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Mud sprays from beneath the tires of the ATV, and I lift my head to see the hunter hopping off to approach me on foot, two others flanking him. His face is obstructed by the night vision goggles he’s wearing, but I’m not looking at his face. I’m staring at the gun clutched in his grasp, the moonlight glinting off the barrel.
He takes aim, the leather of his glove creaking as he starts to pull the trigger. But then…
Growls sound out. Teeth gnash. Jaws snap.
Three wolves come out of nowhere and start attacking the hunters, but the gun still goes off with a loudBANG.
White-hot pain sears across my chest and suddenly I’m falling, teeth clanging together as I hit the mud.
But as everything starts to go dark, my viewpoint suddenly changes.
I’m standing over the wolf, watching sticky hot blood pool on the ground beneath its body and soak into its fur while the air around the animal starts to shimmer with a shift back to its human form.
It’s notme.
I’m… dreaming?
My eyes pop open and I jolt upwards in bed, drenched in a cold sweat and panting so hard I can barely catch my breath.
It was a dream.
Just a horrible, terrifying dream.
A dream so vivid that it felt real, but itwasn’t. It was a nightmare.
I ease back down onto the pillows, focusing on calming my racing heart and drawing deep breaths of air into my lungs.
I lift a hand to wipe the sweat from my brow, struggling to process the traumatic trick my mind played on me in sleep.
Just a dream.
Slowly, my breathing returns to normal. My pulse levels out. My eyes start to feel heavy again.
I’m just starting to drift off when the sound of a commotion downstairs has me sitting up in bed again, straining my ears to try to hear.
“Luna!” a panicked voice screams, and goosebumps break out over my skin.
Tossing the sheets off my body, I slide out of bed, quickly padding over to the door and pulling it open. As I peek into the darkened hallway, I hear the same voice call out again, louder this time.
“Luna!”
A door opens on the opposite end of the hall, my Aunt Juliet pulling the tie of her robe tight around her waist as she darts out of the bedroom that she shares with my Uncle Cole. They’re the alpha and luna of this pack of wolf shifters, and I’ve been residing here at the packhouse in Denver with them since I was seventeen.
Juliet immediately sprints toward the stairs, and I stand there blinking for a moment before taking off after her to find out what’s going on, my bare feet slapping against the hardwood as I trail her downstairs and to the kitchen.
“Put her on the table!” Aunt Juliet barks as she enters.
She rushes inside, but I freeze in the doorway, feeling the color drain from my face at the sight before me.
Three pack warriors are in the kitchen, muddy and naked like they just shifted from their wolf forms. Two of them grab sweatpants from a stash in the cabinet and start to tug them on while the third carries a nude, bloodied woman in his arms, dripping a crimson path as he brings her over to one of the large tables. He lays her unconscious body down gently and immediately steps out of the way, Juliet rushing to the woman’s side to assess her injuries. My aunt is a doctor, though she doesn’t typically get to utilize her skills on the pack since shifters heal so quickly. Instead, she puts them to use working in the E.R. at a hospital downtown, so she’s no stranger to providing urgent medical attention.
“Towels, I need towels!” Juliet shouts as she leans in to check if the woman is breathing, lifting her wrist to measure her pulse. “And someone get Tobias, tell him to bring his medical kit!”
The warriors spring into action, sprinting out of the room to follow her commands. One returns a few seconds later with a stack of towels and Aunt Juliet grabs one off the top, pressing it firmly to the woman’s chest and applying pressure to stem the bleeding.
“What happened?” my aunt snaps, whipping her head toward the nearest warrior.
“Shot by hunters in the forest,” he pants.
