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Shane bared his teeth. “I’ll give you a chance. Walk away now or my friends and I will kill you and your wolves.”
Nortrix laughed. “Look around you, Shane. What friends? The dozen around you? You know that’s not enough. You also know this”—he gestured to his wolves—“is only a small part of my force. If I brought them all in here, you all would fall in five seconds flat.”
“He’s right,” I whispered to Shane. “Calm down and listen to him.”
Without breaking his hateful stare from Nortrix, Shane inhaled deeply. “What do you want?”
“A formal challenge. Tomorrow at sunrise. Meet me where we met last time.” I sucked in a sharp breath. A challenge? “The winner takes it all. Both packs. And the packs will be bound to respect that.”
Shane shook his head. “Why are you doing this? You have to know our numbers are small and our lands are dying. We were about to evacuate.”
Nortrix nodded. “I know.”
“Then why? What do you want?”
“That’s my business.” Nortrix's lips turned down. “Shane, I formally challenge you. Do you accept?”
Shane stiffened, his arm rock hard beneath my hands. “I do.”
What? Was he insane? We were leaving, not fighting.
Nortrix nodded. “Very well. I’ll see you tomorrow.” He spun and walked away. One by one, his wolves broke formation and followed him.
Serge and his friends shifted and followed Nortrix. Another half dozen wolves did the same.
At least it wasn’t the entire pack.
When they were all finally gone, the tension burst and voices filled the air. Questions, comments, insults, screams all floated around like cold wind in a storm.
“QUIET!” Shane said, using his alpha command. Every single one of us felt the command vibrate through us and we all quieted. The witches and the vampires weren’t affected, but they too remained still. “Not you,” he whispered to me. The rush came again, freeing me from his previous command.
“Thanks,” I whispered back. I didn’t like he had to do this, but I understood why.
Shane stepped over a ledge on the pavement and stood a head taller than most wolves. “I didn’t want to use that, but you left me no choice.” He shook his head once. “I don’t care if you don’t agree with me, if you hate Raika and me, if you’re seriously questioning all of your life choices right now. The land is dying and wolves are getting sick. Everyone needs to leave tonight, even if it’s just to run to the Whitecrest pack. Or become a lone wolf, or create your own pack. I truly don’t care. What I care is that no one else is hurt by this mess. I’ll release you from the command, and I won’t issue another one. But please, do what I ask of you. Go home, pack, and leave. Tomorrow is another day, and we’ll solve everything.”
The thrum of magic coursed through the air and everyone started moving again. The wolves glanced at each other, talked, murmured, but after a few minutes, everyone walked away.
Everyone but us: me, Shane, Tyren, Killian, Lavinia, Evelyn, Ash, Almae, Dom, Vallin, and Roman.
Killian clicked his tongue. “What are your orders?”
“Escort everyone out and go with—”
“Wait,” Dom interrupted him. “I know you. You’ll tell us to leave and you’ll stay to face Nortrix tomorrow.” Dom clenched his fists. “The hell with that!”
“Dom,” Shane started with a growl. “Please, don’t test me. My mood is near to exploding right now, and I can even feel the forsaken Shadow Wolf trying to come out.”
Dom pressed his lips tight.
“But … we’re still days from the full moon,” I said.
“It seems I’m losing more and more control over him,” Shane said. “Escort everyone out and to safety. Go to the nearest town, rent rooms at an inn for everyone. Hopefully tomorrow I’ll join you all.”
“And if you don’t?” Tyren asked, his voice breaking.
My heart squeezed.
“If I don’t …” Shane inhaled sharply. “If I don’t, then just do what Raika tells you to.”
