Prologue
“How did they find out?” Tovlin yelled through the trees.
Panting, Nuke pushed his legs harder and pumped his arms faster, ducking and dodging through the trees. The smell of fire filled his lungs, dredging up a long snarl from the monster that had awakened inside of him.
“I don’t know,” he murmured. “I don’t fuckin’ know.”
Another stream of fire rained down from the canopy above them, and he huffed in pain as the flames got too close and singed his skin.
He didn’t know how they’d found out what he and his brothers were, but someone had. Hiding in the colds of Siberia to silence the animals hadn’t protected them at all.
A roar rattled the earth and Nuke hunched and covered his ears. Nothing he and his brothers had been taught was true. They weren’t alone, and now this thing…this monster…was conjuring the darkness inside of him.
He gritted his teeth and tried to swallow the snarl down, but he couldn’t. It was so damn cold out here, but he still couldn’t control the fire in his veins. He threw his head back and answered with a roar that shook snow from the trees.
The woods were on fire, maybe for miles. Smoke hung heavy in the air, but he could still see Tovlin.
“It has to be you,” Tov called. He’d stopped running and looked defeated. His dark eyes were somber and held more sadness than one man should bear.
“No. No, no, no, we can outrun this,” Nuke said, slowing to wait for his brother.
Tov shook his head. “Mine is too small.” He pointed to the sky. “That one is ancient. It has to be you.”
Nuke looked back, and the dark sky was lit up with flames. Their home was burning. “Donathan! Lev!” He bellowed, to no answer.
“They’re gone and you know it,” Tov said.
Nuke’s heart sagged to the ground, and his body shook with despair. Why? Why was this happening? They’d controlled the animals. They hadn’t hurt anyone. They hadn’t done anything!
“If it’s me, everything will burn,” Nuke said softly.
Tov’s eyes were filled with ghosts as he said, “Everything already has.” He nodded. “It’s okay.”
And Nuke knew what he meant. God, he knew what he meant and it ripped his heart out.
It was okay that he would kill Tov.
But it wasn’t okay. Not to Nuke.
“Nuke,” Tov said, making his way toward him. “It all burns either way.” A spark of rage lit his face. “You aren’t like us. We were smaller. You were always the weapon. You were always Nuke. Kill this motherfucker, and live. Live for us.”
Another roar rattled the woods, and the beating of wings created swirls of snow around them. Another line of fire trailed between Nuke and Tov.
This thing had done a good job of splitting them all up. Smart. He couldn’t take five of them, but two? Maybe.
Tov gave an empty smile through the flames. His teeth were sharper.
“Tov, no,” Nuke said. Down to his soul, he was mourning. Already mourning.
“We’re not burning in these woods, Nuke.” He pointed to the sky. “I want to go out up there.”
“I won’t fucking do it!” Nuke yelled. “I won’t.” He jammed a finger down the mountain. “We’re going to run, and we’re going to live. Both of us.”
Tov’s smile got wider and he shook his head. “No, brother. No more running. We go with honor.” The grin faded from his face, and was replaced by wave of darkness. “Honor me.”
Tov’s body snapped and stretched and reformed into something ‘other.’ Something terrifying to anyone but Nuke. Tov was gone, and he’d done exactly what he’d intended—dredged Nuke’s monster from the deep.
He couldn’t stop the change now. There was something worthy to fight, and that’s all his monster existed for.
As the pain rippled through his body, Tov bunched his muscles and headed to war. He beat his wings against the air currents and felled trees as he crashed his way up into the sky.
The monster didn’t care that Tov was his brother. He didn’t care about anything but destruction.
Tov had called him a weapon, and that’s all Nuke had ever been.
If it’s me, everything will burn.
No.
If it was Nuke’s monster, everything would burn.
And burn, it did.
Chapter One
“Anaconda shifter.”
Nuke gritted his teeth in annoyance. Asshole Amos had a tendency of showing up out of nowhere and tossing out guesses.
“What does it matter what my animal is?”
“Uuuuuh because there is a bet going on, and I want to win it. I’ll split the winnings with you.”
Mostly he wanted to eat Amos, but his curiosity was piqued. “How much is the pot?”
“Two hundred bucks. Even Ren took a guess.”
“What did she guess?”
“Tiger, but I told her she was superdumb because your growl doesn’t sound like a big cat. Plus, your eyes go weird when you’re pissed off. They aren’t the right color for a tiger.”
“Are they dark now?” Nuke asked calmly as he glared Amos right in the face.
The tall avian shifter ducked his gaze immediately. That’s what everyone did.
“Is it an anaconda or not?” Amos asked.
“Do you want me calling out your animal?”
“I’m a motherfreaking bald eagle. I’m awesome. Why would I care if anyone finds that out?” He waved his fingers at the sky. “I’m flying around peacocking all the time. There’s just no girls around here to see me in all my glory.”
He frowned in the direction of their King’s house…eeeer…their Alpha? Fuck if Nuke knew the difference in Murders and Crews. He was here for selfish reasons that no one could ever find out.
“I’m the last of my kind,” Amos said, leaning on the side of Nuke’s single-wide trailer.
“Congratufuckinlations. You probably annoyed the rest of them into oblivion,” Nuke grumbled as he took another stack of boxes out of the back of his rust-red truck. “Besides, you aren’t the last of your kind. I’ve met three female bald eagle sifters.” Lie. It was a lie, but watching the change in Amos’s face was entertaining.
“Wait, what?” Amos demanded. His eyes were all dumb and full of hope right now. “Were any of them blonde? Please God, say one was a blonde! Or two of them. Or three. Were they triplets?”
Nuke thought about telling him he was just messing with him, but Amos had been working on his last nerve since Krome had these old-ass trailers dragged onto the back of his property for the new Crew members. Besides, maybe now he would waste his time trying to track down a girlfriend instead of playing the guessing game with Nuke’s animal. “Yeah, all blonde and probably triplets,” Nuke tossed out as he muscled the moving boxes into his trailer.
He’d taken the mobile home on the end because, well…frankly, being in the middle of a bunch of male shifters hyped up on testosterone, beer, and bad decisions was probably not the best idea for his animal’s patience.
Besides, no one else had wanted this trailer. Krome had gotten it for dirt-cheap because it was falling apart, but Nuke wasn’t afraid of fixing it up. Plus, if rent was lower, it left him more money for food, and he was a black hole for that. Keeping himself fed and the animal sated was a full-time job. It was eight in the morning, and he’d already had three meals.