Could he withstand this?
Ryan leaned back in wolf form, holding out a paw, and several dying White Fang members healed without him even touching them, their intestines sinking back into their abdomens, their flesh sealing shut.
I barely felt human. I was a hollowed-out vessel with energy flowing through me. The air around us crackled with blue lightning and my whole body shook. Killian’s grandfather threw his head back and howled, even though he was still in human form.
Claws slashed across Iron Claw snouts with surprising ferocity. Every swing against them was dodged and countered, all of them moving with blurred speed and insane strength. They tore members of the Iron Fang pack in two.
Killian growled and howled in determination. He began to chew his way through his enemies one by one, advancing toward the Iron Claw leaders. The two surviving brothers tried to flee.
Killian, humming with the blue lightning inside him, barreled through the crowd and onto Earl, crushing him beneath his weight.
The Iron Claw and the Valley Prowlers fled—and the White Fang pursued them. I heard horrible gurgling howls from the woods. I looked around for Fionnulla. She and her car were gone. I doubted she’d get far.
Liam collapsed and fell to the ground, eyes rolling back in his head. Abruptly the sensation of power flowing stopped, and I sank to my knees as sparks exploded behind my eyes.
Twenty-Four
Killian
The madness faded from me, and I shifted back into human form. I looked around to see a field of bodies. All Iron Claw and Valley Prowlers. None of our own.
Daphne was alive. I knew it because I still felt connected to her. If she’d died, I would have known. I looked around wildly, searching for her.
Ryan, in wolf form, was kneeling over a White Fang wolf whose throat had been torn out. Gage. It was Gage. Anger and hate flooded through me. Not Gage, not Gage…
As I watched, Gage’s throat sealed itself and he staggered to his feet and coughed and choked. His whole body shook. He stumbled, then straightened himself out. He threw back his head and howled.
It was a miracle. The power we’d all felt just now…it was impossible. I’d never felt anything like it before. It had given us each the strength of ten wolves pouring into us.
Through…my grandfather? It had come from him, I realized. He’d lent us strength before during fights, but nothing like this. He didn’t have that kind of strength anymore. How had he done it?
My eyes lit on Daphne, who was kneeling next to my grandfather as he lay sprawled on the ground by the side of the narrow country road.
“Daphne!” I shouted and rushed over to them. Daphne looked up at me, her face stricken. My grandfather looked shrunken, his face the sickly color of melted candle wax.
“Ryan!” I called and looked around for him. He was kneeling over Talon, whose fur was drenched in blood.
“Leave him,” my grandfather husked. I knelt down next to him. “My time’s up. Let him use his power where it can do some…good.”
Grief flooded through me. I thought I was ready for this. But now I realized I’d never be ready. “Don’t say that. Stay with us. Squeeze my hand.”
“I couldn’t put it off forever. You knew this, Killian. It’s my time.”
“This is my fault.” Daphne’s eyes filled with tears. “I’m a conduit, Killian. That’s my power. I somehow pull power up from the ley lines and if I’m near someone magic, it makes their power stronger. Your grandfather used me to channel enough energy to give you all of his strength…but it was too much for him.”
“You saved our lives.” Sorrow and pride swelled up inside me. “But it’s not too late. We can use your power to enhance Ryan’s healing. Ryan!” I shouted again, and this time Ryan rushed to me. Talon stumbled behind him, his fur still blood-drenched.
Ryan shifted into human form and knelt next to us on the ground.
“It’s no use,” Grandfather said to Ryan before giving his fading focus back to me. “It’s in your hands now, Killian,” he punctuated his words with a rough cough. “Rely on your pack. And rely on your mate.”
“Grandfather…” I held his hand tight.
“She’s a good one. If fate decided that you and she should be together, then it decided well. Love her. Protect her. And she’ll do the same for you.”
He let out a rattling cough, shuddered, and his breathing stilled.
“No!” I shouted.
