“There’s a shifter pack close by,” Melhak spat back. “You want one of them driving past and seeing us? Or hearing us if they decide to take a run this way?”
The fae grumbled but shook his head.
“Right,” Melhak said, lifting his crossbow and aiming it at me. “Axel, you better hope your magic kicks in soon, I don’t think your wolf has long left. Maybe I should put him out of his misery.”
“Do that and I’ll never tell you a fucking thing,” Axel spat.
Melhak replied, but I tuned him out.
My mind wasn’t the sharpest right now, but Melhak’s earlier words had triggered something. He was right that Falon’s pack territory was nearby. But they wouldn’t need to be all that close to hear the roar of another shifter.
That sound travelled.
And I had roared, I remembered that now.
When Melhak shot Axel, my wolf had taken over and I’d roared out a warning that any wolf in a five-mile radius would hear.
They’d know what it meant too.
But would they recognise me as Rys’s pack? That, I didn’t know, but Falon and Rys were on good terms. Goddess willing, he’d call him first.
Rys knew we were here because Axel had borrowed his car, and he’d bring the fucking cavalry. I just hoped he made it in time.
* * *
Rys
“Thank you.” I slammed my phone down on the worktop with a growl that echoed around the house.
“What’s wrong,” Sasha said, appearing in the kitchen doorway.
Before I could answer, Syl’s wolf burst through the door, skidding to a halt before shifting back. “Your father just came through the gateway. He’s on his way here.” Syl’s eyes went wide. “Inwolfform.”
“Fuck.” Falon’s call had set my wolf on edge, but for my father to shift and run here meant it was so much worse than what I’d feared.
A wild roar echoed through the trees, raising the hairs on the back of my neck. “Sasha, call Max,” I said, moving to the door to intercept my father. “Get him to meet us at the turnoff to Blake Tehlin’s cottage. Warn him that there’s trouble and to wait for us.” He’d bring whoever he thought he’d need. I hoped that didn’t mean Gabriel.
“Syl,” I said as I reached the backdoor. “Go get dressed and be ready to go in five.”
“Yes, alpha.” He disappeared upstairs and I hurried outside.
The huge black-and-grey wolf lurched to a stop a couple of feet in front of me, shifting back before he’d even come to a full stop.
“Talk to me.”
His brown eyes blazed with a rage I’d never seen in him before, hands curled into fists so tight, blood dripped from them where his claws dug in. “She’s in pain.” My father clutched his chest as though the pain was his and I stared at him.
“You can feel it?” I knew they’d completed the joining pact, but I didn’t realise it was as strong as a soulbond.
“Yes,” he snapped. “She’s hurt and she’s furious and we need to get to wherever she is right the fuck now.”
“They’re at Blake Tehlin’s cottage.” At least that’s what I assumed, and it was all we had to go on right then. “Axel and Talis are with them.”
“Fuck.” He gripped his hair, eyes desperate. “It can’t be a coincidence that Axel’s there.”
“His magic?” I hedged, not wanting to reveal Axel’s secrets if my dad didn’t already know.
“Yes. Someone else must know what he’s capable of.”
