I saw similar wolves all asleep or falling asleep. I saw the Whiteclaws by the entrance nodding just as I had.
Then I saw them. A group of Firepaws, guarding a small woman of the desert. ASleep Singer.
By the shackles at her feet, Locke had picked her up on the way. But she’d been given too much time already, most people were out cold. I had to act quickly. I had to–
I felt out with my wolf power. My wolf within was distant. But I had to edge closer towards it. I could shift, but—could I afford to show myself?
More were dropping off. All the other pack men were stirring, they must’ve known the antidote melody. They were unaffected. They were aware of a greater plan.
I channeled more power, heightening my senses.
I had to override her power. I had to get beyond it, but she’d been casting the charm for so long unguarded.
I trickled a little more power.
A little more.
A rush of sound flooded my mind. I broke beyond the charm, beyond the wall separating the wolves and their respective packs. I could hear everything. Every wolf’s thoughts.
And they all knew I’d broken through.
Mayhem began.
The singer stopped her charm, yanked into silence by the Firepaw rushing the entrance. The Whiteclaw soldiers woke up in surprise. Roman snapped up, but I was already gone.
Everything was in slow motion as I bounded across the square. The girl and her brother were back, but now in the middle of two groups of murderous men.
I held as much power as my human form could handle and leaped the full cart of wine barrels. I pushed through a group of men about to pounce upon some waking Whiteclaws. They fell like twigs in a breeze.
My soul was burning with power, my wolf howling through every mind that would hear within the village walls. I was silencing the whole desert.
I slid in front of the girl just as the two enormous brutes of Locke’s came upon the girl.
I caught each of their fists, crushing their hands in my grip, and then twisted their arms until their forearms snapped.
The shock of my sudden appearance stopped them.
Then they felt their hands, looked at their arms, and began screaming.
The wall of men raging forward stopped. Stumbling into each other and afraid to put another foot forward. Everyone looked at me in awe. I felt my body coursing with power, my howl only just ceasing to echo across all of their minds.
I breathed haggard breaths, tense and waiting.
The little girl and her brother ran away, but no one watched.
I was the focus.
The Alpha of Prophecy.
Then two things happened very quickly. The most beautiful woman I’d ever seen entered the square. Her beauty even more radiant in this hellish space of violence. And the Siren Singers began screeching from the Lassig walls.
Chapter 5
FEYRA
The people stared at me with my bloodied clothes, stained hands and face, singed hair, and seared flesh. My chest burned from where the beam embers had exploded, searing my flesh, and branding me. My clothes were melded into my body.
I bumped into men and women, spinning around and falling backwards into the dust. I panicked and bumped into a horse. It neighed and rose on its hindlegs. The owner yelled and I felt the hot tears sizzling my face as I ran.
