I gasped, but East only looked more furious. He doubled down, swiping at Travis then snapping out with his canines. Travis dodged both, the effort sending him reeling away. Off-balance. Creating a gap between them the size of a human woman.
Urgency gripped me, and a voice inside me whispered, now.
I leaped from the table, clearing the space below me where East still crouched. Both wolves stopped moving, too surprised by my attack to do anything but watch me fall.
The moment felt suspended like magic had slowed it to allow all my slower senses to keep up.
Below me, Travis began to straighten, but it was too late. The chair leg in my hands sank into his exposed throat. He yelped, twisting away, but I held on, using all my strength to shove the wooden shard as far as it would go.
“Cat, look out!”
Travis’s paw swung blindly, catching me in the thigh.
My skin sliced open. Blood pooled then dripped down my knee.
I rolled away, not stopping until I hit the wall with a thud that stole my breath. My vision blurred, and I squinted up at the sight of a female silhouette framed in the open doorway.
Outside, thunder boomed, and lightning cracked, illuminating the woman for a split second. Long, reedy-thin arms lifted to the sky, and sharp, dark eyes found mine, intense enough to make me forget about my injury for a moment.
I’d never seen her before, but I knew instinctively she was here to help me. Her mouth opened, but when she spoke, I swore it was an echoing voice inside my head rather than anything spoken aloud.
When blood is spilled under the moon, the fates will have their offering.
Her cryptic words were unsettling like a warning. Or a solution to a problem I didn’t yet understand. I tried scooting closer, to ask her what they meant. But her form shimmered like moonlight over a pond. Then I blinked, and she was gone.
Beyond where she’d stood, I caught sight of a slivered moon hanging low between parted clouds. And all I could think of was unleashing the wolf. If only the thought made sense.
East jumped up and moved in, putting himself between Travis and me. Then, he stalked to where Travis now lay, bleeding from his throat.
Travis’s eyes were still crazed, but he didn’t move as East approached.
I held my breath, terrified it was some trick to lure East in too far. He was already bleeding from where Travis’s claws had gotten him earlier.
But when East got close, Travis only blinked in a slow, desperate motion. Mercy, his eyes seemed to plead.
Screw that.
I started to get to my feet, but East was faster.
He bit down on Travis’s throat, sinking his teeth in past fur and flesh. There was a ripping sound as East tore away tissue and muscle and tossed it aside. Travis whimpered, blood pouring from his ripped neck, puddling on the floor.
Even from here, I could see the dark stain spreading around him.
East didn’t move again until the life left Travis’s eyes, dead where he lay in a pool of his own blood.
The silence became a roar in my ears.
Slowly, East turned from Travis’s body and approached me. My leg was covered in blood, and I had a puddle of my own underneath where I sat. But all I cared about was East. He was bleeding—badly—from the cut on his neck and another along his ribs. Scattered over his body, there were several more patches of fur stained with blood. It was impossible to know how bad those were while he was a wolf.
When he got close, he stopped, and the air between us thickened with a mystical energy. The ends of my hair danced on an invisible wind. I shut my eyes against the sawdust flying. When I opened them, East stood on two legs again.
He crouched in front of me, concern lining his shadowy features.
“How bad is it?” he asked in a strained voice.
I noted the open wounds slashing across his collarbone and hip then followed his gaze down to where he was staring at my still-bleeding leg. I swallowed hard at the amount of blood pooling beneath me. It was a lot. Too much.
“Not terrible,” I said. “Just a lot of blood. I’ll be fine.”
East’s eyes filled with sadness. We both knew I wouldn’t be fine.
He took off his shirt and wrapped it around my leg above the cut, tying it tightly to stem the bleeding. I stared at his torso, completely in awe of his defined chest and rippling abs, and horrified at the angry slashes marring that perfection.
“Cat?”
East’s voice brought me back.
It was still so damn quiet.
“I’m going to carry you out of here, all right?”
Why did he sound like that? So careful and bland? Where was his temper? His worry?
I fought back the urge to cry. “Okay.”
He scooped me carefully into his arms, and I should have been glad at the way he made sure not to jostle my injured leg. But as he carried me outside, all I could think about was how mad he should be right now.
Outside, the light from the stars made it easier to see his face. It was set in hard lines, but when he saw me watching, it smoothed into an expression I’d never seen him wear before. Gentleness mixed with a terror that broke my heart.
I tapped his cheek. He looked down at me as he stopped beside Travis’s truck.
“You came for me.”
He arched a brow. “Did you think I would just leave you out here with that psycho?”
My thoughts were slow to come through the haze of pain. “And you’re glad to see me now?”
“What the hell kind of question is that?” he asked, and I was glad to hear some of his temper creeping in. It made me feel more normal somehow. “Of course I’m glad.”
“But you’re mad, too, right?”
He used his free hand to open the
