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Ten.
Uncle Cole comes around the table, setting his hand on his mate’s shoulder. “I’m sorry, Jules,” he breathes, his deep voice more gentle than I’ve ever heard it. “She’s gone.”
Tears shine in my aunt’s eyes as she turns to look at him, shaking her head in disbelief. Their gazes lock for a long, somber moment, silence falling over the room.
Tobias is the one to break it.
He picks up the pair of forceps, plucking up the bullet and moving it in front of his face to examine it closely. “Wolfsbane,” he mutters, noting the purplish sheen coating the bullet. He cuts his gaze to my uncle. “They knew what they were hunting.”
I reach out to grip the doorframe, my breath catching and my knees wobbling.
“Bastards,” one of the warriors mutters.
Juliet draws a sharp breath as she looks from the bullet back to Cole. “It’s happening again,” she says, her voice strained.
“There’s another bullet in her thigh,” Tobias points out, his assessing gaze combing over Amelia’s lifeless body.
I grip the doorframe harder, fingertips digging into the wood as I try to steady myself, my dream suddenly coming back to me.
A wolf running through the forest, chased by hunters.
Shot in the thigh, then the chest.
Bile crawls up my throat as I stare at the corpse on the kitchen table, realizing…
It wasn’t a dream.
3
“Wake up, Madd.”
Through the haze of sleep, a voice registers somewhere in the back of my mind, tugging me from the depths of my slumber.
“Madd!”
The voice is louder this time, closer. It belongs to my twin sister. Footsteps pad across the floor and a pair of hands land on my bare back, shaking me.
“You have to wake up.”
I roll over with a groan, blinking my eyes open to see Avery peering down at me through the darkness.
“Council meeting, now,” she snaps, taking a small step back and staring down at me grimly.
The sheets pool at my waist as I sit up, scrubbing a hand over my face. “What happened?” I ask, voice rough with sleep.
“The Denver pack was attacked.”
A wave of adrenaline soars through me and I jolt up, heart slamming against my ribcage and breath stalling in my throat.
Avery’s hand lands on my arm, her brown eyes meeting mine. “She’s fine.”
Despite the immediate relief her words bring, I shake her hand off with a scowl. The tension slips from my muscles, my pulse slowing back down to a somewhat normal rhythm. “I didn’t ask,” I grumble as I slide out of bed, bending at the waist to fumble for a pair of sweatpants I left on the floor beside it.
“Didn’t have to.” The corner of her mouth lifts in a smirk and she waves a finger between us. “Twin telepathy.”
I roll my eyes, snapping the waistband of my sweats against my hips and striding over to the dresser to grab a t-shirt.
“Where’s the meeting?” I mumble as I yank open the top drawer, grabbing the first one I see and pulling it on overhead.
