Hot Ghouls Read

Chapter One

Government Deference to Pack Law

Territorial Jurisdiction Rule

Within recognized pack territories, the government defers to pack justice on magical disputes provided no government laws are broken.

No-Harm Clause

Pack justice may not override government law if a magical violation harms or endangers humans or magiks alike.

Consent his wolf screamed louder. He muted the bond before she could feel the fear.

Not for him. For her. Whatever was happening seemed to affect him only, but it was a non-relief because he couldn’t protect her, couldn’t... He cleared his throat and forced calm into his voice. “Callie, baby, I need you to start running, alright?”

Her frown deepened and something in her eyes shifted. A flicker of anxiety. “What? Why?” She tugged his hand harder now. “Come on. Let’s go.”

“I can’t.” His voice cracked. He pushed against the pressure, calling on the wolf, straining against that invisible force. Nothing moved. “Something is happening. To me. And I need you to go. To run.”

“Are you pranking me? Because I really don’t like it. So stop. Whatever this is, just stop.”

He grabbed her face with both hands, pulling her close, kissing her. “I love you. And I need you to go. Get Rex. Tell him—”

A scream tore through the night. His.

Agony exploded in his spine, in his lungs, in his heart.

Something hot, ruthless, and endless ripped into him from the inside out.

It clawed through muscle and magic, seizing his breath, cracking through his ribs.

Pain consumed him. Merciless. Unrelenting.

It came from everywhere and nowhere, like a thousand burning hands gripped his bones, like his soul was being flayed and scattered like ash.

Through eyes blurred with tears, he saw Callie. His Callie. Clawing at his arms, screaming something he couldn’t hear. He couldn’t hear anything anymore. Not the forest. Not her voice. Not his own heartbeat.

He was pain, and smoke, and splintering darkness.

He was fire and blood and the memory of a man too far gone.

Still, he fought. He clawed his way through the pain, the fog, the heat, his wolf howling inside him, snapping, snarling, raging, desperate to get back to her.

But they were trapped. The fire was closing in fast, warping the air, stealing color and weight.

He watched, helpless, as his hands lost shape. Texture. His arms flickered at the edges. Disappearing.

Delirious, he summoned the last ragged shreds of his strength and forced the words through his teeth. “I love you.” A pause. A broken moment to inhale. “Run.”

And with the last drop of will, he sent a wave of love, pure and pulsing and wild, through the bond. The only thing that fire couldn’t eat. The only thing that pain couldn’t take.

But the rest of him was vanishing. The pain too total, too infinite.

The last thing he saw was Callie in the snow, knees buckled. Sobbing his name, her eyes full of horror.

And then he was nothingness.