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“I’m going to circle around and approach them from behind,” Kane whispered. “Between us we can make a tasty wolf sandwich.”
“Tasty?” I mouthed.
He winked and dissolved into the shadows.
I stayed put and tried to decide whether he was actually planning to eat them. Who knew what that monster form was capable of?
The threat crept into the moonlight, preparing to offer support to their leader. I made a move toward them and hoped my presence would impact any weaker members.
The kulshedra beat me to it. Fire sprayed the shoreline, throwing up a barrier between us. I rushed to the safety of the woods as the scent of scorched hair burned my nostrils. Fur smoked, and painful howls filled the air. The affected werewolves shifted to their human forms simultaneously. They rolled in the dirt until the flames were extinguished.
More wolves burst through the trees. My muscles relaxed when I recognized the markings of Anna and Bert. Someone had alerted the Arrowhead Pack.
The wolves lunged at the members of the opposing pack while they were still recovering from the kulshedra’s attack. I lost sight of the alphas.
“We meet again.”
I spun around to see Jax approaching me from behind. “Sorry about the ear. I had to get my message across in the most efficient and effective way possible.”
He grunted. “I probably won’t kill you efficiently, but I can promise it’ll be effective.”
I tossed down my throwing knife and held up my hands, palms out. This was as submissive as I was willing to get. “Jax, this isn’t who you are. I saw what your alpha put you through. I’m sorry you had to endure that.”
His face twisted in anger. “I don’t need your pity.”
“You and West were friends once upon a time. He doesn’t want to see you hurt, even now. Doesn’t that speak volumes about the kind of alpha he is?”
Jax spat. “He’d kill me if he had half a chance.”
“Not true and you know it. West is someone who puts the welfare of his loved ones above all else. And he’s never, ever cruel.”
Anna cut through the trees in human form. Blood streaked her hair and face. “You good here, Clay?”
I kept my gaze fixed on Jax. “Undecided.”
Jax growled and dashed toward the shore just as the waters parted again. The kulshedra was back for an encore.
Anna whistled and the Arrowhead wolves wisely retreated into the woods. Orson’s howls carried across the lake as he ordered his pack to attack the bigger threat.
Panic seized me as his wolves shifted from human form. My heartbeat thundered in my ears, drowning all other sounds.
“No!” I rushed forward as they launched themselves at the three-headed demon. This pack had to be more terrified of their alpha than the kulshedra to obey the command. I couldn’t begin to imagine the type of leader he was. Arrowhead lucked out the day Weston Davies showed up on their doorstep.
I waved my arms from the shoreline. “She’s trapped in the lake. Retreat and she can’t hurt you!”
The kulshedra wasn’t acting out of malice, only basic instinct. They misunderstood the situation—there was no need to engage. Werewolves usually operated at a higher level, despite their primal side.
But not tonight.
Working as a team, they bit and broke and crushed the kulshedra’s body. The demon’s serpentine tail smacked two wolves clear across the shore and into the woods.
Every nerve ending in my body screamed for mercy. I had to stop them from killing her and each other.
Pushing through the panic, I closed my eyes and concentrated, extending my supernatural sensors to the spirits in the lake. I felt each and every one of them. Their pain. Their confusion. Their desire for peace. I fought to keep an emotional separation between us, the way Pops had taught me. I was their goddess, and I was in control, not the spirits.
I summoned them to the surface, to the aid of the very creature that had killed them. The irony wasn’t lost on me, but I was more interested in respecting life than retribution. I wasn’t a fury devoted to exacting justice, or a fate preparing to cut a thread. I was Melinoe, goddess of ghosts and nightmares. Yes, I had the power to create those nightmares.
But I also had the power to end them.
