93

Safe for the moment, I collapsed onto the mud beside Wyatt. My body trembled as it tried to heal from the wolfsbane poisoning. Wyatt looked terrible. Along with the poison and the awful injury from the feral, it looked like he’d sustained a lot of other wounds in his fight to find me.

I jerked my snout toward the jungle as more battle sounds reached my ears—human shouts, the howls of wolves, the hissing of vampires. A deep, thunderous scream of a ghost was muted by the ear-splitting screech of a banshee across the pond. I needed to get Wyatt out of there. The wolfsbane had soaked into his wounds and was preventing him from healing. I needed to get him to the mansion and the healers.

I tried to shift back so I could carry him to safety, but my wolf flat-out refused. She’d been locked away long enough that she wasn’t giving me control. I tried to focus, demanding that she let me shift back, but it was like talking to a brick wall. Instead, now that my legs had regained some function, I stood, grabbed Wyatt by the scruff of the neck like a pup, and started dragging him away.

It surprised me that we were making such good progress, with the pain of the wolfsbane still coursing through my body. With no clue where I needed to go, I tried to follow my nose. There were some faint scents that reminded me of the mansion. With no other plan, I continued dragging Wyatt in that direction.

After what felt like hours, I stumbled into a clearing and dropped Wyatt, my body too exhausted to go on. In the clearing, two sets of yellow eyes approached from the darkness. More ferals? With a deep and weary growl, I forced myself into a fighting stance and prepared for an attack.

Instead, the two wolves padded forward, and I saw Mika along with another that smelled like Gavin. Even in their wolf forms, I could see their bafflement at seeing me as a wolf. Their heads tilted in confusion, but they knew it was me by my scent.

Exhausted and in agony, I took one step toward them and collapsed. Mika and Gavin walked over and looked down at me, concern evident in their canine eyes. The last thing I remembered was the sound of The Reject Project theme song blaring across all of Bloodstone Island.

When my eyelids fluttered open, I was met with a surprise. Instead of the pearly gates, I was staring into the face of the mansion’s lead healer. The elderly witch tended to me. Still half-unconscious, I realized I was back in my human form.

The witch glanced down and smiled. “Oh, there she is. How are you, dear? Feeling better?”

I sat up slowly. I actually didn’t feel terrible. From what I could see, I was basically fine. The healers here were some of the best, after all.

Nodding, I said, “I do. Can I go check on the others?” I was desperate to know who had survived the evening’s challenge.

The witch nodded. “That’s fine. I think Mister Thornton is hoping for it, actually.”

Climbing off the bed, I hurried out the door and down the hall to where I thought the others might be. I’d thought right. I found them in the main sitting room. Despite the late hour, they seemed to be waiting for me. They leaped to their feet as I came in.

Leif, Garrett, Gavin, Mika, and J.D. were all there, but I didn’t see anyone else with them.

“Where’s Wyatt?” I asked, my voice coming out more panicked than I’d intended.

Leif stepped over and put an arm on my shoulders. “Calm down. Wyatt’s alive. He’s still with the healers. He was messed up pretty badly.” He made an apologetic face. “He nearly drowned in wolfsbane. It’s making it tough for even the healers here to help him, but they still think he’ll end up all right.”

“How did you shift?” Gavin asked, interrupting Leif. “I know you can’t shift. It’s never happened before. Everyone knows that. How the hell did you do that?”

Before I could respond, J.D. surprised us all by shoving Gavin. He put a finger against Gavin’s chest and said, “Back off, bro. Dammit, man. Can’t you see she’s exhausted?”

Von walked in with the lead healer. When he saw me, his perpetual grin spread into a massive smile. The healer hurried over to me and began casting spells on my remaining cuts and bruises.

I waved her off and looked at Von. “I’m fine. Send her to Wyatt. He needs help, not me.”

“She’s supposed to focus on you first,” Von said, shaking his finger back and forth at me. “You’re the star of the show. And what a star you are. You had us all fooled, you little minx.” He laughed and shook his head. “You have a beautiful wolf. To think you had us thinking you were a latent shifter when all along we had an alpha female here on the island.”

J.D. and the others gaped at me in shock. Gavin looked like he was going to faint.

I gritted my teeth and decided to use the show against them.

“Fine,” I said. “I want to use the mating chamber with Wyatt. Then the healer can be there all night and help take care of him.”

Von sighed and rolled his eyes. “My dear. The mating chamber is a place for steam, passion, and hushed words. The audience wants to see thrusting hips and tangled bodies thrashing in ecstasy. It really isn’t the place for bandages and sutures. Come now, surely you—ugh!”

I’d grabbed him by his tie and yanked him to me, pressing my face against his. I was too tired of his dramatics to check the alpha wolf inside me.