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And after my war cry was finished, I gnashed my teeth together.
“Follow them up the mountain and pluck them off the face of this fucking planet.”
The full force of the charge of our pack left me breathless. Women rushed by me, thrusting themselves forward in defense of their homes. Men stood by them, protecting and supporting them while the snarls and outcries of a war being won graced my ears. Carcasses littered the streets, but for once it was more bear than wolf.
And as I turned to Hudson, who still stood at my side, it finally occurred to me.
“Where’s Brody?” I asked.
The second Hudson gazed into my eyes, I knew it was bad. I ordered him to take me to my cousin, and we set off. The sounds of tearing flesh and crying bears backdropped our running as we sprinted off into the woods. We didn’t stop running until we came to a clearing on the outskirts of our territory, and the second I heard Brody whimper, I shifted back into human form.
Before dropping to my knees beside him.
“Brody, what happened?” I asked.
One of our healers massaged something into his wounds as Brody drew in a shaking breath. “I’m—I’m sorry. They just—they came up so fast—a-a-and—”
I shook my head and smoothed the hair away from his brow. “Shh, shh, shh, shh. It’s okay. Save your strength.”
“I—let you down. I don’t know what happened. It just—it was like the pack couldn’t—couldn’t hear me. Or—or something.”
I leaned forward, touching my forehead to his. “I never should’ve left you like that. I never should’ve put that responsibility on your shoulders in the middle of a firefight. I should’ve been smarter than that.”
Brody’s trembling hand cupped the back of my head. “I’ll—I’ll do better. You won’t—have to worry about us.”
I kissed his clammy forehead. “I know I won’t because I’m back. I’m here to take care of things for now, so all you need to worry about is—”
“Wait,” he sputtered, “you’re not going home anymore?”
I smiled softly. “Not for now, anyway.”
I expected him to be happy. Or possibly even relieved. But a sudden moment of frustration filtered behind his eyes. His brow stitched itself together. I could’ve sworn a growl bubbled in his chest. But just as quickly as the moment happened, it dissipated.
Leaving me with more questions than answers.
“Brody, are you—”
The healer interrupted me. “He’ll be just fine. He needs a life force to help heal himself, so that’s what I’m giving him. One more hour, and he should be just fine.”
“Life force,” I whispered mindlessly.
“Yes, life force,” Hudson said as he morphed back into his human form. “Us wolves heal pretty quickly, but if we suffer massive wounds, we usually need a source of another life to help speed up healing.”
“And if that doesn’t happen,” Dean said as he knelt down beside Brody, “then a healer can use their own life force to aid us in emergencies.”
I looked over at the healer. “Let me go get you some food.”
The healer smiled. “While I appreciate it, alpha, I promise I’m okay. It’s our job to do this.”
But then, a thought occurred to me. “Wait, wolves heal? Naturally? Without medical intervention?”
Levi slid his fingers through my hair. “Yes. It’s one of the perks that comes with being a wolf shifter. Why?”
I looked up at him. “Then, why didn’t my father heal?”
The guys fell silent around me as Brody coughed and sputtered up blood. But it was the healer who answered me.
“I don’t have anything for you there,” she said as she sat back on her haunches. “None of us really know what happened to Colin, which is part of why his death has hit us so hard. We can’t even honor him in the battle that fell him because we have no clue what happened.”
