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He nodded.
I reached out and touched his cheek, fingers trailing to his jaw. He turned his face and kissed my palm. His eyes were bright, and I knew that if this was it, if this was the last moment we’d ever have together, I was loved.
“Now,” Ox growled. “Move now. It’s time to finish this once and for all.”
Kelly jumped on my back, arms around my neck, knees digging into my hips. His breaths were light and quick in my ear. I half-shifted, claws sprouting from my fingers and the tips of my toes.
Kelly whispered, “Pack. Pack. Pack.”
We leapt toward the wall. Ox and I hit it first, our claws digging into the stone with loud cracks.
We began to climb, muscles straining as we pulled ourselves quickly up the side. The others followed, and by the time I reached the top, everyone was moving.
The sight of the houses around the lake caused my heart to twist. For a moment I thought nothing had changed—that it looked like it always did, an idyllic scene of houses surrounding a lake.
But it was a lie.
Even as I pulled Kelly and me over the top of the wall, I could see the signs of battle. One of the houses had been burned to its foundation. Whatever had happened to it hadn’t spread to the other houses, though they hadn’t made it out unscathed. Windows were broken. The porch of one house had been destroyed. Doors hung off their hinges as if they’d been kicked in.
I jumped from the top of the wall, the air whistling around us as we hurtled toward the ground. Kelly grunted in my ear as I landed in a crouch. He slid off my back, wobbling a little before shaking his head.
“Good?”
“Yeah. Good.”
The others landed around us.
I was ready to follow through with Ox’s orders, to spread out and see what we could see, when Rico said, “Where is everyone?”
All of us stopped. The wolves tilted their heads, listening for any movement.
There was none.
“Maybe they’ve gone,” one of the Omegas said, eyes flashing. “Run away.”
A child laughed, the sound carrying across the lake.
“Goddammit,” Rico said. “This is why I never want kids. They cost too much money and also can be taken over by a dick of a witch and turned into killing machines. Fuck kids. Fuck them all.”
“Layout the same?” Joe asked me.
“Yeah. As far as I can tell.”
“Go, then,” Ox said, and I felt his power rolling through me as his eyes filled with that familiar swirl of red and violet. “Don’t stop until it’s over.”
We went.
We spread out through the compound, breaking off into smaller groups. Kelly and Rico and Chris fell in behind me. Chris shifted back into full wolf, while I stayed half-shifted. I couldn’t cut myself off from Kelly, needing him to be able to hear me. Rico and Chris were tuned in with the pack. Kelly wasn’t. I couldn’t stand the thought of him stumbling blind.
They stayed close as we moved between the houses. The quiet was eerie, the only real sound coming from the lake lapping on the rocky shore. Kelly stayed close, his hand grazing my bare back. He and Rico had pulled their guns, eyes narrowed and darting side to side.
The houses on either side of us were empty. The one to our left had holes in its side, ragged and small, and it took me a moment to recognize it for what it was. It looked like they’d been chewed open, leaving a space wide enough for a child to slip through.
Rico was right. Fuck kids.
“What the hell?” Rico whispered, looking around wildly. “This is some goddamn horror movie shit. I don’t like this. I’m a minority. Everyone knows minorities die first in horror movies.”
“No one’s dying,” Kelly snapped at him.
