Alpha Ebony places a hand on my knee. “Hey. They need your faith, not your worry.”
I don’t bother pointing out the concern I caught on her face during Alpha Pan’s part of the mission. She knows. She’s just trying to offer support.
But it’s not helping.
My wolf is frantic, pacing inside me, furious that she’s not there. It feels wrong.
Something’s wrong?
No, this is wrong.
I blink, trying to harness my panic.
But I can’t seem to breathe.
Alpha Duncan crouches in front of me, but keeps his hands to himself. A good thing because I’m ready to bite off Alpha Ebony’s fingers. Her palm feels wrong against my jeans. I want that hand to belong to Volt or Tieran or Caius. No one else.
They’re mine.
I should be there.
I should be helping.
Get it together, I tell myself. This isn’t helping at all. This is making it worse!
But I can’t seem to breathe right. My wolf is a frantic mess. She doesn’t like being separated from them. She hates not knowing they’re okay.
There’s a missing connection, a mental link that should be here that isn’t.
“Clove.” Alpha Duncan’s tone is stern, forcing me to look at him. His Alpha energy pours over me, demanding focus.
I avert my gaze, but my wolf is listening to him, craving that dominant air. It’s not the right male or the right wolf, but she hears the authority in his tone. She knows he’s safe. She trusts him.
She trusts Alpha Ebony, too.
It’s an interesting sensation, having faith in wolves I’ve really only just met. But I’m doing what Tieran told me to do—I’m listening to my wolf.
“Alpha Tieran’s our Pack Alpha for a reason,” Alpha Duncan says, his voice softening a little, but still holding that steel edge. “He’s the best at what he does and he has a team with him that’s been training for this opportunity for seven years. I’m more worried about how much blood they’re going to spill than—”
The ground vibrates beneath us as an explosion sounds in the distance.
Alpha Ebony is on her feet in a second with Alpha Duncan right beside her.
“What the fuck was that?” she demands.
Alpha Duncan starts pulling up island footage, searching for the cause.
Only for the screens to go black.
No.
Not the screens.
The whole damn room.
My wolf reacts, throwing me to the floor as another Boom! rocks the foundation.
Alpha Ebony snarls, causing my wolf to whine inside me.
I scurry backward into a corner, driven by my wolf’s instincts rather than my own.
The door crashes open on the next breath, a bullet whizzing through the air and going straight into Alpha Duncan’s head.
I’m frozen.
Shocked.
Not understanding how I can see until I realize my wolf is looking through my eyes.
I haven’t shifted but she’s entirely taken over my human form, protecting us both while my mind catches up with what’s happening.
I try to meet her halfway, to share control when all hell breaks loose in the room.
The assailants have silver.
Alpha Duncan is dead.
Alpha Ebony is shot next, her scream sending a shockwave down my spine.
Run. Run. Run.
My wolf is already moving, using our speed and small size to escape the room as Alpha Edwin tackles the intruder into the hallway wall. The gun goes flying.
But I don’t stop.
I’m sprinting.
I know the way into the den.
It’s safe there.
Safer than here.
I reach the end of the hall and take a left, barreling straight into a hard chest.
The familiar scent of home hits me square in the gut, my gaze darting upward to meet a pair of familiar hazel eyes.
Now I know why I couldn’t find my father on those surveillance tapes.
Because he’s here.
On Carnage Island.
And he has a silver knife pressed up against my throat.
30
VOLT
Tieran gestures for me to lead, aware that this is my sort of playground.
I take point, using my nose to lead the way. We’ve already doused our scent in mud, using defacing leaves and other woodsy items to make us smell more like the forest around us and less like Carnage Wolves.
But a strong shifter will be able to scent us coming.
Which is why we keep a good distance between us with me leading about twenty-five yards ahead.
It’ll make it seem like I’m a one off at first, potentially encouraging any enforcer-types in the area to attack.
I have two guns loaded with silver bullets and over a dozen knives tucked into various places in my jeans.
One ballsy shifter won’t be an issue.
Fuck, I could probably easily take down a dozen enforcer-types in my current mood.
I move on silent feet, my boots barely touching the ground as I run through the trees. They’re as familiar to me as the island.
Because Drone technology is fucking amazing.
I’ve never actually been here, but I’m navigating the land as though I own it.
All those years of studying are finally paying off.
I palm a blade, aware I’m about to pass into monitored territory.
A rustle to my left is all I need. I throw the knife, lodging it into a black wolf’s throat. His snarl turns into a breathy whimper that calls to the demons inside of me.
Death, I think, inhaling. Sweet. Beautiful. Death.
That silver will keep him from healing.
He’ll be gone in five minutes tops.
Too bad I can’t stick around to watch.
I take down two more wolves in a similar sequence, then dart forward toward the first security hut. The Nantahala Pack only has about twelve wolves on rotating duty per shift—another fun fact learned by the drones.
Two wolves are waiting for me there.
Well, not waiting.
They’re fucking chuckling at something on the television, oblivious to the lethal energy behind them.
“Seriously,” I say. “Killing you is almost a favor to wolf kind.”
I use my gun this time, taking them out before they even turn.
“Fucking idiots,” I mutter, entirely unimpressed.
Until I realize there are four Nantahala Wolves trying to sneak up behind me.
No. Five.
I grin, turning to engage them.
But Caius and Tieran are already taking them down with a round of well-placed bullets.