92

Wyatt fought well until one wolf attacked from his blind side. I sucked in a breath as his flesh tore away, leaving a bloody gash. Wyatt yowled, and the second feral took the opening. It grabbed Wyatt by his throat and slung him into the pond.

Instantly thrashing to the surface back in his human form, Wyatt let out a bloodcurdling scream as the wolfsbane soaked into his skin. The wolves on the edge of the pond looked on in silence as Wyatt gagged and spat the poisoned water from his mouth. My nails dug into my palms as I watched him struggle. I was begging him, in hushed whispers, to swim to the edge.

“Swim, Wyatt. You have to swim. Hurry.”

If he heard me, he made no attempt to do what I wanted. His arms slowed, and I saw the pain in his face turn to agony, then he began to slip under. His body succumbed to the poison. I was about to watch Wyatt drown right in front of me.

The thought sent a jolt of terror and heartache through me. I shuddered and hit my knees, watching him give a few final kicks before slipping under the surface.

As his face slipped under, his eyes found me. There was the briefest moment of connection between us, and then he was gone. The scream that burst from my throat was like no sound I’d ever made in my life. My wolf, suddenly stronger than she’d been in years, roared, combining her voice with mine. Even the feral shifters flinched at the sound that howled out of me.

Years of control slipped. Barriers I’d built in my mind cracked and snapped apart. The panic at seeing Wyatt in trouble had broken my wolf’s deep slumber. In a second, something that hadn’t happened in a long time began to descend on my body. I shifted in a burst of pain and newfound power. Even as I changed, I realized something was different. My wolf was stronger than she’d been the last time. It had been years, and during that time, she’d become much more powerful.

Before I could register what had truly happened to me, I was leaping into the pond. My powerful legs propelled me nearly the entire thirty feet to the edge. I splashed into the water, yelping in pain as the wolfsbane soaked through my fur. The pain was secondary. The only thing I could think of was getting to Wyatt.

Diving under the water, I found him. The poison burned my eyes like fire, but I paddled to him and latched onto his collar as I kicked to the surface.

Keeping my teeth on Wyatt’s shirt, I paddled to the edge of the pond as fast as I could. The ferals were growling and snarling at me, their lips peeled back, their teeth bared. My body was already not operating properly. My legs were strangely heavy, and my feet did not want to paddle. My jaws were growing weak. If I didn’t get to the shore soon, Wyatt and I would die.

Before my strength gave out, my paws found the ground, and I half-dragged, half-pushed Wyatt onto the shore away from the water. He was still breathing when I faced the ferals. I wasn’t sure how good I’d be in a fight, but I had no choice.

More barks and howls came from the jungle. More wolves were on the way. I had no way of knowing if they were the alphas or more ferals. My wolf didn’t care. She was seething with anger and bloodlust, the likes of which I’d never known. Even as my body struggled against the poisoned water that had soaked into it, she was preparing to tear her enemies limb from limb. When I looked deep into our mind, all I could see was her desire to protect Wyatt. Nothing else.

Sensing their chance was slipping away, the two ferals bolted toward me. I used my body to block Wyatt’s unconscious body. I stared as the two wolves rushed toward us, saliva foaming from their teeth, eyes yellow with madness, growls of rage reverberating in their chests.

This was when I was going to die. The two wolves would overpower my weakened wolf, I would fall, and Wyatt after me. Knowing this, my wolf bared her teeth and howled for them to come and do their best.

The lead wolf jumped toward me, clearing the last few feet. His jaws were open, teeth exposed and ready to sink into my flesh.

He tumbled to the side with a thud. A third wolf, a male I’d never seen before, had tackled him. The new wolf had burst from the jungle and attacked the feral. I stared in dumb fascination as the new arrival pinned the feral down and ripped its throat out in two quick jerks. The feral kicked at the mud at the side of the pond, blood pouring from its neck. It flipped over, falling into the pond and sinking below the surface.

The new wolf turned and attacked the second feral, who’d been as shocked as I was by the interruption. In fact, it was nowhere near ready for the attack that followed. The new arrival attacked the second feral with such ferocity, it barely had the chance to defend itself. Before I could even blink, the second feral lay dead on the ground, its throat crushed between powerful jaws.

The wolf that had just saved me spun to face me, and I finally got a look at him. He was huge and heavily scarred. One of the biggest wolves I’d ever seen, almost as big as Wyatt when he shifted. A thick scar ran along his temple, ending in an empty socket. For all the world, he looked like he should have been a feral, but the remaining eye was alive and sane. This was not a feral wolf.

Before I could shift to my human form and ask him who the hell he was and what he was doing, he fled. His gray body vanished into the underbrush, and then he was gone like a ghost in the night.