Total pages in book: 65
Estimated words: 62782 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 314(@200wpm)___ 251(@250wpm)___ 209(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 62782 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 314(@200wpm)___ 251(@250wpm)___ 209(@300wpm)
Before I can voice my questions, Mom attacks the thing on top of my sister. It’s dark, so I don’t get a good look at it. Mom beats the creature—whatever it is—with her stick. It only makes the thing mad because then it leaves Hope to go after Mom. A mouthful of bloody, razor sharp teeth grin back at us.
“No!”
I clutch my knife in my grip as I charge for the thing now trying to tear apart my mother.
The memory is swiped away when I hear Cy’s voice.
“It’s here. I can hear it,” he bellows. “Stop the car!”
Even though our cabin is close, Judd slams on the brakes. Cyrus is out the door in the next instant. Cash glances over at me, confusion written all over his face.
“It’s not safe to be out here,” Judd tells us over his shoulder. “When we get out, go inside as quickly as you can.”
He puts the vehicle in park, shuts it off, and then climbs out. Cash and I follow suit. Judd ushers us into the house, where Rey is waiting before taking back off into the darkness. She tugs us inside, and I get a whiff of blood.
“Van!” Cash cries out, rushing over to where his older brother is lying on the sofa, covered in blood.
Just like that night ten years ago.
I’m useless to do anything but stare in horror. Outrage at the fact this monster—or one like it—continues to stalk these woods taking out people I know is too much to bear. Boiling rage threatens to make me explode.
And do what?
Run off into the woods, chasing some unknown monster with a useless fucking pocketknife?
If only I could shift like my pack. I would hunt down that beast and rip it apart with my teeth. Dismember it limb by limb. The realization that I can’t do any of those things is a cold shock to my system.
I turned eighteen and the shift never came.
I’d always hoped I’d grow up to be powerful like my father, with fancy tricks up my sleeves. It’s been so long since I saw Dad that my dreams mix with memories. It’s hard to know what’s real and what’s not. What I do know is he was incredible.
And I’m not.
I’m not like Dad. I’m not like Cy. I’m nothing.
I’ll forever be human.
Useless. Weak. Prey.
Cyrus
Hurt.
Destroy.
Kill.
The cold, harsh words are painful bites to my heart. Whoever—whatever—this thing is that lurks, hunting down those around us, is too close to comfort. Too close to my pack. To Remy. The hairs on my arm tingle, and my skin buzzes as the need to shift becomes so powerful it nearly consumes my sanity.
I can’t.
Not yet.
The full moon will be here soon, and I can let loose then. My emotions are too brittle. Self-control is hanging on by a thread. I loathe to think what I’d do to Remy coming out of that feral wolf state. Would I pin him down and try to fuck him?
Disgust has bile crawling up my throat.
I should let him go—find this monster, end it, and let Remy go. He’s right. He’s not safe with me. My mind is a chaotic place lately. All my feelings and thoughts toward Remy are dark, twisted, and utterly fucked up.
Relief floods the bond from Rey. She must have stabilized Van’s injuries. Judd’s protectiveness over Remy is another reassurance. Finnick is running hard and fast somewhere in the woods. I can sense him not far away, limbs whipping at him, whereas Ewan is further and slower, but also shifted. I stalk through the trees, listening for unusual sounds and sniffing the air, trying to catch a scent of something unfamiliar and wrong lurking about.
Nothing.
Kill.
The voice is back, and it engulfs me in blind rage. If only I could find where it’s coming from. Rather than focusing outward, I stop in the woods, closing my eyes and seeking out the darkness that’s been clouding around me lately, whispering hateful words.
Talk to me, you bastard.
Silence.
Irritation tremors through me. I’m so fucking frustrated and helpless. This thing is attacking people in the forest I’m bound to protect. It’s nothing but a violent insult. Almost as if it’s personal. An affront against me and my pack.
But who would do such a thing?
I can’t help but think back to my past. When I left everything I knew and ran as far as I could get away from the perversion they’d tried to force me into.
What if someone from back home followed me?
Someone hellbent on making me pay for abandoning them or the crazy shit they had in store for me?
The idea that all these deaths are a direct result of my past decisions is enough to have sickness churning in my stomach. I can’t even begin to imagine the hurt Remy would feel if that were true. He hates me now, but he’d really hate me if that were the case.