“You will stay right here,” he ordered. “You won’t move unless I tell you to, no matter what. These snipers are a last resort.”
“Okay.” I nodded, grabbing him. I wanted him to kiss me, but he didn’t bend. “Rush.”
“No,” he breathed, stepping away. “I’m not saying goodbye.”
“Rush, please.” My eyes watered.
“No, I’m not saying goodbye, this isn’t goodbye.” He shook his head. “Not yet, not now.”
Emily started shaking and crying in Casey’s arms. He gently laid her on the ground next to me.
“Luna, can’t you help her?” There was desperation in his voice, I couldn’t look at him.
“I can speed up the process. I can’t stop it,” I told him, still staring at Rush. The wolves behind him were positioned and waiting for orders. “You have to go now.”
“I know,” Rush said, looking over me once again.
I opened my mouth, but before I could say anything, Rush and Casey turned and shifted. They disappeared for a moment in the mass of wolves, but they appeared again in front of the pack. Rush howled loudly, a raw, loose growl that startled everything in the woods. As he lifted his head up, the pack joined him, howling into the open air.
In the distance, just behind the tree line, a quiet stampede of human feet crunched through the dry woods. It hadn’t rained in weeks, most of the grass was dead and dry dirt was left in its place.
The packhouse was surrounded by about three thousand feet of open land before the trees started to gather. I could smell them, the closer they got. I breathed in sweat, fowl piss and stink, the bitter taste of arrogance, and a slight twinge of silver, not enough to kill all of us.
Silver bullets were rare, in demand, and difficult to make. Unlike humans, our skin was more difficult to pierce when we were shifted, and it took a lot of trauma to deter us. The bullets had to be large, they had to splinter on impact, and they needed to have enough silver in them to reach both our hearts and brains within a brief period of time.
They had already used a handful of silver bullets to kill the guards on the border weeks ago, and they had probably used a small amount to practice.
It made me stiff, wondering what they were planning to do if they didn’t expect to shoot at us.
Emily whimpered, and it brought me out of my trance. I placed my hands gently on her shoulders, trying to pull out instinct to shift. She cried loudly, and I had to slam my hand over her mouth to stifle her.
“Shh,” I quieted her. “Emily, you have to be quiet. I’m so sorry.”
Her tears wettened my hand, and it made it slippery against her sweaty, grief-stricken face. I brushed her hair back and shushed her again, trying to calm her. I had never quickened a shift; I had read about it in a book Cherry had given me, but I never had the opportunity to practice.
I tightened my grip on her mouth as I placed my other hand on her chest, just below her clavicle. I closed my eyes and focused on her shift, desperately trying to grasp at anything that could help her.
Somewhere inside her, or myself, I felt a pull. I tried to hold onto it and pull out her instincts to shift. She began shaking under me, and her crying stopped.
The first bone snapped. She bit into my hand roughly, and I let go at the harsh contact. Her voice broke the taught, tense air, screaming loudly. I slammed my hand back over her mouth, cutting her lip against her teeth in the process.
Immediately, Casey was running through the pack, rushing to Emily’s side.
“I can’t leave her, Luna,” he said softly.
I nodded and again tried to pull her shift from her. Her bones snapped quicker the second time, a continuous pain that accelerated more as the seconds passed. Her skin took on a pale hue before dark, nearly black fur began pushing its way through her skin.
I took my hands off her and swatted Casey’s hands away as she shifted, collapsing over in a small heap of claws and limbs and teeth.
She whimpered as she tried to lift her head, prompting Casey to start running his hands over her, head to bottom. I leaned back, taking a few deep breaths to steady myself and running my hand soothingly over my bump.
I could feel the baby’s heartbeat quicken a touch as if they were just as scared as we were.
“You’ve got to get her out of here,” I spat at Casey, my hands shaking as they tried to caress the small child inside me.
“It’s too late,” he growled back, lifting Emily’s wobbling head into his hands.
“They’re nearly here,” Rush mind-linked me. “Is Emily okay?”
“She’s shifted, but we can’t get her out of here.”
“Just stay with her, Casey is staying with her as well.”
“We need him, Rush.” I glanced over at Casey.
“If it was you, no one could make me leave you.”
“Will you be okay?”
“I’ve got Jonah and over thirty thousand other wolves ready to tear those bastards heads off.” I could hear the excitement in his voice. “I’ll be fine.”
The crunching feet became closer, and I could feel the pack’s adrenaline thriving in the mild breeze. They were coming. Nothing was stopping them.
Over the eager wolves, I saw Rush’s fur raise on his neck, and he took a fighting stance. The pack lurched into battle mode, hind legs ready to pounce, jowls eager for the taste of the bitter, arrogant, blood moving towards us.
The first thing that emerged from the forest were six humans, three to the left, three to the right. They were pointing heavy guns at the pack, but they didn’t fire. After the six humans, a guttural animal sound rustled the trees.
Four wolves chained in silver and stabbed with
