valley, and now more of his pack would bear the scars of this fight for the rest of their lives—and those were the lucky ones.

“He’s right,” I said, stepping forward. “Let’s just leave them alone. They’re not repopulating the world. They’re happy to stay hidden here and not bother anyone. If we just leave them here, I’ll go with you and work for you however you want to use my gifts.”

“This is how,” Mr. Ravenwood said. He raised a finger and made a beckoning motion to the woods behind him, never taking his eyes from the wolves. Behind him, a small army of vampires crept from the woods. My heart skipped a beat when I saw their numbers. I lost count as they streamed out, and I had to feel for them with my mind. They formed a solid wall of cold, at least four times the number Harmon had in his pack.

“Hold them off,” Harmon barked to the Wolf boys before he dropped to his knees to shift. Behind him, his pack dropped as one, like every knee bowing at once to pray. Except there would be no quiet reflection today. These people shook and twisted, clothes ripping from their bodies as wolves emerged from their human forms. It was truly a sight to behold.

Mr. Ravenwood gestured to his army, and a wave of vampires leapt at us. Alarick dove for Mr. Ravenwood, but another vampire intercepted, and my ‘shepherd’ was lost behind a melee of bodies. Alarick’s jaws snapped closed on the vampire’s throat, and she screamed in rage, clawing at his powerful shoulders. She buried her hands in his fur, ripping out a chunk of flesh before he slammed her to the ground, pinning her with his paws and tearing her head from her body.

Adolf and Donovan stood side by side, ripping vampires apart as they came, but they wouldn’t be able to hold off the onslaught for long. Another vampire leapt onto Alarick’s back, wrapping her arms around his neck. When I saw her arms tighten, ready to rip his head off, I leapt at her without thought, without shifting. My fist connected with her face so hard her nose caved into her skull, and she was torn from Alarick’s back. I grabbed another vampire as it flew toward me, flinging it far off into the trees.

Adrenaline and power coursed through me as I marveled at my freakish strength. I’d never fought as a vampire before, but damn. I hadn’t realized how strong Viktor’s donations had made me. Realizing how strong I was didn’t make me feel better for long, though. It made me realize what we were up against. Most of these vampires weren’t new like me. They were all strong.

The pack of wolves behind us had finished shifting, and they charged forward with snarls and growls, barreling into the vampire frontline. After knocking a few more vampires off, I was slammed to the ground. A grey wolf lunged for my throat, and I screamed, throwing my arms up to block the attack.

“Stop,” I screamed. “I’m on your side.”

The wolf clamped down on my forearm. I screamed, and Alarick’s enormous form instantly leapt to our side, snarling at the smaller wolf until it released me. If I didn’t shift, Harmon’s pack was going to think I was a vampire and kill me. And even though I’d led the vampires to them, it had been an accident, and I didn’t think he’d want me killed if I fought on their side. I rolled to my knees and shifted, ripping out of my clothes without taking the time to take them off. The next moment, a vampire hurled himself into Alarick’s side, and they rolled away together, and I was glad I hadn’t taken more time to shift. I leapt onto the vampire, ripping him from my mate and snapping his neck with my jaws.

Before I could turn, one hit my back like a wrecking ball. I roared in pain as the iron fist slammed into me again, cracking ribs inside my powerful wolf body. Spinning to face my attacker, I lunged, but he was faster. He sidestepped my attack and leapt onto my back, straddling me and digging his heels into my ribs with crushing force. I reared back and threw myself onto my back, landing on top of him with all my weight before rolling to one side and gaining my feet again. The vampire was just as quickly back on his feet. That’s when I recognized him as someone from school, someone I’d sat with at lunch for most of this semester.

These vampires weren’t strangers to me—at least not all of them. They were a mixture of young people who’d gone to Ravenwood Academy and older people I didn’t know, but who probably lived around the area. I pleaded with the vampire to somehow recognize me, to know my eyes, but he leapt in, throwing another punch. Knowing what it would cost to stop fighting, I let instinct take over. I dodged his fist and sank my teeth into his middle. He screamed, and I felt cold blood spread across my tongue.

Suddenly, hunger gripped me. I hadn’t been able to sneak off to eat since my morning frolic with Alarick, and now I was swept up in the the confusing sensations of my wolf knowing this was not food, and my vampire knowing how close it was to food. But even my vampire side didn’t go blood-lust crazy over vampire blood. Still, in the moment I realized that, I realized how strong this would make me. I couldn’t drink from him in wolf form the way I did in human form, but I licked at his wounds for a second, instantly feeling a surge of energy.

A vampire shriek tore me from my victim, and I lifted my head to see Amy hurtling toward me. Her blonde hair was wild around her,

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