Chapter 6
Gray
Again.
My eyes snapped open in fury, the shrill warning ringing in my head. I was already up and on my way out the door as the screeching in my head fully registered with me.
My thoughts were like thick syrup, but my wolf was wide awake and out for blood.
Intruders, he snarled. Maim.
I ripped open the door of the packhouse and ran outside, the cadence of my steps changing as I went from two feet to four paws.
We’ll get them, my wolf snarled. Maim. Kill.
We were on the same page.
I was so fucking fed up with it all. Fed up with the thefts. With the constant security breaches. With some wolves disrespecting my authority again and again and again.
I let out a loud howl, a signal to my pack to start hunting.
Answering howls rose, shattering the peaceful silence of an early winter night. It didn’t take long for the first of my pack to find me.
My wolf howled as Rhett’s sandy-brown form emerged between the trees, his paws whirling up snow as we ran in sync to where our wolves were leading us. The barrier had been breached at the north-eastern border.
I panted, the cold air burning my lungs, as I kept spurring my wolf on. This was urgent. Someone was hurt.
I didn’t know who, didn’t know what was going on, didn’t know how exactly I could say for sure, but there was not a shred of doubt in my mind. Someone who had crossed the barrier was severely injured.
Not dangerous, my wolf supplied.
He was right again. The injured party was not a danger to us, but there was a danger lurking, close enough to the barrier that I could feel it.
A shudder went through my body as I jumped to dodge a set of roots growing above ground.
Angelo met us next; the huge lion jumped down a ravine and found a spot to my right. The patrol was ahead of us, having already been on their nightly rounds.
More wolves followed.
Paul.
Theo.
All of them neatly sliding into position, presenting a united front. A pack. The scent of blood wafted over as we got closer, the metallic hues crisp in the cold air. A warning sign that this was not like the breaches before. This was a fight.
A loud bang ripped through the night.
An agonized scream that made my wolf howl in fury.
I snarled.
Someone was shooting.
I doubled my efforts, my muscles burning as I increased my speed.
Maim, my wolf sang. Kill, kill, kill.
I spotted them seconds later, hovering just outside the barrier like pathetic cowards. Three shifters in wolf form and one in human form. The human one still had his gun raised, a triumphant smirk on his face.
My fury grew tenfold. A fucking wolf was using a gun to hurt people on my pack lands.
Maim. Kill, my wolf supplied, rage flooding my system.
Someone had dared to shoot someone on my territory.
I spotted a hooded figure kneeling over a man on the ground, his glowing hands pressed to a wolf’s chest. My mind came to a screeching halt at the strange sight, but I pushed the thoughts back. First things first—and right now, the armed wolf was our biggest problem.
“Guns,” I heard a hoarse voice whisper, but I flew past, eyes fixated on the gleaming gun in the wolf’s hand.
My wolf raged in my chest, wanting to stop as his need to protect our pack by killing the attackers just… vanished. But I couldn’t stop now. We couldn’t let them get away with hurting people on our pack lands.
Go, I urged him on. We can take care of the hooded figure once we’ve taken care of them.
Another shot ripped through the night, the bullet aimed at me, but I dodged it narrowly. My wolf’s attention snapped back, focusing on the man standing just a few feet outside the barrier, his arm raised.
I snarled and jumped, flying through the barrier, and closed my fangs around his hands as his expression went from grim satisfaction to shock.
What? Did he think I’d stop because he wasn’t technically on pack lands?
He’d shot at people on my territory. At people in my jurisdiction. He’d shot at me.
His companions snarled, but my pack was at my side, keeping them away from me as my fangs tore through the wolf’s flesh.
He tried to shift, but I was faster, closing my teeth around his throat and ripping.
Blood sprayed, matting my fur. The wolf’s hand went up, grabbing at his throat, but his attempt was futile.
That was the thing. Guns might give the appearance of an advantage, but if you missed… you were done.
I let go of the wolf, watching him fall to the ground with a thump, a gurgling sound escaping his lips, his hands still clutching at his throat, but his movements already growing sluggish.
I watched him convulsing, blood leaking from his mouth, the consciousness fading from his eyes as his movements grew weaker.
My wolf preened inside my chest, satisfied to have finally gotten its fangs into a threat.
When the shooter’s heart stopped beating, I turned around and took in my surroundings.
My pack had done an impressive job. The battle was over.
Angelo had another wolf pinned to the ground, the stench of his fear clouding up the night, his pathetic whimpers grating on my nerves.
The other two wolves were dead, lying in pools of their own blood with Rhett standing above one, still snarling.
I changed back to human form, stalked to the single surviving wolf, and gave him a grin that I knew was terrifying with my mouth covered in his packmate’s blood.
“Those two.” I nodded back to my territory. “Are mine.”
I didn’t know their story, but it felt right. They were refugees, and we were a safe haven. My wolf agreed, urging me on to finish my business and get back there.
Now, he supplied, utterly uninterested in the terrified wolf in front of us. Need to go back.
I rolled my eyes. Why was he suddenly in such a hurry? It wasn’t as if any of the clearly injured wolves were gonna get up and run away.
Go, my wolf demanded again.
I looked at Angelo and Rhett, but since they obviously had the situation under control, I complied with my wolf’s demands. Apparently, I was needed elsewhere.
Yes. The figure.
“Let him go, but make sure he understands what happens if they return. Those wolves are on our pack lands; they’re ours to protect.”
Angelo tilted his massive head, his lion’s grin terrifying. I never wanted to be on his bad side.
I turned around, facing the barrier, and started jogging back as his roar split the night. Paul would have lots of calls about that waiting for him tomorrow morning.
Crossing the barrier felt like walking through a curtain of static energy, a tangible buzzing in the air, but the screeching had stopped. As if every intruder had been dealt with.
That wasn’t right, though.
My eyes zeroed in on the figure still kneeling over one of the injured wolves, his hand pressed to the guy’s chest. He wasn’t part of my pack. We didn’t have witches or wizards.
Not an intruder, my wolf supplied, his ears perked up in interest.
He’s not part of our pack, I told him. The figure swayed precariously.
Not an intruder, my wolf insisted.
I ignored him as I made my way over, several members of my pack already circling around the injured wolves and the cloaked stranger.
Static crackled in the air, the scent of ozone strong, like a thunderstorm was about to hit.
My wolf perked up even more, excitedly wagging his fucking tail even as the hair on the back of my neck rose.
“Alpha,” Paul called out, waving me over. He was taking care of an injured wolf who was leaning against a massive cedar, his face pale from blood loss.
My wolf growled as I diverted from course and quickly ran over to Paul.
“You’re gonna want to hear this,” Paul said, his signature mischievous smirk on his face, even as he eyed the cloaked figure warily. None of my wolves had approached him yet; the static crackling all kept them back.
We need to go over. Now! my wolf demanded, but I didn’t give in. We’d go over in time.
“Our newcomer here thanked me for sending our mage.”
Our… mage?
Yes. My wolf preened. Our mage.
I blinked, confusion chilling me to the bone.
“Wait… he didn’t arrive with them?”
Paul shrugged, then shook his head. “I tried to get him to elaborate, but he’s… honestly, he’s barely hanging on to consciousness. But he seemed convinced that the mage is part of our pack.”
He wasn’t.
We didn’t have witches or wizards or fucking mages or whatever. We had all kinds of shifters in our pack, but there were no magic wielders in Balwood.
At least there weren’t supposed to be any.
No one had informed me of their presence.
No one had asked for permission to stay on pack lands.
No one had asked for refuge.
Rage ignited in my chest, a spark that spread like wildfire until every fibre of my body was burning with fury.
The thefts. The intruders. And now a fucking mage hiding in my own territory? What was next?
I cast a long glance at the cloaked figure swaying above the unconscious body of the injured wolf.
Our mage, my wolf preened, not concerned about him hiding on our pack lands for who knew how long. Ours.
He was our problem. That was what he was.
“Paul. Call in for ATVs so we can get our two guests to our packhouse safely. And call Jasper, please. They need medical attention.”
My eyes darted back to the hooded figure.
In my periphery, I saw Paul nodding, but he was biting his lip. “Uhm… what do you want us to do with the… uhh, that guy?”
I growled, the anger burning bright inside me. No matter what the barrier or my wolf said, he was an intruder. And he’d obviously been hiding right under our noses.
I balled my hands into fists.
“For now, throw him into a cell.”
My wolf howled inside my chest, a pitiful whine of protest as I watched the cloaked figure collapse on top of the other wolf, the slight glow of his hands fading, the static crackling in the air abruptly stopping.
My wolf jumped up in alarm, urging me to go over, but I forced myself to step away and focus on controlling the situation. There was too much to navigate right now. We had bodies to take care of.
Rhett stepped up next to me, staring at me imploringly. He was still in wolf form but shifted, nodding to the heap of wolf and mage.
“Do you really want to lock that guy up in a cell?” he asked, his voice filled with doubt.
We hadn’t used our cells in the packhouse’s basement in years. In fact, I’d only had to use them once since I’d become Alpha. I prided myself on not throwing people into cells. On taking care of my pack. On leading without fear.
But this was different. That guy wasn’t part of our pack. He was an unknown variable. A possible threat I hadn’t known about, even though he obviously wasn’t new to our territory.
No, my wolf supplied immediately, pushing at my chest from within. Take care of him. Ours. Our mage.
But he wasn’t. He was an intruder. One I hadn’t known was here. Where did he come from? How long had he been here?
“Yes,” I ground out between clenched teeth, even as my wolf raged inside me, throwing a fucking tantrum at my unwillingness to give in to his demands. “He’s an intruder.”
Rhett furrowed his brow, his lips a thin line. “He doesn’t feel like one,” he said quietly, staring at the barrier ahead, head tilted thoughtfully.
He was right. Which was a problem in and of itself. He should feel like an intruder. The barrier should have alerted us as soon as he set foot on our pack lands. But the only intruders we’d ever had were those damn fucking wolves.
His presence shouldn’t have been possible.
But he was here, lying on top of the injured wolf, not feeling like an intruder at all.
“No, he doesn’t,” I admitted, equally quiet. The rage was still simmering inside my chest, but the flames were dying fast, leaving more confusion than anything.
Go back, my wolf demanded. Our mage. Take care of him.
Rhett swallowed heavily, his eyes focused on the barrier straight ahead, his throat working, Adam’s apple bobbing as he was searching for words.
I let him take his time and watched as Angelo dragged the dead wolves into our territory.
In the distance, ATVs came rumbling closer.
Our mage, my wolf tried again. Check on him.
I shook my head to get him to shut the fuck up, but he wasn’t budging.
Go.
No.
I pressed a hand to my stomach, unease settling in as my wolf pushed, making me stumble a step forward.
I was the Alpha. I should be helping Angelo with cleanup, but my rage and my wolf’s one-eighty were throwing me off my game.
Finally, Rhett let out a sigh, his hand reaching for my forearm.
“Did you scent the guy? Did you get a whiff of him before he fell unconscious?”
I shook my head. There’d been so many different scents, and I hadn’t really paid attention to the guy. The newcomers, the attackers, the blood, and the burnt smell coming off the gun. Then there was the crackling electricity, the smell of ozone…
Rhett swallowed again, his hand tightening around my forearm, fingers digging into my flesh.
“Well, I did,” he whispered. “And while it’s not exactly the same, he… he kinda smells like Levi.”
His admission hung in the air, mixing with traces of uncertainty and fear.
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“I don’t know,” Rhett said. “But it’s freaking me the fuck out.”