Bay lunged to get back to Eden when Bali slammed into him, all lithe muscle and sheer power. The black wolf rammed his shoulder into Bay’s side, knifelike teeth ripping through the back of his neck, and Bay turned to deal with his attacker. Fang met fang as they writhed in the snow, kicking up white plumes behind them as they both scrabbled to find purchase on the slick surface, both struggling to sink teeth into the other.
Bali lunged for his throat and Bay ducked out of range, the coppery tang of blood sluicing over his tongue as he tore through the other wolf’s flank. Pain lanced up his side as a bearlike claw slammed into his shoulder and pinned him into the snow. Bay’s wolf whimpered somewhere inside him and he could feel the urgent sense of defeat. According to his wolf they couldn’t win this. Not against Bali. Images of submitting, of licking the other wolf’s muzzle, cowering and pleading, they all danced through Bay’s mind and he slammed them back.
No. Fucking. Way.
With a roar he shoved upwards, knocking the black wolf off of him with a move born of sheer desperation and fury. In the corner of his eye he could see the other wolves circling, watching, but they didn’t make a move. Not even as Morrigan screamed behind them, outrage making her voice high, nearly hysterical. It screeched through the night air with the bitter emptiness of a banshee.
Bay’s sides heaved as he landed, the black wolf standing in front of him. This one was powerful, he’d give his wolf that. He could feel the strength flowing from the other wolf, the raw force of will demanding he back down. Instead, Bay met the winter wolf’s gaze—alpha to alpha—and curled back his lips and snarled. If this wolf wanted to win, he’d have to
make
Bay back down.
He wasn’t about to yield any other way. He’d die before he let them kill Eden. That confidence spilled through him and his wolf calmed, readying itself for the fight. He felt the animal’s soul touch his again, felt his beast’s uneasiness fade. His wolf was okay with dying if it meant protecting their pack. Eden.
A tree cracked, the sound loud in the stillness lingering between Bay and the black wolf, followed by the hollow scream of another wolf. Bay flinched at the sound, barely managing to keep himself from looking, but that slight twitch in his muscles was enough. Bali pounced, night black fur turning into a blur, blending into the shadows slowly casting the forest into darkness.
For a second, all Bay could see was a blur of motion. His wolf reacted for him, bracing for the impact. Bali struck along his right side, merciless jaws clamping down on the thick ruff of white fur around Bay’s neck. He rolled, his shoulder ducking under Bali as he forced himself into the other wolf. His skin tore in a blinding rush of pain, but the movement forced the black wolf to let him go.
They spun again, but this time Bay felt the newfound power rising inside him. The bond he shared with Eden burning bright and the need for her safety drove him on. Feral, frantic. He attacked mercilessly, again and again, without hesitation and ignoring the cloying grip of fatigue that tried to drag him under. Fingers skimmed at his haunches, trying to draw him away and Bay dimly recognized Morrigan’s furious cries, unable to get close enough to help her wolf without behind drawn into the fray.
He didn’t know how long they thrashed in the snow clearing, black and white, an ancient, dark alpha against new blood. But it was enough. Bali slipped turning to make another lunge and Bay pounced, his muscles screaming, as he slammed the wolf into the snow. He went straight for the throat, victory pumping through his blood.
His jaws found only air.
The wolf whooshed out from underneath him. One second there and the next, he was gone, washed away on the wind. Bay spun, only to see the black wolf reappear at the edge of the clearing, Morrigan standing beside him. She swayed, her face pale from the overuse of magic, her long fingers curled into fists at her side as she stared at him. Her face suddenly gaunt, starved. When she opened her mouth, blood poured freely from her lips. Long fangs darted out of her mouth as she hissed.
Then they were gone, sprinting into the darkness, the shadows wiping them away in seconds. Bay took a step after them, but he couldn’t bring himself to follow. Instead, he swung towards Eden only to see the troll disappearing into the night. His wolf’s eyes let him watch as the large body swayed in and out amongst the trees, vanishing just like the Fae bitch before him.
But it was the woman writhing on the ground in front of Morrigan’s stump that drew him. Eden nearly had her hands free, her breaths coming out in short, desperate pants. Her gaze darted around wildly and Bay realized she couldn’t see. While as a wolf Bay could see perfectly fine in the thin snatches of moonlight, Eden was damn near blind.
He whimpered and laid his muzzle against her cheek, breathing softly.
“Bay?” His word came out on a panicked cry, half-sob, half-hope-filled plea.
He bobbed his nose against her skin in answer. Stepping gingerly over her, Bay gently pulled the rest of the rope free. Her hand was shaking as she found his side, only to draw back on a gasp. “Shit. You’re hurt.”
He looked at his coat, streaked with darker shades. Blood. Exhaustion sank into him, nestling into the very marrow of his bones. Yeah. He was more than hurt. But he had to bring her home safely, and walking naked and blind through the forest as a man didn’t sound at all appealing. Another whimper sounded and Bay turned, startled, only to see six wolves staring out at him, their heads low, tails tucked.
Mine.
His pack now. He could feel them, inside him, like a network linking them all together. The magic that made him a werewolf, now bound them to him. Very similar to the magic that had tied him to Morrigan before he’d found Eden.
Well, hell.
So much for having to find them. Then his attention drifted to the little wolf sprawled out in the snow, his coat dark with blood.
Long claw marks ripped through his side.
The troll.
Bay winced and stepped forward, temporarily ignoring Eden’s desperate attempt to grab his fur, her hand slipping in the blood. He looked at the wolves around him. They all watched him as he approached the one that could not be hurt. His first ally. Bay lowered his head and chuffed gently in the other wolf’s ear. He was breathing.
Relief filled him, and as exhausted as he was, Bay shifted. He pressed his muzzle to the other wolf’s, and hoped like hell he could bring this one back to human with him. It was a slow change, his wolf almost reluctant, his body stiff with pain, but finally the fur faded and he knelt on the frozen ground a man, shivering in the dark. And in front of him, beginning to heal, was another man.
“Eden,” Bay whispered, his wolf still lending him extra night vision. “I’m going to need your help.”
He held out a hand in her direction and caught her arm gently, only to draw her to his side. She knelt next to him just as the other man let out a soft groan. Eden’s breath hiccupped.
“Quinn?” she whispered.
“Eden?” A ragged cough tore through the other man, filled with pain, and Bay smiled. They’d found her friend.
He touched her shoulder. “We need to get him home. And I have an idea, try not to panic, but I think we have friends now.”
“Friends?”
He ignored the question and braced his palms against his knees, wearily shoving himself to his feet. He looked at the wolves still standing around him. He pointed to the one closest. “Come here.”
The animal whimpered but came, belly dragging low to the ground as it cowered. Submissive. Tomorrow he’d figure out who they all were. What the hell he was going to do with them all.
“We’ll need to talk to Doreen,” Bay said to Eden, fatigue weighing heavy in his voice. Then he tilted his head in a gesture for the wolf now standing in front of him and spoke to the bear-sized canine. “You’ll carry him.”
He left no room for argument in the soft command. He’d fought and won. As far as his wolf was concerned that made the other wolves his. They would do what Bay told them.
“There’s another wolf on our side?” Eden looked about and froze, leaning away from the wolf breathing softly in her face.
“Six, not including Quinn.” He touched her shoulder. “I’ll need you to help me lift him. I’m a bit battered from the fight and I don’t want to hurt him.”
“Six? How the hell—?”
“I beat their alpha. If my wolf is anything to go by, and I’m beginning to think he’s rather right a lot of the time, I’m it now, apparently.”
A lopsided smile touched her face and Eden shook her head. “And Morrigan?”
“Morrigan, her trolls, and her black wolf fled.” Bay knelt and slid his arms under Quinn’s body, and waited for Eden to do the same. She felt down the man’s legs until she had him by his ankles and together they hefted him up. “Come,” Bay ordered the wolf, and the large white animal slipped under Quinn, lifting him onto his back and out of their arms.
Quinn gave a wounded moan from the movement. “It’s okay,” Eden said softly, “we’re going to get you home.”
“I was attacked,” he said, his voice a whimper. “Biggest wolf I’ve ever seen. Like the one you described.”
“I know.” Her hand found Quinn’s and she squeezed, but her attention lingered in Bay’s direction. He could see the worry on her face, in the harsh furrow between her brows, the wounded look in her eyes. Then she leaned closer to Quinn and whispered, “I’ll explain later. Go to sleep, you’re safe now.”
She trembled as she said it and Bay stepped forward, his frozen hands finding her neck. She flinched but leaned into the touch. Her hand fell away from Quinn and she stepped into Bay’s arms. Her hands trailed up his bare chest. “You’re so cold.”
The icy wind rattled through him, hard enough his teeth clacked, but Bay couldn’t help himself. He smiled. He leaned down and kissed her, needing that touch. Needing to hold her, to remind himself that she was okay, and that he really had won. “I love you, Eden,” he murmured when he pulled away.
His body swayed in the freezing wind, held here by the look of soft wonder in her eyes. She was the reason he’d found himself again. Seeing her had helped him put his world back to rights, but more than that, she’d accepted him in every way possible. For that, she held his heart.
“We need to get you and Quinn home. You’re both freezing. You’re naked.” Her fingers tapped his chest as if he could forget the blistering cold at his back.
“Say it first.”
She laughed. “I love you too, now shift.”
She didn’t have to tell him twice. Fur slipped out over his skin and he heard her soft inhale, surprised as she felt him begin to change. Then he stepped away and let the wolf out again. Then, he tilted up his head, gave a short blast of a howl and led them all into the dark.
This time, towards home.
The warm scent of hot chocolate swirled through the air and Bay breathed it in, his frozen hands cupped around the mug. He wanted nothing more than to sleep for a month, but instead, he sat at Eden’s kitchen table in sweats and a flannel shirt, watching as Kennedy stitched up the small white wolf on Eden’s floor.
He’d sent the rest home. He’d helped them all shift back to human one at a time, before having Rowan and Eden drive them each back to their houses. He had a list of names and numbers, but he didn’t have it in him to deal with all the explanations tonight. And there would be explanations.
God, but none of them had had a clue. Like him before he’d run into Eden, they’d thought they were having bad dreams. Nightmares. Blacking out. Odd sleepwalking.
Not a single one had found what Bay had found.
And more than a few would wake in denial tomorrow. He scrubbed his hand over his face. As long as Morrigan couldn’t call them, Bay wasn’t sure that would be a bad thing. “You all right?” Doreen asked as she sank into the chair across from him, a cup of cocoa in her hands as well.
Bay scrubbed a hand over his face. “No. What does this all mean?”
“I have no idea.” She stared at the wolf on the ground. “You took away her pack. There are no stories about that. I’ve never heard of it being done before.”
“Maybe they’ll write new Fae stories then,” Eden said from the door, her gaze soft when he looked up at her. “We’ll rewrite them, away from the horror.”
Quinn cried out on the floor, the wolf’s legs thrashing and Kennedy made a low, strangled sound in her throat. She looked up at Bay. “You should have left him human. He needs a hospital. We could have called it a bear attack.”
Bay shook his head. His wolf instantly vetoing her plea. “He was getting too cold on the trip here. I had to shift him back. He’d have died from the exposure and he’s too weak to shift again.”
“He could die here.”
“He could have died a lot of times tonight. He’s fighting,” Bay said. Outrage poured into her eyes, but there was nothing Bay could do. “I’m sorry.”
“Dee, you’re the best vet in town.”
“I’m the
only
vet in town, but I’m not meant to work on people.”
“The worst of his wounds healed with the two shifts he’s had,” Bay said softly. “Give him time.”
He bent his head over the mug of cocoa and breathed in the warm steam again, letting it sink into his body and chase away the cold. He didn’t feel like he’d ever get warm again, and his still-healing wounds throbbed. He’d healed better than Quinn, but they’d both suffered life-threatening blows. Werewolves, it seemed, proved rather hard to kill.