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The one on the right laughs again. He’s already figured out he’s not going to make it out alive. “I’d rather die by your hand than by his.” These guys aren’t giving us anything. The only reason we know they were looking for Ava is because there was a picture of her in one of the guys’ pockets.
I push off the wall with my propped leg and get closer to the men. There’s absolutely no fear in their eyes, which only means that they’re not lying. The hunters fear whoever sent them here far more than me or my pack.
“Let’s show them,”my wolf says, and a slow, sinister smile creeps over my face.
It’s been a long time since I’ve called upon my magic. The dark void where my power used to be is no longer there. Now, there’s a wealth of energy sitting in its place, waiting to be used. It takes me a couple of tries to get to it like a muscle I have to learn how to use again. Once I do get a hold of it, I know that I’m never letting it go.
“Benji!” Someone in the distance shouts my name, but I’m concentrating too much on what I want to do. The veins in their heads throb, their eyes get wider, and sticky trails of blood track down their faces like tears. They are confused, and when the blood begins to drain from the corners of their mouths, I can see the fear pulsing through them. I watch the crimson puddle beneath their chairs grow wider, and their screams bring me a sick sense of pleasure I can’t describe.
“Benji!” There it is again. Someone is not letting me concentrate.
“What the fuck? Leave me alone.” My body is calm, and I’m in a trance.
Tyler gets in front of my face, his worried eyes sparking something deep down, and I immediately stop. The two men behind my brother slump forward and sag against the ropes binding them.
They cough roughly, sending a new trail of blood dripping down their lips and onto the floor. Tyler turns around to look at the men.
“You just fried their brains. We can’t get any more information on them. I’d expect this from Az and maybe even Ash if they pushed his buttons long enough, but not from you.”
I take a step back, and Tyler gazes at me again, his brows etched with concern.
“It just felt so liberating to use our power.” I try to explain the feeling to him, to remind him about my personal vendetta against all hunters, but he crosses his arms instead, and I know he doesn’t want an excuse for losing control.
The rush of power vibrates through my body, and I think if he could feel this energy coursing through me, he’d remember how powerful we once were.
I want to push him to lose control, to feel the high of our strength. “Tyler, you need to try it and remember how it used to be.”
“Yeah, I get what you’re saying,” he responds dryly.
Does he really, though? It’s been one hundred years since we had access to this part of our body. That’s a very long time, even for shifters. I forgot what it was like, and I’m sure the others have too.
“You can’t let the power go to your head, Benji.” The angry lines on his face melt into concern, and my body sags as the adrenaline fades.
“I need to clear my mind. I’m going to step out for a minute.” Tyler moves to the side, letting me go.
I open the front door and walk out. Ash looks up as I close the door behind me, bringing the cigarette in his hand to his lips as he strolls toward me.
“You look like you need a smoke,” he says as takes a long drag.
“I just used our power for the first time today.” His brows shoot up in surprise.
“How did it go?” he asks. But I have a sneaking suspicion he might already know.
“I basically turned their brains into mush.” He watches me like he wants to wring my neck for making that mistake. You can’t get information out of a corpse, and losing the hunters so soon leaves Ava in an unknown peril.
“We still need—”
“Yeah, I know,” I say, kicking a rock on the ground. “But I can’t deny how powerful it made me feel. I. . . I missed it.” We started ignoring this part of ourselves like if we didn’t talk about it, we’d forget, but this came about when we bonded. It was something special we were given.
He hands me a cigarette, and I take it with quivering hands. When he brings the lighter up, I lean into the flame and take a deep inhale. The rush of nicotine hits my head immediately.
“I can see why you smoke a shit ton of this crap.” I exhale. “It sure has a calming effect.”
He chuckles, looking down at his feet before looking up again. “I need it with everything that’s been going on lately.” He tosses his cigarette butt on the ground and steps on it, and in the same motion, he pulls the pack out of his front pocket and lights another. “What did you find out?”
“They were here when the showdown with Krissy started. They’ve been running around the property, and I think they know about Ava shifting.”
“Shit,” Ash says as he looks at the cabin. “Why do you say that?”
