Things fell together.
It had only been minutes, five at the most, since whoever was sent to the store left. Nowhere near enough time to get there and back. And Aidan, he was coming from the pack headquarters and he’d only just left. Even speeding, it would take ten minutes to get home.
It took me less than a second to put it together, but by then Mom was already screaming, and so was Marcy, and I couldn’t breathe. A chill took hold of me. All my training, all my skills were suddenly just ... gone. Terror wound around me, washing over me, and my legs; they just wouldn’t work.
Until ... they did.
And I was moving, running for the back door, and my breath was pushing in and out of my lungs in harsh pants.
“No!” Erika got in my way fast. “No, you can’t just run in there.” She grabbed me, her hand squeezing tightly around my forearm, and she began yanking me backwards, further away from Mom and Marcy and the house.
“I have to,” I shrieked, digging my feet into the ground, and pulling against her hold. Panic gripped me. Mark was already gone. Vanished inside the house, but the screaming was still screeching through my ears.
Wolves surrounded Erika and me. Closing in, circling. There were five of them and it took me a second to realize through my panic induced haze that they were the women I’d just been speaking to.
My wolves.
They were growling. Lips curled, razor sharp teeth bared. Their heads were turned, watching the house as they positioned themselves around me. Protecting me, I thought, but as I listened to the screaming, protection was the last thing I wanted. Marcy and Mom, they were the ones who needed protecting, not me.
“Go help, Mark!” There was no mistaking the command in my tone. The wolves didn’t hesitate, not even a little. All five of them lunged forward as a unit, tearing across the grass toward the house.
I started to follow, but Erika’s hands clenched tighter on my forearm. Tight enough to bruise. “Jade, don’t,” she pleaded, sounding desperate and scared.
I looked at her hand, the angle she was gripping me from. I took a breath, tried to calm myself enough to think, and as I let it out, I saw it clearly. All I had to do was twist to the right and yank and I’d be free of her. And that’s exactly what I did.
Erika made a gasping pain-filled sound and pulled her hand back, and before she could shake off the tweak I’d caused in her wrist, I was running again.
An overwhelming smell of blood was the first thing I noticed as I ran into the house, and then I noticed the screaming had changed to whimpering. I could hear growling coming from upstairs, and slapping and struggling coming from the kitchen.
The smell of cougar, sour, lemon, cat, with a hint of birch bark, hit me next. My nostrils flared and I let out a growl as my gaze landed on a man moving through the living room toward me. He was tall, and built like a flippin’ tank, and he was moving fast.
I didn’t have time to shift before he was on me, although with the way my skin was shuddering, I thought my inner-wolf didn’t agree. Adrenaline pounded through my veins, fast and hot, and I braced myself for impact.
But he didn’t crash into me. The man stopped just before hitting me and his hands shot out, curling around my neck, squeezing, and cutting off my air pipe. “I’ve got her,” he shouted.
I didn’t think, just reacted. I let the adrenaline take hold of me, and focused it all on my hands, picturing claws sprouting from my fingertips. I felt the rush as my nails lengthened and thickened, and as my partial shift finished, I took a swipe at his eyes.
He let out a feral scream and dropped his hands from my throat. I doubled over, gasping for air.
“You little bitch.” The growled voice hit my ears a second before I was knocked down, and then the man was on top of me, straddling my stomach.
I bucked up and swiped out again with my claws, dragging them down his neck. He struggled to grab hold of my wrists, but I kept bucking and moving, and he kept missing his target, coming up with only air between his fingers, as I continued to attack his throat.
Blood dripped down onto me. Onto my face. Staining my clothes. I could hear the wolves in the house. Scrambling claws on the floors. Growls. Snarls. Busy fighting their own battles. Mom was screaming again from what sounded like the kitchen and I bucked harder. I needed to get to her. I needed to help her.
The man took hold of my left wrist, slamming it down to the floor and pinning it above my head. He grinned and opened his mouth to speak, but he didn’t get a chance to. I swiped out again with my other hand and dug my claws deep into his throat.
His eyes widened as I tore my hand free, and his hands shot up clutching at the wound. He made a gurgling sound. My stomach heaved as more blood fell onto me, and I shoved him off. He fell to the floor, choking on blood that must have been pooling in his throat from the gashes and tears I’d given him.
I scrambled back and shot to my feet, expecting him to come at me again, but he didn’t. His throat ... God, I’d torn his throat wide open, and he’d stopped choking and gurgling. And he wasn’t moving.
He’s dead, I thought numbly. I killed him.
Mark appeared beside me, causing me to jump. I had no clue where he’d come from, my house seriously wasn’t big enough to sneak up on someone, but somehow he had. He looked at the man and nodded what I thought was an approval, and then he held a finger to his lips, telling me to keep quiet, and pointed to the stairs.
A man, medium build, sort of bland, with pasty skin, pale hair, and washed blue jeans, chose that moment to pull my mom from the kitchen. He spotted us, dropped his hold on Mom, and he moved faster than anyone I had ever seen. It was so quick that I didn’t even see what happened. One moment Mark was standing beside me, and the next he was on the ground. The man went with him, holding him down with his knee pressed into Mark’s throat.
I screamed. I couldn’t help it, but it turned out that my scream was the right thing to do. Two wolves, one gray and the other, light brown, came barreling down the stairs, and I suddenly wished I had screamed when the tank had been on top of me.
I didn’t even have time to think of shifting before they were on the man, tearing him from Mark, and as soon as he was free, Mark was on his feet. And the man was screaming, and kicking at the wolves that were ripping through the flesh and muscles in his calves and thighs.
There was blood. So much blood, staining the carpet and flinging onto the walls. But the man, he was covered in blood, too. His face, his shirt, and it wasn’t all fresh, I realized. It wasn’t all his.
Mark stood in front of him for a moment, watching the carnage. His face was blank, absolutely void of expression, but then his eyes flared. In a quick motion, Mark reached out, grabbed the man’s head, and twisted, and he stopped screaming.
The wolves let go as the man flopped lifelessly to the floor, and they leaped back upstairs. That was when I noticed that I hadn’t moved. Not even an inch. I was shaking and Mom ... I could hear Mom crying.
“Where’s Mac?” I asked Mark. My voice sounded calm. Too calm. I should be freaking out, I thought, staring down at a man I’d never met, another dead man in my house. But I wasn’t freaking out. I felt numb. Completely and totally numb.
“The other one has her upstairs.” Mark’s voice was growled and he was already pounding up the stairs.
I spun, about to follow him, when I heard the front door creak, and my gaze snapped to the man who was filling the doorway. My father.
He scanned the room, with a quick, thorough glance and his face twisted up with rage. “Jesus, Jade. You killed them?” His voice was scary calm, not matching his expression. “What’s wrong with you?”
I almost told him that I’d only killed the one, but I caught myself, and shrugged instead. “They attacked me, Dad. They attacked Mom, too. I was defending myself, my house, and my mother.”
His eyes went to Mom and they darkened with fury. My eyes slid to her, too. She was a sobbing puddle on the floor, halfway between me and him. I didn??
?t think. I ran to her, placing myself directly in between them, and I snapped my gaze back to him.
We stared at each other in tense, angry silence for a few seconds before Dad spoke. “I’d never hurt you or your mother, Jade,” he snapped.
“No, you’d just let your monsters do it for you.” My inner-wolf was snarling, begging to be let out, but somehow, and I really didn’t know how, I held her back.
“Jade, I’d never ...” He sighed. “Aidan, he’s not thinking clearly. We came here to reason with him. I swear. No one was meant to get hurt.”
I said nothing, because clearly that was a lie. Mom and Marcy wouldn’t have been screaming if that were true, and there wouldn’t be two dead men on my living room floor.
He must have taken my silence as some kind of an invitation because he raised his hands as he stepped into the house, inching the front door shut behind him. “All I’ve ever wanted was to join our packs, Jade. Wolves and cougars, and more. We could all live together, work together. We could be unstoppable. And Dog Mountain, with the pack living out in the open like they do, it’s the perfect place to start. I’m not the monster you think I am.”
I laughed, a shocked sound that just blurted out even though I tried really hard to swallow it. “Don’t lie to me. The wolves only exposed themselves because of your pack. To keep this town safe from your cougars.”
He shrugged. “Times change. We don’t care about getting our territory back. That’s not what’s important now. Uniting shifters is.”
“Dog Mountain has never been yours,” I spat, not even bothering to acknowledge the rest. There was nothing he could say that would make me consider letting my pack join him and his cougars. I was so sure of that, that it wasn’t worth the breath to refute it.
“It was.” He dropped his gaze from mine, and I swore he almost looked sad. And if he hadn’t glanced back up at me right then, I would have believed he was, but his eyes gave him away. They were cold and flat and unfeeling. “Over one-hundred years ago now, but it was. We were pushed out when the werewolves settled here.”
“I don’t believe you.” It would have been a scream, except that I couldn’t get the breath to make that happen. My lungs were just as numb as the rest of me and I was finding it hard to pull in any air at all.
Dad’s face flushed an angry red. “Look at what Aidan’s doing to us! Look at what he’s turned you into. A killer. Tiffany. Jared. They’re both dead because of you. And you’ve just taken two more lives. This is Aidan’s fault. All of it. He’s turned you against me.”
“Get out,” Mom said in a small, broken voice. “Just get out.” She was still crying, soft, small sobs, and she was still tucked behind me sitting on the floor right where the man had dropped her.
If Dad heard her, he didn’t let on. “Jade, I love you. Please help me. I can’t lose my daughter. Please.” He stretched out a hand to me, and damn, but I wanted to take it. For half a second I hesitated. He sounded so sincere, so desperate, that I really wanted to believe him. And I thought he knew that, because he smiled a little and took a hesitant step toward me as he continued with his plea. “You’re an alpha of this pack. You have his scent now. You can help stop all of this.”
I was vaguely aware of the others filing into the living room, and I thought they must have killed the other man that was upstairs because it was really, really quiet in the house suddenly. Only breathing and heartbeats and soft, breathless crying, were left.
I swallowed hard. Dad had that look on his face. The one that was always there when I was upset. It was the one that made me want to rush to him and jump into one of his bear hugs. But when I looked into his eyes, really looked, they were still flat, unfeeling, and my heart broke all over again.
“The women ...” My throat clogged up as tears bit at my eyes. I watched him, waiting, desperately wanting him to explain that. It was horrible, but at that point I thought I would have taken anything. Anything to make my heart stitch back together. If it meant that I could keep my dad and my mate and my pack. For that sick, twisted second, I thought I would have taken any explanation no matter what it was.
But he didn’t have the courtesy to look even a little sorry as he said, “I’ve been trying to change that.”
As it turned out, I wouldn’t take just any explanation.
“I’ve heard,” I said. Bile rose up my throat. “Wolves heal faster, right? Less of a chance of us dying on you.”
Dad’s face went red again, and when he spoke it looked as if it were a struggle for him not to shout. “Jade, where did you ...”
He didn’t get a chance to finish. A savage cry split through the room and Erika launched herself at him. She shoved him back a step and then cocked her arm back and punched him. Her fist connected with a meaty slap and he fell back, landing with a thud.
“Don’t you dare try to deny it you bastard!” Erika shrieked. “I was there. I recorded your meeting with Tiffany. We’ve all seen it! We have proof!”
Erika closed the few steps to where my dad had landed, and stood over him. She was vibrating, her hands clenched tight, and her stance, well she looked as if she were about to kick him.
“Erika!” I shouted. Adrenaline rushed through me — hot and raw. My scent gathered in the air, my imprint heated, and my inner-wolf began to fight me for control. My skin started to shudder, and I knew, just knew, if I didn’t pull it together, I’d end up a wolf and that would not help this situation. I swallowed hard, and forced every bit of command I had into my tone as I said, “Enough!”
I wasn’t entirely sure if it was Erika I was trying to command or if it was my inner-wolf, but both listened. Erika slid back a step, but never took her eyes off my dad, and my inner-wolf backed down, letting me take the lead.
“Why are you doing this, Dad?” My voice came out whisper soft, and I cleared my throat loudly. “The attacks … the women … why? I need you to tell me why!”
He held my gaze and his face contorted with frustration. “I already told you, Jade. I want the shifter community to come together.”
“That explains nothing!” I sucked in a breath, trying to rein in my building fury. “Those women weren’t shifters. They had nothing to do with your little plan.”
“Those women kept my pack happy,” he spat, glaring up at me with something that looked a heck of a lot like hatred.
My eyes blurred and prickled. It was in that moment that I realized my father was beyond saving. He was gone. Completely and totally lost within his delusional thoughts. “I don’t even know who you are anymore.”
“Jade …” Dad started, but I didn’t let him finish, because I honestly didn’t think I could take any more of his lies.
“You’ve still got time to run, Dad,” I said. “Aidan’s on his way home. You better do it while you can. He’ll know you were here and he’ll come after you. So run and don’t stop because he’ll keep hunting you. And you know what? I’m not going to stop him anymore.”
“Jade,” Erika started to protest, and I held up a hand, stopping her.
I glared at my father and said, “You have three seconds before I let her kill you.”
Dad’s mouth opened, and then closed. He wiped some blood from the corner of his lips and said, “You’re making a big mistake, Jade.” And then he shocked the hell out of me.
He shifted.
And it wasn’t into a big cat.
He shrunk in size, foot by foot. Bones broke, and wings, big feathery wings, sprung from his back.
I blinked and when my eyes opened again, a hawk hovered in front of me. He beat his wings a few times slowly, holding in place, and then he flew out the back door, which was still wide open.
CHAPTER 16
~ JADE ~
It took another three minutes for Aidan to show up after my father flew — oh my God, he flew — away.
Mark and I had ushered everyone outside, away from the death and the blood, and that was where we were waiting when Aidan drove up. He wasn’t alone. Car after car p
ulled up into the driveway and onto the grass, and soon our whole front yard was filled with pack members.
Three minutes too late to help.
Aidan got out of a car, so did Beck. He was looking at Beck, laughing at something he’d said. He glanced at the house. His eyes caught mine. He smiled, waved, and then his smile turned scary, somehow. It was all sharp edges and contorted curves. Forced. Wrong. His gaze darted to Mom, sitting on the steps with Marcy huddled in her arms. Then to Mark standing behind them with a hand on Mom’s shoulder. Then to Erika and the other women, who were standing on the grass off to the left of the porch.
His nostrils flared; I thought he was probably catching the scent of the enemy, or maybe he could smell how freaked out we all were. His brown eyes came back to me, and his face went blank, completely and utterly blank, except for his eyes. His eyes were filled with emotion, so much emotion that they were almost scarier than his smile.
“Jade, are you okay?” His voice was hesitant, as if he really wasn’t sure how to assess the situation. I was sure it looked a bit strange, all of us hanging out in front of the house. I was sure he could see the blood splattered on most of us, and Marcy and Mom were sobbing quietly.
No, I’m not okay. I just saw my dad change into a bird and there are dead werecougars in my house. That’s what I wanted to say, but what I did was shrug and my voice was all wrong, small and sad and weak, when I said, “I think so.”
Aidan took a step, and then he was running, colliding into me, locking me in a breathtakingly tight embrace, so tight that I couldn’t even get my arms loose and hug him back. “Tell me you’re okay,” he said. His voice was tight and growled, and his grip got impossibly tighter.
People were moving around us. Opening the door, going into the house. Growls. Voices. Some shouted. Some whispered. It was suddenly loud, really loud, and it wasn’t until Aidan loosened his grip, and I snapped my gaze up, that I realized I hadn’t told him what he wanted to hear.
“I’m okay,” I said, and damn, but there were tears in my voice. I swallowed hard and blinked fast, and when I tried again, my voice (thankfully) was stronger. “We’re all fine, but um ...” I bit my lip, and looked to the front door. I opened my mouth, about to tell him what had happened, and probably more importantly I was going to tell him that I’d let my father get away, but what came out was completely different. “I think we need a new bed, and we definitely need to rip out the nasty carpet in the living room. They’re both covered in blood and, um, there are kind of three dead cougars in human form in the house.”