I drop my gaze and bite my tongue, knowing all too well how delicate and difficult it is to traverse loss or the threat of it. I don’t know if this guy is an asshole by nature or if all the stress and fear is bringing it out in him. Either way, it’s not the time or place to take anything personal. Grief can make monsters out of the best of us.
“Brice, I get that you’re losing your shit with worry, but we’re here to help. Watch how you talk to my mate. Do you hear me?” Ellery bites back, and I don’t know if I feel bad or grateful for his words.
Maybe I shouldn’t have come in here.
Perth told me to wait for them. I didn’t and now I feel like some intruder, unworthy of seeing this other den’s panic, pain, and vulnerability when I can’t do anything to help. Their emotions are as potent as smoke from a wildfire, and I try to breathe through the thick cloying sensation. I school my features as best I can and hope that the scent of my own emotions doesn’t cause more trouble.
Brice is still pissed, but he doesn’t say anything else. He simply turns and refocuses all of his intense energy on the pale woman in his arms.
Ellery steps closer to Zara, and a deep growl reverberates out of the Hemsworth brother in the corner.
“Cut it out, Reid,” the man I haven’t met yet orders. “You know he’s going to have to get closer to her, so stop.”
Perth releases my side and moves deeper into the room. He looks casual and calm, but I notice that he positions himself so he can intercept Reid if necessary.
Shit. Will it be necessary?
Glancing around the room, I realize that not all of the strain rolling off these men is solely agonized worry. There’s a fair amount of aggression here too, and my heart speeds up in response to it.
“This is harder than I thought it would be,” a large man with tan skin, a shaved head, and a thick black beard growls. “I know he’s the celestial, but he’s also unmated and too close to Zara. It’s fucking with me.”
“If you can’t keep it together, Milo, you need to leave. Same goes for you, Reid,” the man with the caramel brown hair orders, looking first at the bald guy and then the blond in the corner.
Ruger is suddenly at my back, guiding me over to a wall opposite the bed where we’re out of the way. The adjustment places me at the center of what I instinctually recognize as a triangle of defense. Ellery and Ruger are farther away from me now, but there’s no one between us. If things escalate, they could be by my side in a few strides.
While the other den doesn’t group around Zara, I can see from their stiff postures and the wary way they watch us that they’re fighting the instinct to encircle her and keep us as far from their mate as possible.
It makes me hesitant to breathe too deeply or make any noise and risk accidentally setting off this powder keg of a room.
“It’s okay, Noah. We’ve got you. We won’t let anything happen,” Ruger mindspeaks, and I lean back into him in need of some physical reassurance. “It’s hard for male shifters to let anyone near their mate when the claim is tenuous,” he explains, and I nod even though that confuses me a little.
“You guys have let me be around other people and haven’t acted like this,” I point out, thinking about the hotel, the clothing shop, the alpha’s house.
“True, but you weren’t in danger then. And you’ve never been as vulnerable as Zara is now. We’ve kept it together, but it doesn’t mean it’s been easy. After what happened in the woods today, you might see us acting a little more caveman than before.”
Ruger’s big hands press against the tops of my arms, and he slowly rubs his palms down and then up, the gesture comforting in the otherwise volatile space.
“Where was her initial bite, Ezra? When did the Fade start to set in?” Ellery aims his questions at the caramel-haired man I suspect is the den’s leader. Before he gets an answer, the sheriff swivels his gaze and adds, “Brice, I’m going to need you to move away from her,” as he cautiously closes the distance to the bed.
“Not a chance,” Brice declares with a glare, tightening his hold on the weak woman, pulling her even closer to his chest.
“What are the three of you not getting?” Ezra demands from behind Ellery, his hazel eyes focused on his denmates and alight with frustration and fury. “The celestial is going to have to bite our mate. It’s that or she fucking dies.”
Menacing growls resonate through the space when one of their own says that dreaded word aloud. Every single one of his denmates turns furious glowing eyes on Ezra.
Their anger scrapes at my skin.
I’ve been dealing with my fair share of shifter emotion since I landed myself in Howling Rapids, but this level of concentrated aggression is staggering. Their responses ramp up possessiveness and jealousy and take them to a level humans would consider downright deranged. I feel like I’m sandwiched between a slice of roid rage and a full-on psychotic break.
The room starts to feel like a preheating oven when their body temperatures flare with their tempers. Black veins appear and disappear with the den’s intense surging emotions. Everyone is teetering on a knife’s edge, and it’s becoming more and more apparent that, no matter which way things fall, some of us are going to end up butchered and bloody.
Ezra doesn’t back down from the challenge that’s so intense my toes are curling in my socks. What shocks me even more is that I’m not cowed by it or eager to get out of the line of fire. Quite the opposite actually. I want to engage. I want to push the leader of this den and his members even further, like I can taste the chaos in the air and I’d like a big bite of it.
Don’t let the intrusive thoughts win, Noah.
Ezra holds Brice’s glare before snapping, “Stop fucking posturing and let the celestial do what he needs to do.”
“The longer she waits for a bite, the harder it is for her to fight the Fade. I’m not a threat to your claim. My mate’s standing right there. Just let us help you,” Ellery tells Brice firmly, but it’s clear his words are for all four Hudson den members in the room.
For a moment, I don’t think Brice is going to listen. His shoulders rise and his fingers curl into fists. But then, on an exhale, he relents.
With a quiet, animalistic whine that almost breaks my heart, Brice gently lowers Zara. He drags a hand slowly over her hair, staring down at her for a moment before he slides out from under the covers and strides over to stand next to Reid.
“I bit her leg, the outside of her thigh on the left side,” Ezra offers, answering Ellery’s earlier question as if no time has passed and we were never on the brink of battle.
Ellery nods as he studies Zara for a breath, like he’s trying to solve a puzzle when he knows he’s missing pieces.
“How does this work?” I ask Ruger in his head.
“Ellery will line up his bite with the original. We don’t know if that helps, but it’s what the alpha who first fixed a Fade did. Since it worked, everyone else follows those steps to a T.”