Page 115 of Chaos At Second Sight

Their scents end here.

My pupils dilated until every edge became sharp, a red wash tinting everything. Maybe that was how I’d missed the pool of blood at first.

“My brothers,” Killian said from behind. “We’ll find them—oh shit.”

“Her blood.” My voice went flat and my hands fell to my sides. My legs folded under me as I stared at something that belonged to my mate, something that should have remained inside her. My chest caved in with the force of my shocked inhalation.

Reality was dawning, closing in on me from all corners like an invisible trap. The blood, the locked door, the open window in the bathroom⁠—

A roar filled my head, my eye twitching like a faulty cable. “You no protect Mate. You failed! Weak!”

Lucien was right. I hadn’t protected her.

A horrible tremor tore through me.

“C! No! Control yourself!” our Beta yelled.

Callum screamed, shaking from head to toe. “Amaia! She—” He sobbed, clutching his chest. His bleeding chest.

A werewolf’s reaction when your mate’s⁠—

I scooped up some of the dense liquid. Still warm. Thick between my fingers. I slowly lifted my tainted hand to my nose and breathed in, smearing it over my face.

A growl rumbled somewhere, replacing all the other sounds in the room. In the arena.

It was from me. Within me.

The entire place fell into a graveyard-like silence.

Someone took my mate. Someone touched what’s mine.

“Mate is hurt.”

My chest heaved.

“Alpha, he’s shifting!”

“Get everyone out of here!” someone, maybe my father, yelled.

“Callum’s losing control!” another person warned.

“He’s just a werewolf, don’t mind him. Leave. Now.”

“It’s about to come out!”

I ignored them all. The voices became distant, every sound warped, muffled.

I embraced the invasion with a sigh, welcoming the incandescent heat and the explosion of my bones and muscles. Black claws burst from my fingertips; my vision fractured until all that was left was red and anger. My veins burned and thickened, crawling up my face. Fur tore through my skin, shredding my shorts and the last remnants of my human disguise.

My shadow on the floor expanded, two ears and a muzzle forming.

Hunt. Find. Kill.

I was possessed, stripped down to the raw primal thing the pack had always whispered about in fear. My chest was a jungle, my heart a drum, and it beat for vengeance.

For the first time in my life, I was grateful to disappear, to let the monster out. Because the monster knew exactly what to do: destroy anything standing between us and her.

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT