His mind, his understanding.
To survive, Carlo had lost a piece of himself, and he never knew if he’d ever get it back.
That same touch reached out for him when he was with Nanshe, and he didn’t give it a chance to take over as it did before. He was determined to never lose his mind again. Perhaps he needed to explain it better to Nanshe—that it wasn’t her; it was what she held within her—but he was sure she would argue with him.
For her, it wasn’t scary; she knew what she carried. She didn’t understand what it did to him. Not really. How could anyone understand if they hadn’t experienced it? Yes, he’d lived his life wishing he could get what he’d seen younger wolves claim.
Romano was over the moon with Kalinda, and her higher magical position didn’t bother him. She was his, and she deferred to him when she could. His responsibilities had shifted to protecting her, but he was still the liaison with the Lombardi Pack.
Dominic had claimed Zoey, and the hard, crushing wolf had gained softness and a child with extraordinary powers. Zoey was a ray of sunshine no one could hide, and though they were still dangerous creatures who could be deadly, she’d influenced them all to take care of Encantado and the mages within it by any means necessary.
Pasquale, a hidden Alpha in their midst, found his place beside Giuliana. It was fortuitous, since Romano’s move had left an opening in Dominic’s structure where Pasquale could step in and maintain his own pack at the same time.
Even Heath, with all the wrongs he’d committed, had found his completion with Asherah all the while reuniting Silva with her sister and revealing the threat to Encantado. Lorenzo may have still been coming to terms with his friend after everything, but the two men were rebuilding their friendship.
And all of that didn’t even touch the power pairings created between mates as well as friends through association. Silva and Kalinda, Zoey and Romano, Isadora’s mix, and Kalinda and the Trinity Council. Encantado was filled with power mergers.
Perhaps they should have assumed something was coming. There had to be a reason for all of this, right?
Carlo snorted, scanning the wolves on patrol—each pair had one in wolf form, the other on two legs with rifles ready. If the same reasoning could be considered, Carlo connecting with Chaos—if it could actually be a good thing—would probably help out quite a bit.
Yes, he was man enough to admit Nanshe probably saw the power that could be gained their union. The issue was, Chaos already had a snap at him, and it didn’t make him better.
Actually, he’d been touched twice, and he was grateful it had corrected him the second time. Although, he wasn’t as clear on how that happened. Even when he tried to think about it, the memory was fuzzy, and he only remembered a moment of pain before he focused on getting Zoey and Dominic out of the Chaos Realm so they wouldn't turn out like him.
Try as he might, he couldn’t see the benefit of taking on Chaos. If he didn’t have to worry about that, he’d gladly leap at the chance to have a mate next to him, to know he would be sharing his life with the other part of his soul, rather than alone.
But he had no choice, and as tempting as Nanshe was, he’d have to get through this without claiming her. He couldn’t risk it.
He groaned, rubbing a hand down his face. He’d just be taking himself around a circle thinking about all of this. No matter how he tried to approach it, the one large issue blocked everything.
Chaos.
A sudden silence made Carlo stand taller and lift his nose into the air. It fairly crackled, but the other wolves didn’t seem to notice it. They continued walking, but he was on alert. Electricity sizzled across his skin—a warning.
“Ciro,” Carlo murmured into his comm unit in his ear. It was one of the changes made in agreement with the Alphas of the Moretti, Lombardi, and Moonstone Packs. Each group was on different channels, but they could key in and alert others if they saw danger. The sorcerers and mages were linked with Kalinda, who had Romano at her side if she needed to get to the wolves.
As another safety, they’d kept Silva with her, the Guardians watching the portal near Scorched Earth, Asherah near the districts with Heath, Kallan and Teague. Zoey was on lockdown with Isadora and Fabiana within the Lombardi lands with her guards and Eiravel and Cynes.
They were spread thinner than they wanted to be, each protecting their own areas and expanding a bit to encompass the mages, but the Renegades offering border patrol helped.
“I’m here.”
“Can you smell anything?”
Ciro was the best Scenter of his pack, called upon any time they needed to track. When he needed a break for his nose, he’d work with Giuliana in her vintage shop, but he was on twenty-four-hour duty right now, only catching sleep when the other Scenters under him were sure he was covered.
“Incoming!”
It was all the warning Carlo got, the comm loud in his ears, before multiple openings appeared in the air.
“We’ve got portals!” Dominic bellowed.
“Tell the mages to prepare,” Adonis ordered.
The comms were alive with warnings, but Carlo couldn’t respond. They were all under attack at once. Large, white masses bled—fuckingbled—from the portals, dripping down to the ground. Carlo raced to the front, ready to attack as the masses frothed and bubbled before shifting into tiger-like monstrosities.
They roared, and every wolf in the vicinity answered with howls. Cats versus dogs.
