have to fight for him, if only long enough so he can run away.
Except Sage didn’t run.He was casting.Will got so mad about that.It was dangerous.The loup-garou’s paw came down, and Will’s only thought was that he wanted Sage out of the house.Out out out.
Pain bit into Will’s side even as magic sang through him.Sage yelped.The loup-garou snarled, but instead of finishing Will with the single strike, instead of burying his claws deeper into Will’s flesh, the beast stopped.
Not the pain though.Will was bleeding and it hurt, but he kept holding on, even when the loup-garou started moving, shaking his front leg in an attempt to dislodge Will.The beast jolted, and for long seconds, Will had no real idea what was happening in his singularly focused state.
When the loup-garou turned in an evasive move, Will finally saw two more wolves in the room.They were both black with silver eyes, and they were moving around the beast, using the shadows in the dark laundry room to their advantage.Then one jumped at the loup-garou, but the attack was executed in complete silence—apart from the loup-garou’s cry of pain.
Will loosened his hold and let go of the beast when it jerked under the other wolf’s teeth.He had no idea who these wolves were, but they were helping, and that was good.They might give him an opening to get to the monster’s neck and tear out its windpipe.
But as soon as Will hit the ground, the wolf not actively attacking barreled into him and slammed him into a hamper.Out of the corner of his eye, Will watched as the huge beast escaped out of the laundry room, chased by the first black wolf.The second, the one who had knocked him into the hamper, stopped briefly to look at Will, and Will sniffed.Recognition hit.Carl.The black wolf wasfuckingCarl.
Will bared his teeth, but he didn’t growl since he didn’t have the energy to do that.Will’s mouth tasted of the loup-garou’s blood, and every breath brought a fresh wave of pain.Carl ran out of the room on quick, silent paws.Will moved—he had to find Sage—but as soon as he did, the pain in his side cut through the adrenaline for good.
“Will!What the fuck—how?”The lights came on, and Sage stood in the doorway, dripping wet as if he’d taken a shower with his clothes on.He paled, ran toward Will, and sank to his knees next to him.
“Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit.You’re bleeding.”
Sage.He wassafe.Will was relieved, even as he saw the blood on the floor.Not all of it was his, but the hamper he’d slammed into was smeared, ruined.After everything, he’d still leave his mate with a mess to clean up.
I’m sorry.I can’t do anything right after all.
