The ground vibrated with my 300-pound bear weight, but suddenly I skidded to a halt as I saw my mom stop up ahead.
Standing up on my hind legs, I had a better vantage point.Max.No!
Taking off, faster this time, I made the distance to Max in seconds. My mother was already in her human form, her hands shook as they hovered over Max’s bleeding shoulder. Oh God. It looked like his arm was sixty percent torn off. So much blood; werewolves’ ability to regenerate was in the blood. If my mom didn’t stop the bleeding soon, Max would die. A noise to my left had my head whipping around, but it was just Jaxon. He was fully shifted back into his human form and hunched next to my mom ready to empower her spell. The magical healing mist saturated Max as my mother chanted her healing spell. The second Jaxon rested his arm on her, it blasted out ten times as strong. I was torn between wanting to shift and help them heal Max and wanting to stay in bear form and protect my family.
‘I got this,’ Gavin all but growled next to me, even though his wolf had the same markings as mine used to, it was different and I needed to remember that. He had power, he was larger, more compact, and a solid build. Not the feminine traits of my long gone wolf. I had to trust that my mate wasn’t a fragile human any more. He was a werewolf.
My muscles tingled as I began letting the shift take me back into my human form. Resting my hand on my mother’s back I whispered, “Power of three.” More mist shot out of my mother’s hands as she gasped in shock, and Max’s arm began to heal rapidly. Gretchen had trained my mother in healing spells and on top of that, Jaxon was a spell amplifier and as if that wasn’t enough, we had the power of three. The magical number needed to do almost any spell, strength was in numbers.
Max groaned, gaining consciousness again and his ice blue eyes flew to my mother. “The foreign wolf … he … after he attacked … he shifted to a bird. Flew off.”
My mother frowned and looked at me. Shit. What did Lina say? Walkers could take any animal form? Great.
I nodded at my mother, indicating it was possible and she growled.
“What the hell was he doing on our land?” Her voice shook a little but I barely caught it. I could tell Luna’s death was still raw for her.
“He’s after me,” I stated and Gavin suddenly let loose a howl that made chills run up my arms. A howl that said ‘Over my dead body.’
The corner of my mother’s lips curved into a smile; she was pleased with my mate’s reaction.
“Let’s get Max back to the pack doctor and then wake Mason. I’m bringing your father home to deal with this shit,” she stated and Jaxon caught my eye with a smirk.
‘Grow up. Mom cusses,’I told him but the smirk stayed. Stupid goofball was obsessed with our mother’s potty mouth.
I agreed with her, we needed Dad back ASAP. My mom was a strong Alpha, but she hated pack politics and with werewolves on the brink of war with the humans, my father was the best man for the job. Max looked like he would live, but I didn’t think he could walk. His face was pale, ashy, and sweat beaded his forehead.
“From now on, we don’t attack the Walker with any less than five of us present. If there are less than five you, run. That’s an ORDER.” My mother’s words were infused with the power of the Alpha.
Max simply nodded. I didn’t think he was going to argue. Max was physically stronger than my mother and almost as strong as my dad. If the Walker nearly killed him then my mom’s plan was a good idea for the entire pack.
I’m not sure what made me do what I did in that next moment, instinct maybe. My bear. I bent down, put one arm under Max’s neck and another under his knees. Then I stood and lifted him with ease. He was heavy as hell, don’t get me wrong, my muscles flexed with the weight of him but I wasn’t straining.
My mom, Gavin, and Jaxon just stared at me.
“I guess I’m strong,” I offered, to ease the awkwardness.
My mother nodded, one eyebrow raised, and led the way back home.
“For the record, this is weird,” Max said in my arms and I chuckled, but inside I was kind of freaking out. If I had the strength of a bear while in human form … Okay, think about that later. I might need to talk to Anna, my dad’s strongest wolf. She had the gift of extreme strength and she would be able to help me figure out what this meant.
After getting back to the house, we saw that Mason and Avery were outside waiting. Emma was there too and they had already cleaned up the Luna mess and buried her in the backyard at the base of my mother’s favorite tree. I was grateful because seeing her like that was awful and I couldn’t imagine my mother having to bury her. The pack doctor took Max from me and then my mother was all business.
“Mason, come down to the basement, please. Your parents will meet us down there,” she said.
Meeting your mate was a huge deal in werewolf culture, I wasn’t surprised my mom called in Aunt Diya and Uncle Trent. They would be thrilled.
Avery pulled me aside as the others went down to the basement.
Her eyes were lined with worry, her fingernails had dirt underneath them and I knew she must have helped bury Luna.
“Hey,” I said, not sure what to say.
She sighed. “Are you okay? I mean, holy shit. A couple days ago we were in a club talking about witches’ wine and now you’re a bear, you found your mate, and your cat got killed by a monster.”
I gave a tearful laugh. “I miss my dad, and I don’t think everyone understands what this monster is capable of.” I leaned in close to her to whisper. “He can’t be killed by normal means, and I’m not even sure that Gavin or I can kill him.” Because if I was being honest, it felt like now that I had taken Gavin’s life path, I may have also taken on the half Walker. Or not. Either way, it left us no idea how to kill this bastard.
Her eyes widened but she nodded as if she expected that. “We’ll figure it out.”
