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I kick out, fighting with a primal need to survive, and as I turn, I get a look at my attacker as well as a noseful of his scent. He’s tau, young as well. He can’t be more than sixteen. I expect to see the glazed look all captive tau have, but his eyes are bright and focused, his cheeks flushed from the exertion of using magic. Dark hair drips into his eyes, making him seem even younger, but the power he wields doesn't match his age.
Even so, my heart contracts, my gut too. He’s just a kid, and I don’t want to kill him, even if he is determined to end my life.
My indecision and my guilt cost me. I see the glint of metal from a blade before pain spears through my side as he pushes into the fleshy part of my flank.
Desperation claws at me as the man I was tracking flashes through my mind.
Where is he?
I want to look, but white, hot pain is spreading through me. Panic flares through my wolf as a shudder ripples through me when I realize I can’t breathe or move. Every inch of my skin feels too hot and yet cold at the same time.
I don’t know how I manage to shove the kid off me, but somehow I find the strength to kick my back legs out at him, making him fall onto his ass.
I’m not dying in these woods. My limbs are uncoordinated as I lunge at him, teeth bared, but the kid’s hand flashes up, and I’m suddenly flying before I slam into the ground.
My pants are ragged, my tongue glued to the roof of my mouth as I struggle to get up. Searing agony screams through me, as I struggle to move my front paws.
We’re going to die.
There isn’t panic in my wolf’s tone when he tells me something I already know. This kid is strong. I’m doing everything I can, but I’m still not holding my own against him. He also has backup. The other tau wolf is still out there, and I don’t know if he’s just as strong.
If he is, I’m dead.
I can’t fight them both.
I can barely fight this one as it is. I try to reach the pack link, but I can’t find it through the pain clouding my thoughts.
My wolf lifts his snout and lets out a desperate howl. I’m not sure how close Cade is, and I don’t hear his answering call before my body is racked with the agonizing pain of another magic attack.
I can hardly breathe, as it feels like my skin is being cut a thousand times. Every inch hurts. My wolf whimpers even as I scream within the confines of our joined mind, but it does nothing, and all I can do is endure the torture.
When it subsides, dizziness swamps me. My breath is loud in my ears as Dove’s face flashes through my mind, alongside a million regrets—things I never said or did, actions I refused to take out of fear, words I should have told Dove.
I can’t die here. If I do, Dove will be left alone and unprotected. I try to subdue my panic, not wanting my last moments to be filled with terror, and choosing to focus on all the good memories.
A rush of power washes over me and around me. The pain ravaging my body dissipates in an instant, leaving me trembling on the ground. The raw scent of magic explodes through my senses, overpowering the coppery-iron tang of blood leaking from my side.
With my strength quickly waning, consciousness on the verge of winking out, my wolf is unable to hold our shift. I feel the cracking of my bones and the rearranging of my body as I slip back into my human form.
The cold air rushes over my naked skin, leaving me shivering as debris from the forest floor digs into my flesh. I press a hand against the wound on my side, the other one forgotten as warm blood pools against my palm.
I try to look for my alpha, but it is not Cade I see.
It’s Dove.
Her milky eyes are staring ahead, and her mouth moves as she speaks words I can’t hear. Her outstretched hand is pointed in the direction of the kid who attacked me and the other I was originally tracking. He must have joined the party after I lost track of things. No wonder my body feels like it’s been through a meat grinder.
The other tau wolf is dead, his head mangled as if it exploded like a watermelon. The younger kid is on his knees, his arms wrapped around his stomach as blood pours from his mouth like a waterfall.
How the hell did Dove get out here? I left her in the cabin; she was safe.
She felt I was in trouble and she came for me.
Now, she’s standing between me and danger, something that makes my fear skyrocket. It doesn’t matter that I’m the one bleeding on the ground and she’s standing there like an avenging angel. I’m still terrified for her.
“Dove…” I call, but she doesn’t respond. Lately, she rarely does. Her hand twitches, and I know what’s coming next. I try to get to my knees, but I can’t make my body move. “Don’t kill him,” I croak out, sounding so pathetic. “He’s just a kid.”
I’m not sure she hears me. There are times when I think Dove is still in there, fighting to get out, but there are others when I suspect that’s not possible. They broke her mind—not the Order, not the monsters we’re fighting, but the girls.
