Dušan doesn’t spare Mad a second. He charges him, headbutting him in the side, throwing him off his paws. But in that same moment, the two guards snarl and drop to their hands and knees. A heartbeat is all it takes for their clothes to shred and fall away as their bodies enlarge, giving way to an explosion of charcoal fur. The snap of bones fills the air.
It happens so fast that terror sinks through me. My wolf rises in me at my heightened anxiety. She pushes to escape, to deal with this for me. Except that would be suicidal. If I let her loose, I can never shift back.
“Dušan, watch out!” I scream, throwing myself out from behind the tree.
The two guards are already on him, the fight suddenly three against one.
Anger flares over me, my body heating with the rage of them all turning on him. Of course they wouldn’t make this a fair fight.
I rush toward them and snatch the first rock I lay my sights on, something the size of my fist, then I grab a short, thick branch.
My brain is numb from the horrendous, cruel sounds of their barbaric brawl. My head spins, but they all leap at one another, taking bites at Dušan. They move with tremendous speed.
The sight of my soulmate butchered will haunt me forever. I suck in shaky breaths and with all my strength, I hurl a rock at one of the guard wolves offering me a clear view of his side.
Thump.
It smacks right into his head, just below his ear, hard enough that it knocks him off Dušan. He teeters on his feet, then shakes his head. But I don’t waste a second and sprint toward him.
My knees tremble as I rush to him. Before he reacts, I jab the pointy end of my stick right at his ribs. With all my weight behind me, I drive the branch into him, piercing skin. It sinks in deeper than I expect.
He yelps and flinches away from me, sucking the branch right out of my hands, still jabbed between his ribs. His cries add to the chaotic sounds flooding the air. He collapses and starts transforming back into his human form, already passed out.
I turn to the fight, where I notice now it’s only Dušan on top of the guard, but Mad has slipped from the fight. My heart speeds up. Where the hell is he?
A sudden, loud whistle carves through the sounds. My head swings toward the back of the fortress.
Mad stands about fifteen feet away, naked, his body covered in bitemarks and bruises. He’s now holding the rifle the other guard carried. The butt is tucked into the pocket against his shoulder, one hand gripping the stock, and the other on the trigger. He’s pointing at Dušan.
Darkness sweeps over me, stealing all my thoughts… taking everything but the ringing of the gun firing.
I scream, catapulting myself toward Dušan. “Run!”
My heart thunders as my world dissolves and moves too fucking slow for me to ever reach him in time.
The bullet strikes Dušan right in the chest with such strength, it throws him backward. He hits the ground with a heavy thump. The guard next to him throws himself to the ground, barely missed by the bullet.
My insides shatter like glass, and I’m at his side in a flash. Dropping to my knees, I cry out, “Dušan, please tell me you’re okay! Please.”
So much blood pours from his chest where he got shot. I can’t even see the bullet in the tangle of blood and fur.
His eyes are glassy and he’s looking up at me.
Tears run down my cheeks. I’m breaking apart. “Y-You h-have to heal.” I hiccup my breaths, hating the feeling coming over me. I’ll lose him. And the emptiness I lived with all my life rushes forward.
The hurt, the agonizing despair, the constant battle to make it through another day. All those feelings are tangled in a knot, swelling inside me.
He’s still breathing, drawing in rugged, hissing breaths.
I’m sobbing uncontrollably as his body changes back to his human form.
Lying before me is my Dušan, trembling, curled on his side. Deep gash wounds cover his body, just as they did on Mad. I press my hands to his chest to stop the bleeding. His mouth moves, but no words come out.
“Just hold on. You’ll heal. It’s what wolves do. Please don’t leave me. Don’t you dare, Dušan.”
Blood seeps between my fingers, riveting down my hand and splattering into the soil.
He needs help.
“Hold on.” My pleading slips past my lips as more tears fall.
Suddenly, someone grabs my hair and yanks me backward.
I cry out, reaching back to free my hair, my feet moving with the motion, all the while, my heart thundering.
“It’s over. He’s dead and you are mine.” Mad’s hoarse words tear over me.
I can’t breathe from the anger crashing into me. My lungs tighten, as do my muscles. And I can’t stop looking at Dušan, but I don’t know if his ability can heal a bullet wound. He’s on the ground, in a pool of blood.
This is too fucking much. I scream and shake violently.
I’ve lost everything once already, and I won’t let someone take it from me again. I thrust and buck against Mad, my hands clawing at his grip on my hair. But on the inside, I’m dying at Dušan being left to die.
My entire body pulses with adrenaline.
With it comes a hatred that rages inside me, beating through me.
I’m broken. I’ve always been this way, and there’s only one way to really finish this.
My monster lingers just beneath the surface, nudging me to come out, to be free.
She is my salvation, always has been, I see this now. And without her, I can’t stop Mad.
And in an abrupt moment of desperation, I open my floodgates to my wolf.
She doesn’t need coaxing and rushes out of me, coming so fast, her brutal growl startles even me. She’s a tempest of vengeance, and I set her free, well aware of the consequences she brings to me. And I don’t have a single regret.
I can’t live with myself if I don’t do everything in my power to finish this fucking bastard who should have died long ago.
His grip slackens as my transformation rocks through me, ripping me apart like someone’s taken a blade to my body, and then stitched me back together. The world sharpens, and for the first time, I ease my grasp over my wolf.
You are free, I tell her. This is all you now. I shudder, my thoughts constantly on Dušan. While the other half of me drowns in violent fury.
My wolf whips around without any encouragement from me.
Mad’s raising his rifle, his lips twisted when he looks at me, but my wolf pounces on him, shoving him backward. The gun drops from his grip as he shouts for backup.
A large form slams into my side so abruptly, the world tilts around me.
With a snap, my wolf bites right into the side of the guard’s face while bent over me. The ferociousness is stark and animalistic.
He screeches with terror, clutching the side of his head, batting me away with his other hand. I taste his blood, the metallic, coppery tang drowning me. My wolf spits out the man’s ear on the ground, and that grosses me out.
As I get to my feet, a snarl soars from my mouth, and my wolf’s bloodthirsty hunger floods me. For the first time, a new sense of confidence flares over me.
Lifting my gaze, I meet Mad’s eyes.
He’s backing away, his eyes locked on the rifle he had dropped several feet away.
And I dare him with my sneer alone to collect it.
My wolf freezes, watching him, my ears flat, breaths shallow.