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And surrounding me, moving in a slow circle, were dozens of Omega wolves.
“It’s okay,” a voice said near my ear. I turned my head slightly to see Ox still holding on to me. “They’re… they won’t hurt us. I have them. It’s… heavy. But I’ve got it. All of you are helping.”
Two people moved in front of me, crouching down. The brown wolf crowding my side growled angrily at them, eyes flashing, but he made no move toward them.
Aileen looked older than I remembered, the lines on her face deeper. But her eyes were knowing, always knowing. She reached out and pressed two fingers against my heated forehead. Almost immediately, the clouds in my head began to part.
Patrice looked startling against the snow and the blood that had soaked into it. His skin was as white as the snow around us, his freckles like little spots of fire on his skin. He was ethereally beautiful.
He was frowning as he reached toward me. He took my arm gently in his, lifting it up.
My hand was gone.
But the stump was on its way toward healing, far more than it should have been. Gone was the open wound. In its place was a mass of red scar tissue that felt warm and achy. It looked months old rather than minutes. He held my arm gently, twisting it this way and that as he studied it. “It’ll do,” he said with a sigh. “Best I got.” He set my arm down carefully before he looked up at me. “Foolish witch,” he said, not unkindly.
“You are lucky we were here, boyo,” Aileen snapped. “And that it was only your hand. She could have taken your head off with that thing, and where would you be then?”
“Headless,” I muttered, and heard Ox choke behind me.
Aileen rolled her eyes. “Don’t get smart with me, Gordo. I have had just about enough excitement for one day, and we’ve only just begun.”
I struggled to stand up. Ox tried to help me, but Mark growled at him. Ox backed off as I glared at the wolf. He pushed himself against me, snout nosing under my good arm until I lifted it around him. He rose fully to his feet, pulling me up with him. Vertigo swam through me for a moment, but it passed.
The Omegas continued to move in a wide circle around us. They kept their gazes on all of us, darting back and forth but lingering on Ox. They didn’t seem to be paying me any attention. It was almost as if I wasn’t even there.
Except for Mark. He stood pressed against me.
Ox was in control. Somehow, he was in control of all the feral wolves.
I shook my head. “I don’t know how I’m going to—” I had to stop and swallow past the lump in my throat. I tried again, voice rougher than it’d been before. “I don’t know how I’m going to be any use now. I can’t use—”
“Bah,” Patrice said dismissively. “Dat won’t matter much. It’s a hand, Gordo. Not where your magic came from. It’s in your marks. Boustabak. Dat raven. It’ll hold. You have pack. You have a mate. You’ll learn.”
“That’s not—”
“It is, boyo,” Aileen said sharply. “In the end, it’s not going to matter much. Not to who you are. Only thing it’s going to be a problem for is if you were right-handed to begin with. I’m sure Mark will help you learn how to jack off with the left.”
“Jesus Christ.”
She coughed. It sounded harsh in her chest. “Now that that’s out of the way, you gotta get moving. Those hunters. They aren’t going to wait. Things are changing, Gordo. Whispers in the wind. I can hear them. It’s not the same. Not anymore. It’s going to come to a head sooner rather than later. These feral wolves were just the first step. The hunters yet another. It’s escalating, I think. Michelle Hughes is going to tighten her grip. She’s had a taste now. And soon she’s going to know exactly what you all are capable of.” She glanced at Ox before looking back at me, a grim look on her face. “There’s never been anything like the Bennett pack. Or this place. She’s going to do whatever she can to find out why. And she will try to take it.”
“And the Omegas?” I asked. “The infection?”
Patrice shook his head. “Dat don’t matter. Your Alpha here, he’s got ’em. In dere heads. You can feel it. I know you can. Hell, I can feel it, and I’m not even in your pack.” He turned to Ox. “I don’t know where you came from, boy, but I don’t tink I’ve ever seen someone like you before.”
“I can bring them back,” Ox said quietly. He was looking at the Omegas that moved around us. “After. When this is done. They’ll… still be Omegas. The infected ones. But I think it’ll hold. Until….”
“Until you kill Robert Livingstone,” Aileen said grimly. “This is deep magic. Deeper than I ever thought anyone could go. We can’t fix it. Not until we know what he’s done. And if he dies, there’s a chance his spell dies with him. That’s what I got from Thomas when he—”
“Thomas?” a trembling voice asked.
I turned. Elizabeth Bennett stood nude, eyes alight in the dark. She was staring at Aileen, an indecipherable look on her face.
Aileen sighed. “Yes. It’s… it wasn’t clear. The visions never are. I see… I think he knew. That we would be needed.” She glanced at me before looking back at the mother wolf. “It was faint. And quick. But we—”
I couldn’t stop myself. I didn’t know if I wanted to. She had to know. They all did. “I’ve seen him. Before. At the door. And here. Now.”
Joe made a wounded noise, bowing his head, wrapping his arms around his middle.
