Chapter 17
Fear
Isaac
Iknew before I pressed the key into the lock that she was gone. Her car was missing from beneath the house, her scent distant.
That didn’t stop me from storming through the kitchen, flinging open the bedroom door. Just in case.
She wasn’t here.
Every minute she got further away from me. The bond stretched taut as the distance grew.
Could she feel it too?
Fear whipped through me the way the wind rushed beneath the house, howling and cold. I twisted on my heel, ready to race after her when a scrap of paper caught my eye.
I read the neat, bubbly print three times, an acute pain forming in my middle.
Isaac,
Thanks for a good time.
Those simple words were sharp in the empty, dark space.
I crumpled the paper in my fist.
The next moment I was running.
Eli’s truck was slow to start. The hunk of rust was reliable—everything my brother touched worked longer than its life expectancy—but it moved about a mile an hour.
We’d already pushed it to the limit on our hunt for Cady last night. I couldn’t afford to push it and end up stranded while Tara made it to Port Tortuga—out of my reach.
I’d spent my life hating this place. One real road in, one real road out. Trapped.
Now it was the only way to find her.
I made it to the bridge without stopping. By then my heart was in my throat, an unfamiliar sensation that made it hard to breathe.
Something is wrong.
I jerked the truck off the road, tires lifting off the concrete, nearly sending me into the bay.
I was less alarmed by Tara’s car sitting halfway in the water than I was by the black SUV parked on the shoulder just a hundred feet away.
The beast roared for control.
For the first time in my life, I didn’t fight it. I gave in to the fury, letting him lead.
I barreled past the SUV, toward a series of abandoned buildings.
The beast was careful, holding himself at bay beneath my skin until we were safely obscured by the shadow of a building. That was when he unleashed himself, clothing splitting at the seams as I grew.
Everything was clearer like this. Blood and fear created a lip-curling scent in the air. There were human smells, all of them faint—except Tara.
My ears swiveled, taking in every rush of wind. Every metallic splash as water lapped at Tara’s car. Feet scuffing on concrete. Heartbeats crashing like thunder.
I stalked toward that final noise, the tension inside me loosening.
A teenage boy stood tense and pale between two buildings, watching as a seven foot monster descended on Tara.
He barely made it two more steps before my claws were embedded in his back. The other werewolf twisted away, yellow eyes wild with hatred.
Claws glanced off my face. A second set swiped at me from behind. The kid joining the fray.
I couldn’t say it was an easy fight. The instinct was there. The muscle memory from years of fighting with my brothers coming back to me.
But I’d let myself get too comfortable.
Clumps of fur flew through the air. An arc of blood sprayed across concrete. The beast reveled in the taste of it on his tongue.
I would give them pain without end.
Until there was an end. A whimper. Blood pooling. Two sets of eyes glazed with exhaustion.
And there, beneath their fatigue, was what I wanted to see.
Fear.
They feared me. They remembered their place in my world.
I stood in a ring of gore, chest heaving, as my enemies retreated.
I waited until they were out of sight before turning my back to them. Toward her.
There was another set of eyes clouded with fear. They fell on me with terror like blades, cutting at my already broken skin and making me wince.
Tara was curled in on herself, huddled in a narrow alcove between two buildings. Her legs moved with violent tremors, her knees crashing together as she lifted them to shield her body.
Something broke inside me.
Eli hated Saul for lying about bonds.
I understood.
Because this was the outcome. I did this to her.
Our eyes met and she didn’t blink, didn’t even breathe.
Blood dripped from one of my clawed fingers, catching my attention and drawing it to the gory scene around me. I couldn’t touch her with these hands.
The beast couldn’t make sense of Tara’s reaction. He took care of the threat. She was safe now. Why wouldn’t she move?
I didn’t have time to reason with him. To make him understand he was causing the air to curdle with fear.
I reached for that iron will inside me, using it like a weapon against the beast. He didn’t give in easily, my body jerking and writhing as we both warred for control.
I won. Barely.
I panted as my form shifted, breath steaming in the cool evening air. Pain lanced across wounds on my back with each inhale. Sweat cooled on my neck.
All of it became background noise when Tara sat up, unshed tears sparkling in her eyes as she whispered, “Isaac?”