“He said to hurry,” Lyric whispered as she panted and tried to get enough oxygen to her. She must’ve been holding her breath.
“Liam’s been going ninety.” Destiny pushed off Lyric and scrambled into the back seat. “Dodger, are you still there?”
“I’m three minutes out, baby,” came an answer on her speaker phone. “We’re coming.”
Destiny and Liam were calling in the Pack.
Lyric struggled to sit up. Her body felt numb, and like there was a low vibration humming through her. Her hands were on fire. It felt like they had been burned off completely.
She looked down at them and saw blisters and raw skin all over her palms. What the hell?
Destiny inhaled sharply in the back, and Lyric turned to see her gingerly touching the screen of her phone. Her hands were also blistered and bleeding.
“What happened to you?” Lyric asked.
Destiny’s eyes were filled with emotion and she shook her head. “I had to help you.”
“Help me what?” Lyric asked in horror. Destiny’s hands were dripping. It looked so painful.
“Help you move my bond out of the way so you could see Vic.”
It was in this moment that Lyric realized how much power she’d been sleeping on. Bonds had never been talked about like this, but if she was right, and Vic was where she thought he was, this would open up an enormous power that had been unrealized until now. Werewolves could track each other through bonds. She could find the people who were important to her.
Liam slammed on his brakes and skidded to a stop in the middle of a gravel road, then shoved open his door. “Change!” he barked out.
And for the rest of her life, no matter how long or short, Lyric would never understand how his order forced her Change. Liam wasn’t her Alpha.
That didn’t matter to her wolf though. Lyric made a strangled sound as she shoved the door open in a rush and her body detonated like a bomb. A wave of power washed through her as she fell onto the ground and choked out a pained sound as the wolf ripped out of her body. Beside her, Destiny was Changing too.
Ahead, Liam’s enormous black wolf was already rushing up the trail. Lyric’s hackles rose. She recognized this forest from the vision, and beside her were smears of red that led up the trail.It wasn’t just the gray SUV and Challenger in the woods like her vision. There were six vehicles polluting the forest here. One of them belonged to Eden’s promised mate, Traydon. He was back in town. Fear filled her chest. After the death of her last mate, Eden had chosen Traydon for his ruthlessness.
Lyric exchanged a glance with Destiny and then stood up on all fours and bolted into the woods after Liam. The first twenty seconds were usually jarring when she first Changed into this body. Usually, she had to remember how to run, but not today. The wolf had been ready.
She flew through the trees, pushing her legs harder and harder. Her ears were pinned back, and she cut this way and that through the foliage. The burning in her paws was excruciating but she didn’t let it slow her down. Pain was temporary, and Vic needed her.
The pull of her bond to him grew with every step closer.
Liam didn’t stop, didn’t slow. Ahead of them, he burst through the tree line and aimed right for Cian, who was crouched over Vic’s still wolf. He held a knife.
Cian looked up and the startlement in his eyes said they hadn’t heard them coming.
Liam charged him and latched onto his neck before he was even fully Changed. Liam didn’t care about waiting for a fair fight, and Lyric understood. Cian had been the bait and had gotten one of his Pack hurt. Maybe worse. The bloodlust wasn’t going to allow the Alpha patience. Cian’s scream echoed through the woods. It was short and pained and turned into a yelp, and then Lyric’s attention was on the crowd. Traydon had been talking to a group of War Wolves at the edge of the trees, and already they were headed this way, Changing as they ran.
One by one, their wolves exploded from them, and they aimed their attention at Lyric and Destiny. Lyric bolted for Vic to protect his body, but he wasn’t moving. He lay on his side. Bloodwas matted across his face and muzzle, and there were three more open shots on his body. He’d gone wolf and they’d had to fill him with bullets. That’s how they fought? Really? What cowards.
Fury muddled every thought, and everything was tinged in red as she lifted her gaze to Traydon. Her sister’s mate shook out his light-colored fur from the Change. He leveled Lyric with a look of hatred. Well? The feeling was mutual.
Lyric charged and slammed into him, teeth on his shoulder. She shook her head violently, trying to rip as much as she could. She hated this man she barely knew. Hated that Eden could call him in to hurt Vic. Hated that he’d taken over the Coeur d’Alene Lake Pack territory just for the promise of violence. Hated that he’d orchestrated this. He wasn’t a good Alpha. He was overseeing the torture of Vic. Her Vic. He was suffering and it was at the hands of her sister’s mate, and her ex, and all these fucking War Wolves. She hated them all.
In this moment, locked up with Traydon’s wolf in a battle to the death, everything changed.
Lyric was no longer afraid of the Elder’s power.
She was no longer afraid of war.
She was no longer interested in protecting her sister from Karma.
Eden had done so much bad. Aro had done so much bad.
