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Chapter Thirty-One
Jasper
“Youknow,itreallysays something that the clans don’t keep track of guys like us,” Theo said, nodding at his companions.“All of us had our stones broken.All of us had our power stripped away for doing what came naturally to us.Once we weren’t shifters anymore, we might as well be dead, right Dom?”
“Liana told me she killed you.”
Theo puffed out a breath.“Liana lied.”
Dom rubbed his hands together.We were all soaked now, and the freshening breeze made goosebumps prickle over my skin.Dom said, “What are you doing here, Theo?”
“You aren’t even going to ask me how I’ve been?”Theo clucked.“I’ll give you the answer: shitty.I’ve been shitty, Dom.While you were cozying up to a new Alpha, I was homeless, in jail, broke.There were plenty of times I wished Liana had killed me instead of breaking my stone and then shoving me out in the world to survive.”
“I’m sorry about your stone,” Dominic said.“I know you hold me responsible for what happened to you.Hell, maybe I even deserve it.But these two,” he said, jerking a thumb at me and Micah, “they don’t have anything to do with this.Let them go.”
Micah and I were standing back-to-back.“We’re not leaving you, Dom,” I said.
Dominic held up his hand to silence us.“You’re on Twisted Pines land.You kill me, no problem.Some people here would be glad to see me go.But if anything happened to these two, there’d be hell to pay.”
“Actually, you’ve got that wrong, Dom,” Theo said, grinning at us.At his signal, three of his guys sidled up to Micah and I, surrounding us.“These two are the ones we’re looking for.You’re just a bonus.”
“Shift, now,” Dom said as his heartstone flared.Micah and I followed suit.Before he’d even finished his transformation, Dom was lunging at Theo.
Theo sidestepped, avoiding the snap of Dom’s jaws.“Getting slow, old man.Yeah, that’s right, just snarl at me.You know what the problem with wolves, guys?They’re animals.Shifters feed us all that bullshit about being closer to nature, being in a purer state, but you know what you are when you’re a wolf?You’re dumber than a dog.”
The rest of the men laughed.Dom feinted to one side, then the other, trying to reach us.“Why don’t we show them what a real Alpha looks like, guys?”Theo said.
Suddenly, Theo’s whole body bulged.Dominic stumbled back as Theo’s arms and legs grew longer even as his shoulders narrowed.The same thing was happening to the others.Unlike our transformation, which happens almost instantly, this was slow.We could practically hear their bones grinding as the men changed.When they finished, they were neither wolf nor man, but some horrific hybrid in between.
Micah was shuddering beside me, his fear and disgust pouring into me.I could feel Dom’s rising panic like a cloud surrounding him.With the rain pouring down like this, in the middle of the day, it was unlikely that anyone would come along the road.Desperate, I sat down and howled.
“That’s right, cry for help,” Theo said, teeth gnashing.At his signal, two of the wolfmen dropped to all fours, stalking around us.Their arms weren’t the same length as their legs, so their backs were hunched bizarrely.They had to turn their human heads up to see us, constantly twisting from side to side with drool dripping from their too-full mouths.
For a moment, I thought their twisted forms would be a deficit in a fight.But when Dominic launched himself at the nearest wolfman, it reared up with a balletic grace.Dominic had gone for a throat that was suddenly no longer there; instead he was batted brutally to the side by a sinewy arm tipped with claws.
He tried to scramble back to us, but the wolfman blocked him, licking his lips with anticipation.“Come on,” he said, dropping back to all fours.“Don’t you want to save your precious Alpha?”
Dom was on his feet, but favoring one paw.He readied himself to charge, but Micah and I beat him to it.We both leapt on the wolfman, and our combined force brought him to his knees.I tried to sink my teeth into his shoulder as Micah went for his belly, but he cast both of us off with a roar.
I rolled, rainwater spinning off my fur.I found my feet, only to realize that another wolfman was coming for me.I barely avoided the chomp of his jaw on my ear.I didn’t hesitate, going in low to take him off his center of balance.
But these wolfmen were more agile than I’d expected.I only managed to knock him off me.Nearby, Micah was grappling with another wolfman, and seemed to be struggling as hard as I was.Spittle flecked his mouth as he crouched low, growling, looking for an opening.
Dominic was fighting a third while Theo looked on, laughing.Dom looked exhausted.His sides were heaving as he pushed himself to his feet yet again.He was still favoring one paw, and there was a bloody gash down one of his sides.Disbelief pulsed through me.I’d already lost one father, and unless a miracle happened I was about to lose another.
The wolfman I was fighting took advantage of my distraction and lunged toward me, launching himself off his hind legs with arms outstretched.We rolled together in the dirt, and I yelped with pain as his claws found purchase in my side.Wildly, I gnashed my teeth at his neck and shoulder.The taste of fouled blood filled my mouth even as the wolfman screamed.
With all his strength, he hurled me away from him.I flew into the side of the truck, and my whole body exploded with pain.Dazed, I tried to come to my feet and failed.My bleary eyes focused on a furry shape on the ground.
Dominic.His body was too still, too splayed.I could hear two wolfman laughing as Micah barked and yowled.I tried to find my feet again, but my vision reeled and my legs collapsed.
Dominic needed me.
Micah needed me.
My mother needed me.
Edie needed me.
