Sin Undone

Which was why he’d been so okay with having cubs with Ula—she’d been pricolici, so the offspring would have been raised in the harsher world of the warg, where the males existed to protect, not nurture. Luc could definitely protect.

Nurture? He closed his eyes, but they flew open when Kar took his hand and placed it on her belly. “You can’t feel it yet. It’s not even a bump. But it’s there. Your baby.”

Something inside him cracked a little. But that tiny fissure felt like an earthquake in his soul. Your baby. What if he didn’t like it? What if he couldn’t love it? He jerked his hand away like the thing inside was a viper.

“I… ah…” He leaped to his feet, at a complete loss. Then he spun toward the door. “Do you hear that?”

Kar looked up, her expression filled with skepticism. No doubt she thought he was trying to weasel out of the conversation. “Hear what?” “I don’t know. Could be a branch dropping from a tree.” The storm had died down, leaving only silence in its wake. He eased cautiously to the window, but he kept his back to the wall as he peered out.

Kar pushed to her feet. “Do you see anything?”

A glint of metal against the field of white brought his hackles up. “Stay down.”

Kar sank smoothly to her haunches, her Aegis training and warg instincts kicking in. “What is it?” “I think the slayers have found you.”

“Damn them,” she breathed. “Where are your weapons?”

“You mean, besides the rifle and shotgun propped next to the door, the six other shotguns and pistols on the wall, and the crossbow in the corner stand?”

She gave him a dry look. “Yes, besides those.”

“I have a chest full of various blades in my bedroom, and in the metal chest downstairs, I have dynamite.”

“Seriously?” she asked, and when he grinned, she returned his smile. “Awesome.” He nearly laughed, something he hadn’t done in a long time. But damn, how many females actually lit up like lanterns when you mentioned you had explosives in the house? “I need you to go downstairs and keep quiet. I’ll see if I can get them out of here.”

“I don’t think so.”

“Do it,” he barked. “The basement is concealed—they might suspect you’re here, but even if they come in, which they won’t, they wouldn’t be able to find you.”

“Luc, I don’t think that’s a good idea.” She eyed the weapons near the door. “I might be pregnant, but I’m not helpless.” “This isn’t because you’re pregnant.” Humans treated pregnant women like they were made of glass, but even before he’d been turned, he’d known they were tougher than that—he’d seen his mother go through three pregnancies, working just as hard on the farm as his father had, right up until she went into labor. And warg mothers were even tougher than that, fighting and hunting until the day they gave birth.

“Then what?” Suddenly she stiffened, and a low, lethal growl rumbled in her chest. “Kar? What is it?”

“Werewolves.” Her eyes flashed, and her lips peeled back from her teeth. “It’s not The Aegis. It’s wargs. I feel them. A lot of them.” A block of ice dropped into the pit of Luc’s stomach. “Exterminators. The teams they send to destroy Feast wargs.” And then he felt it… a wave of violence crashing into him like a tsunami rising up out of hell. His blood thundered in his veins, his skin grew tight, and his joints stretched to the point of pain.

“Luc,” Kar gasped, and he spun to her. She doubled over, clutching her stomach. “I feel… a shift. It’s like I need to… kill.” When too many wargs got together to fight, everyone shifted, no matter the time of month, the time of day. Kar definitely didn’t need to be out there killing with her venomous bite. “Get below!” His voice was distorted, mostly snarl, but she understood and crawled down to the basement. With long, claw-tipped hands, he slammed the hatch shut and rolled the rug over it.

Lurching, he threw open the door even as his body clenched, on the verge of contorting into his beast form. The forest all around had come alive, was teeming with movement. On one side, varcolac, distinguishable from the born wargs by their varied sizes and colors of fur, and on the other side, pricolici, mostly dark, all massive, and ready to charge the others.

“What the hell!” Luc swung his head in the direction of the shout. Six humans—Guardians, if their wealth of weapons was any indication—stood near the river, in the middle of what was about to be tooth-and-claw hell.

Luc stepped outside just as the two warg sides met. The Guardians sprang into action, sending crossbow bolts into the fray. But one wheeled toward Luc, pistol trained.

Luc’s only thought as the bullet tore through his chest was that for years he didn’t care if he lived or died. Now he cared, but it might be too late.

The Harrowgate opened up to snow on the ground, blinding sunlight in the sky, and the clean, crisp crack of gunshots on the wind.