But that’s why he’s holding back. He sees me better than any of them, and knows that I have been, too.
A cold sense of calm chases away the ringing in my ears, soothes my splitting headache. The nervous tension in my limbs subsides, and as I push up from the couch, the motion is a smooth glide; effortless. I’m barely even aware of my muscles bunching and releasing, as if disconnected from my nerve endings.
Trailing my fingertips across Slade’s chest and shoulder as I pass by him, I approach one of the men that were hovering behind Joshua rather than the man himself. He may have been a temporary figurehead, but he was never a leader, and he signed that brief privilege away the moment he agreed to merge their pack with ours. I’d hate for him to get the wrong idea and assume he was any more important than the men heshouldbe respecting as equals. That’s what Reid said, after all, when I asked. That women can’t simply run down the line unleashing wolves because mates are territorial, and if her mates can’t get along, they’ll turn on each other until weeding down the pack to the strongest, or ones they feel are most worthy of sharing her with.
Temperamental things, these wolves they’re all so desperate to release from their cages.
“And you’d be?”
Bright blue eyes light up with smug satisfaction, happily breaking off his conversation to give me his full attention. Blonde hair, basic white t-shirt, and pajama pants slung low on his hips, cockiness wafts off of him in spades. His instincts are buried beneath the weight of his overinflated ego, not reading the room in the slightest, only seeing what he wants to.
“Aaron. Pleasure to meet you, Sabrina,” he drawls, stretching out a hand in offering. “I look forward to getting to know you better.” A teasing smirk brings a dimple to his cheek, as if we’re in on the same joke and simply playing at formalities.
Taking his hand, I match his energy, smiling right back. “I look forward to discovering what you have to contribute to the pack.”
Shaking his hand, I stare directly into his eyes and take a long, slow inhale, pulling energy from him without the slightest blip of remorse. The image of them widening in surprise will forever be seared into my memory, the glorious moment of his panic manifesting as his survival instincts rise to the occasion. That beautiful, beautiful picture of horror as he realizes that they fucked up. I take my mental snapshot as his pupils rapidly expand like spilled ink, his wolf taking over in an attempt at self-preservation. They both see it now, that neither of them have full control over this body that they inhabit, one they’ve wasted their entire existence locked in a power struggle over.
I do.
“Aaron?” one of the others asks, and it jolts him out of his frozen state of shock.
Attempting to jerk his hand free and failing, he wraps his other hand around my wrist and tries to pry me off, but I only tighten my grip. It’s painfully easy to siphon from him now that I’m not worried about being able to stop, the last of my mental blocks shattered so that I’m not getting in my own way. After practicing on Kaige and the onslaught I received from Damian and Slade, this random wolf barely even registers as a drop in the bucket, nothing worth taking up any of my mental space. It’s enough, though.
As his struggles grow pathetically weak, I embrace Kaige’s idea. Glancing around in my mind’s eye, I look at the series of boxes lying everywhere, everything that I’ve compartmentalized and stowed away over the course of my life so that it wouldn’t destroy me. It clicks, now, what Lizzie and Emmy were trying to say.
‘You were alone a hell of a long time, Sabrina, and alphas weren’t made for that life. It’s a miracle you’re as put together as you are. While they know how to take care of others, they don't know how to take care of themselves; not really. They need a pack maybe even more than us. That’s why the larger ones thrive while the lone wolves ultimately go feral; there’s safety in numbers, but not always in the obvious way.’
It’s as natural as breathing to mentally kick the nearest box over, setting off a chain reaction to set free everything that I’d suppressed.
“What the fuck is she doing to him?” someone growls, and there’s the soft whistling of air.
The sound is cut off with a smack of flesh, Damian catching the wrist of whoever was about to smack me away from their friend. “You can’t possibly be that stupid. Not only to raise a hand to a woman, in front of her mates no less, but to be so dense that you don’t understand what she’s doing.”
Aaron’s still struggling, but it’s pathetically feeble now. When I raise my free hand to cup his jaw, he gives up completely, becoming stock-still as I sigh in disappointment. “It’s a shame, really. I expected more from you.”
His screams are accompanied by the scent of burning flesh. They drown out everything else around us as a dull pain spreads throughout my body, my nails lengthening to pierce his cheek and hold him steady as I pull the last bit of feral energy coiled in his chest into myself. That pain continues to spread, my limbs slowly morphing as the light goes out of Aaron’s eyes. All the while he burns. And burns. And burns.
By the time the shift is complete, Aaron’s nothing more than a pile of ash beneath my paw, the dust clinging to my white fur and staining it with streaks of gray. This time, I’m not as much of a spectator in my body as my other half takes control. The instincts that drive her, I now feel deep in my bones, as if they were my own rather than a foreign entity. Meeting Emmy may have started to wake me up from the dull state of living I’d forced upon myself, but this? This makes me finally see that I was never at risk of my wolf taking over, of losing myself like I thought. The only one trying to erase myself from existence was me, fading away more with every passing year that I denied who I was meant to be.
“Mon soleil,” Slade murmurs, gazing at me with a soft smile.
He approaches slowly, as if seeking permission, or ensuring that I’m not about to bite his head off. Easing his concerns, I close the distance between us, butting my head against his stomach. His palm smooths down the side of my neck, crouching so that he won’t lord above me as he whispers quiet praises against my skin.
“This isn’t possible.” Joshua shakes his head in denial, backing out of the room and nearly tripping over the body lying not far from Damian, unmoving.
Pride glitters in Damian’s eyes as he gestures my way. “Tell that to Aaron.”
A low growl rumbles in my chest, and Slade responds instantly. His gaze snaps to where I’m staring, one of the two men in the background withdrawing something from his pocket. Slade’s quicker though, his gun appearing in his hand preternaturally fast and firing two shots into the man. He goes down with a heavy thump, his fist opening upon impact and a syringe rolling a few inches away.
The distraction was enough of an opening for Josh and his friend, though. By the time we turn back to them, they’re yanking the needles out of their arms. I watch, fascinated, as their bodies contort in agony, like they shot liquid fire into their veins. The curiosity turns to horror as they begin to shift in awkward, jerking motions. Their bodies only continue to expand, stretching taller and adding more bulk rather than the smooth transition into a recognizable wolf, or even the hellhounds of my mates. Hands morph into claws, patches of fur haphazardly spreading across their still too-human bodies, and faces elongate enough to accommodate the canine teeth in a grotesque display.
Just like the monster that nearly tore my leg off.
“What in the actual fuck?” Damian breathes, stepping closer to me.
A series of explosions rock the entire foundation of the mansion, one after the other, picture frames falling off of the walls around us and vases crashing on the marble in the next room. Several smoke detectors begin their shrill beeping, sending me shrinking back a step with a wince.
Slade curses, fingers gently threading into my fur. “Bet if we comb over the control room back home, we’ll find an empty syringe that got knocked away in the struggle. Motherfucker, that’s why Stonewood was so desperate for that shipment.”
