AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Yeah, Margo copped on to something being wrong.” Dorian sounded more like Nathan than usual. “We hurried back.”
“Should I worry?” Nathan asked in an urgent tone. “Should we stand our ground or leave?”
I didn’t know how to answer that. “I don’t know. It doesn’t feel the same.”
“I’m not sure either,” Vira said. “Perhaps he’s hovering on a decision and hasn’t quite made it yet? I don’t know why it feels so vague.”
“Maybe he’s not alone,” I said. “But I can help. I still have a connection to death inside me. It’s buried a little deeper now, but it’s still there.”
“You might not be ready,” Byron said. “I promised to keep you safe.”
“I won’t be safe if he breaks through,” I warned him. “I can help. Let me, please. At least let me see what I can do now.”
“Are you in control or seeking vengeance?”
I thought about it. The wolf didn’t feel angry, only protective. “I want to protect the people here. If I can do something, I should try.”
Byron considered my words.
“Let her try,” Nathan advised. “We’ll get to Eli first if he goes after her.”
“If it hurts you, stop what you’re doing immediately,” Byron said. “No questions or protests. Are we in agreement?”
I nodded. “I’ll be careful. I need to know for sure, and Vira can’t do all of this alone.”
“She’s not alone,” Byron said. “We’re all in this together.”
He left us to direct the pack, sending them to scout the boundaries. If we were lucky, Eli would see that and give up. Byron decided that the vulnerable members of the pack would remain on our territory under Amelia and Nathan’s protection. If we had the chance to go after Eli, a small number of us would take it. All we could do was wait.
Viraand I exchanged a knowing look less than an hour later. Something was about to happen. The wolf stirred inside me, hyper-alert as threads of cold death wound together in the air. It looked different than before. Some of the threads were weaker than the others, barely holding together. What was going on?
“I see it,” I said in wonder. “But it feels so different.”
“It feels different to me, too,” Vira said. “Can you tell where it’s coming from? Where it’s going to happen? I can’t.”
I walked around, trying to figure out Eli’s plan. The threads of death slithered across the sky, over our heads. They strengthened all at once, heading right for a group of werewolves posted on the boundary though it didn’t feel as though they were being specifically targeted. Had I lost my insight or was something truly different?
“By the forest,” I warned Byron. “It doesn’t feel like Eli’s focusing on them, but they’re closest to death so most at risk.”
“Then let’s join them,” he said grimly.
We ran towards them, but then the threads abruptly shifted direction.
“Wait,” I called out. “He changed his mind or…” But I had no idea what Eli was thinking.
This went on for a while. We followed death's target until Eli changed his mind, or redirected, leaving us running in yet another direction.
Finally, Byron’s phone rang with news from Ryan. He had found some harbingers nearby. If we were lucky, Eli was with them.
He gave directions. A couple of jeeps full of pack members, including Vira and me, headed over. It hurt the wolf to leave the rest of the pack while threads of death sought them out, but Eli had to be our target to stop the threat. We had to deal with the source instead of defending our territory. The wolf accepted my choice.
We met up with Ryan for an update. “I’ve been watching them,” he said grimly. “Eli is directing them. It looks like he might be teaching them. He can’t possibly see where we are from this far out, so I think he’s making them practice.”
“I’m not comfortable with how far away he can target us, though it does explain why this feels so strange to Vira and Margo,” Byron said. “Where are they now?”
“There’s a van parked about a mile away. It’s by the old gateway on the backroad,” Ryan told him. “Right now, about six or seven men are spreading out right outside this section of the woods, but they never move too far from the van—or Eli.”
“Less chance of witnesses,” Byron said. “Hardly anyone takes the backroad anymore apart from us.”
