Chapter 147

Neil

We came back from the cruise different.

Not in an obvious, someone’s bleeding or missing an eyebrow kind of way, but in the subtle way you notice when two people have crossed some invisible line between strangers and something else. We spoke quietly as we disembarked. He was still clinging to his cup of coffee. I was saying goodbye to the people they'd partied with on the boat.

I hung back as he spoke to another group and took a photo with them. The woman planted a kiss on his cheek before leaving. From where I stood, I could see the shift in Dominic’s posture. His shoulders were loose, his mouth tugging into a reluctant half-smile.

One of his friends leaned in a little too close, murmuring something I couldn’t catch, and Dominic’s expression faltered. There was a flicker of something that looked dangerously like heat in his eyes before he stepped back sharply, as if burned and glared at the man.

The man grinned like the cat who’d gotten into the cream and walked off.

“I expect a damn good return for the favor when it’s my birthday.” I called out to him.

Dominic blinked. “When’s that?”

“Day of Souls,” I said, his grin widening.

Dominic groaned. “That’s fucking overkill!”

I laughed. "Blame my mother."

Renee

A few days later, Maya and I left our evening art class together, both of us carrying paint-stained hands and canvases that could charitably be called interpretive disasters. She suggested we cut through the park on the way back to the bakery. The Mountainhowl security detail was lingering in their usual invisible radius. I’d gotten used to feeling watched in that comforting, protective way.

Which is why the sudden emptiness prickled at my skin.

Maya noticed it too. Her easy chatter stuttered and stopped.

The park path was silent. Way too silent.

I glanced at my wrist and froze. The safety beacon embedded in my bracelet was glowing red. Activated. Which meant the security team was compromised, and the rest of the security team would be racing across the city to get to me.

"We need to go,” I whispered.

Before Maya could respond, someone stepped out from behind the shadowed line of trees.

Vivian.

Except this wasn’t Vivian as I’d last seen her. Her eyes were wide and glassy, her smile too sharp, her movements twitchy. She reeked of potion, the heavy chemical-sweet scent rolling off her in waves. She looked thin and twitchy. It was actually uncomfortable to look at her like this.

“Renee,” she sing-songed, her voice almost childlike, “You’re hard to catch when you’ve got wolves on leashes.”

I stepped in front of Maya without thinking. “Vivian, you need to—”

But she lunged before I could finish.

Maya moved faster. Faster than I expected. She caught Vivian’s wrist mid-swing, pivoted, and sent her stumbling back with a sharp elbow to the ribs. Combat training. I guessed that should surprise me when her mate used to be a gamma..

“Run,” Maya hissed.

We would have except Vivian wasn’t alone. Three shapes emerged from the shadows, all of them radiating that feral, wrong energy that made my stomach drop. Rogues.

How had rogues gotten all the way into the heart of Brightclaw?

“Oh, you’ve really lost it,” I muttered.

Vivian hissed, baring her fangs, but not shifting and we I ran.

The pounding of footsteps behind us was too close, too many. We cut across the grass, aiming for the children’s play area like it was a fortress. We scrambled up the slide, into one of the enclosed towers at the top of the structure, and shoved ourselves into the corner. She pulled out some sort of medallion and projected a scream between US and the oncoming people. The metal of the playground sort of melted and shifted, forming a cocoon around us, but it didn't look like it was going to hold long.

I recognize that medallion. It was something that gammas tended to give their loved ones. It was a safety thing and would call the nearest gamma forces to us, but who knew how far that would be? Or how long it would take them?

Maya’s hands shook as she pulled out her phone and hit a number on speed dial.

“Tyler—” she gasped the second the call connected. “Tyler, we’re in the park—" One of the rogues snarled, denting the metal. "The playground—" Claws ripped through near her head. "Vivian’s here with rogues—" I screamed and ducked as a fist punched though the top. "Hurry!”

I didn’t waste time. My own phone was in my hand, my voice sharp as I called for Mountainhowl backup, giving our coordinates as quickly as I could before shoving the phone back into my pocket. Outside, the sound of claws on metal and low growls grew louder, the metal was being torn away. I looked at Maya. She looked at me.

And we both knew, help couldn’t get here fast enough.

I called Dominic, but it was too late. The phone fell from my hand as a set of claws dug into my arms.

Maya and I were yanked from the cramped safety of the remnants of the play structure like we were nothing more than toys. My breath left me in a startled gasp, but I couldn’t even process the pain before I saw Vivian’s face, twisted and wild, pupils blown wide, lips pulled back from her teeth in an almost feral snarl.

“Maya!” I twisted, kicking at the rogue holding me, but there were too many hands, too much brute strength.

They dragged me backward, away from the playground, away from Maya and Vivian as she launched herself at her. The two of them crashed to the ground hard enough to rattle what was left of the whole structure, Vivian clawing and biting with an animalistic desperation.

Somewhere, my phone must have connected a call. I hoped to hell Dominic could hear enough to know where I was and send help if not get here himself.

The rogues holding me were faster, stronger. My kicks and elbows barely slowed them as they hauled me toward the treeline. But I wasn't going down without a fight. It didn't matter if they scratched and clawed me. I couldn't be separated from Maya. I'd never forgive myself if something had happened to her, because I had no doubt that Vivian and these rogues had come after me.

"Let her go! Leave her alone. It's me you want!"

Vivian’s laugh was high and sharp as it cut through the night, moments before a flash of movement burst from the opposite side of the playground.

It was Tyler.

He streaked across the playground without hesitation.

One second he was sprinting, the next his wolf form hit the ground mid-leap, a blur of muscle and teeth. He slammed into Vivian hard enough to knock her clear of Maya, but the scent of blood was already lifting into the air.

Maya's blood.

Blood sprayed. Maya’s gasp was wet and ragged, her knees buckling.

Tyler roared, the sound guttural, and tore into Vivian. His teeth clamped on her shoulder and he shook, hurling her over the bridge and into the black water of the lake below with a splash.

By then, my strength had faltered and the rogues were hauling me away.

I saw Tyler shifted back instantly, dropping to his knees beside Maya before I was pulled into the trees.

Tyler

“Stay with me—don’t you dare—” My voice cracked as I pressed both hands to her wound.

She was going pale fast. Too fast.

“You haven't manifested,” he muttered, panic flooding every word. “You're not healing—damn it—Someone help!”

I didn't have my first aid kit with me, it was part of my gamma uniform.

The sharp, pounding steps of Mountainhowl backup exploded into the clearing.

“In the trees!” Maya choked out, blood bubbling at the corner of her mouth. “Go—go after Renee—”

Her voice faded into the chaos as I looked over to where she was pointing. The rogues disappeared into the trees and I heard Renee's voice growing distant.

Oh, no…

A howl filled the air, and I looked up at the sound of much larger, more bigger paws on pavement. I knew that sound if no one else did.

I saw him charging from the street, body moving, bounding over cars, between angry honks and shocked gasps. I was shaken because everyone knew that it had been years since Dominic had shifted.

Gasps and shouts echoed from the sidewalk, camera flashes popping in my peripheral vision. I didn’t care.

Moonlight blazed from his claws, and the mark of the Goddess’ Benevolence seared into his chest, visible even through his fur. I knew he was coming for me. Knew he was coming to murder me for murdering his daughter, and I accepted that, but then he kept going, not even pausing to swipe at me or acknowledge me.

He was going after Renee.

That moment at the Confirmation Ceremony came back to me, and I laughed.

That… made a lot of sense.