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“This way, Atlas,” Vivian spoke to me with her thoughts, shoving her canine face into mine. “I can see them over the wall.”
It was enough to move me along, and within seconds, I had the small group in my own sight, Bianca’s ever-present smell flooding my nose. The sight and scent of her almost brought me to my knees after all this time apart. I leapt forward—and froze.
An older man stood with a gun raised to her head, but Bianca showed no emotion. A blonde head faced me from the back as the pack crept closer toward the trio. For a strange instant, I thought I was looking at two versions of Bianca, as if she had somehow split into an alternate, dividing herself in a panic.
I shifted into my human form, quickly pulling on a pair of gray sweatpants that I carried in a satchel.
“Lower the gun, old man,” I hissed, ambling forward. “And maybe I’ll show you some leniency.”
“ATLAS!”
I paused, recognizing the voice, even though it had been decades since I’d last heard Jesse’s whining, guttural pitch. I’d never understood how someone could sound so petulant and threatening simultaneously.
“Jesse,” I replied without so much as a backward glance.
The older man faltered, his parlor waning even in the dead of night.
“You have no right to be here,” Jesse complained.
I sensed him coming up behind me, but my makeshift pack didn’t let him near me.
“I’ve come to take Bianca—” The words died on my lips as the second blonde whirled around, forcing me to sputter.
“Atlas!” Bianca choked, rushing forward now that the gun had been lowered.
Through my peripheral vision, I saw the unknown man slink into the shadows, his intent to run clear, but he was the least of my concerns at the moment. Bianca teetered to a stop as Jesse threw himself between us, but my eyes darted from her to the identical face on her left.
Twins. Identical twin wolf shifters.
I’d known that Bianca had a twin sister, but seeing twin shifters with my own eyes was still a shock. Yet even standing side-by-side, their faces stricken with terror, I could tell them apart.
“What are you doing here, Atlas? The Covale City limits are that way.”
I shifted back into my wolf form, and I smirked through my snout, licking my chops as I fell back onto my haunches, exposing the ripple of my underbelly.
Dahlia winced and withdrew, but Bianca’s eyes blazed with interest. Her breath held as she waited for me to make my next move. All around me, the pack circled, biding their time until I offered my next command.
“Unlike some, Jesse, I’m not restricted to confines,” I taunted him telepathically. “My empire is far-flung.”
“That must be nice!” Jesse whiplashed, baring his teeth.
He was fighting the urge to shift himself, and I dared him with my eyes.
Do it! Give me a reason to tear you limb from limb!
“You’re on my property,” he spat. “You have no business here.”
“They are my business,” I said, nodding at the twins. “Bianca Barrett is my employee.”
Jesse scoffed dubiously and looked toward the old man, but he had mysteriously vanished.
“Eugene?” he called out, the nervousness in his tone palpable. He whipped his head toward the sisters. “Where is your father?”
The hairs on my back rose, and I fell onto my paws again, ambling forward, teeth bared.
“Come along,” I told the twins. “We’re leaving this place.”
“NO!” Jesse screamed as he began to shift into his feline form, unable to contain himself any longer.
