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Terrified, Kade looks into the woman’s eyes as she kneels in front of him and sees himself in their reflection. He’s no longer a boy, but a blood-stained, gangly dog. He whimpers, trying to back away from the sight, this lie, but the woman snatches his scruff and hauls him into the air again.
“Werewolf!” she shrieks, horror and malice leaking from her every pore. “Abomination! You will suffer for what you’ve done!” Her free hand curls in on itself, a ball of energy forming in her palm. “I curse you, creature!” she roars, then slams the energy into his chest.
Blistering pain explodes inside him, filling his veins with lava-like intensity. He tries to scream, but the only thing that comes out is a garbled yelp.
Suddenly the front door flies open, and a dark figure is silhouetted by a flash of blinding lighting.
“No!” the woman gasps, dropping Kade and taking an unsteady step back.
Kade has only a brief glimpse of the man cast in shadows as he steps over the threshold.
“What have you done?” the voice snarls.
Kade doesn’t stick around to hear more. With his body freed he scampers onto his paws and runs for the back door. He can hear crashing behind him, splintering wood and breaking glass. The woman screaming, the man roaring, but everything fades as he bursts through the back door and into the raging storm.
The forest behind the house seems to reach out and attack him, branches scraping his face and eyes. Leaves and pine needles get stuck on his blood-soaked body as he runs blindly for his life. He doesn’t look back. He can’t. Not now, not ever. She’ll catch him again if he does. She’ll catch him and finish what she started.
Kade’s chest hurts so bad that it’s throbbing with every pained step he takes. Scars like lightning bloom from where she touched him, scars that pulsate with her dark magic.
Kade burststhrough the door of Guy’s compound so hard that his body rolls across the floor on impact.
Guy is at his desk in the corner of the dark room. He jumps up so fast that the desk topples, scattering paperwork and computer parts everywhere. Guy leaps over the mess in one swift jump and runs across the empty room to slide to his knees in front of Kade. His hands grip Kade’s massive wolven head and steadies him.
Kade’s eyes are wild, his breathing rapid and pained. There's a blue glow emanating from his chest, pulsating with power.
Guy looks at it, parting the fur and frowning and the mark the witch gave him all those years ago, the scar that has never glowed since the day she cursed him. Guy touches the scar and draws his hand back with a pained hiss.
Kade whimpers, leaning his head towards Guy and pressing himself against his chest.
Guy gently strokes Kade’s fur and releases a heavy sigh.
“What have you done?”
Kade freezes. The memory of the man breaking down the door, those same words coming out of his mouth all those years ago, pierces the panic and terror.
All this time, was it Guy that saved him then, too?
22
Elara
Elara leans against the wall of the corridor she’s in, watching the door of the lab further down. The class is about to finish. Which means Kade will be coming out any moment.
And this time, she’s going to get him to talk.
She adjusts the books she’s holding as she frowns. Denzel and his pack have been watching Kade for almost two weeks, and all he does is go to college and then home. As far as the wolves can tell, he's not even following Elara anymore, and she's as relieved as she is frustrated. Why, when she finally has backup, does he suddenly back off?
Not only does it make her look crazy, but it also means he’s not doing anything suspicious.
So now she’s stalking him, determined to get answers. She’s already tried to accidentally bump into him a couple of times, but he never seems to see her, then side steps at the last second. As if he knew she was there all along. And each time she tries to start a conversation, he simply turns around and walks the other way.
He’s the most infuriating guy she’s ever met! It’s likehe’savoidingher!
The first students filter out of the lab and Elara waits, nervous energy pulsing up through her legs. Kade’s always the last to leave. Always alone. She’s been following him long enough to know that.
The bulk of the students exit, one girl laughing loudly, and Elara knows it’s time to move. Hitching up the books she’s carrying, she walks forward, smiling at anyone who bothers to make eye contact. She’s just a girl, walking to class, toting the stack of reading material she just got from the library.
The trickle of students dries up and she holds her breath, knowing Kade will be next. She has to get the timing just right.
