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Flynn stepped out of the underground meeting place. “Logan,” he barked. “What are ye doing here?”

“I think you know,” I said, and my voice cracked, unable to articulate the rush of feelings inside me.

He grimaced. “You may be the first, but you won’t be the last to show up. Not after that primal burst.” He evaluated me, looking me over as though weighing his options. Then he waved at me to follow him. “Come with me. She needs all of us.”

“Show me.”

I marched after him, meeting the gaze of each challenger who still had anger kindled in their eyes, but I didn’t slow. My eyes rapidly adjusted to the shadows inside, and the sight sent my heart slamming against my rib cage so hard I stopped short.

A naked Emma had been laid out on the council table with ten Red Tail shifters, probably healers, encircled around her and Dr. Wise at her head. The doctor smoothed her hands over Emma’s forehead, as though closing her eyes. Emma’s multi-colored hair flared out over the ancient wooden surface, tangled and limp. She’d gone completely pale, and her chest didn’t rise or fall. Her arms hung over the edges of the table. My limbs shook, and a chill passed through me.

My love.

That was what she was, what she had become, and the revelation cut through me, slicing through every layer of armor I’d ever had. Maybe it was too soon to profess anything about love, but the way her eyes flashed when she disagreed with me, the way she didn’t care about the rules, the way she set her own course…Fuck me.Everything about Emma called to me, and I had to save her.

“I knew better than to leave her here. You’ve killed her,” I bellowed, charging past Flynn.If Emma was dead, tearing Jasper into a million pieces was quickly becoming an option.

Flynn stuck out his arm, knocking me back on my heels. “You’re not starting a civil war, arsehole,” he snarled. “Watch yerself.”

I knocked his arm away, whirled toward him, and bared my teeth. “Fuck off.”

Flynn dropped his hands to my shoulders, gripping so tightly that I couldn’t move. Sorrow flooded his eyes. “I know what you’re going through,” he said, keeping his voice low. “I lostmyEmma.”

“What the hell are you talking about?”

“Her name may not be Emma, but my mate has been missing for months.”

“Let me go,” I snapped.

What the hell did his missing mate have to do with my need to keep Emma safe? It’s not like Flynn’s mate had been the freaking multimorph.

“Emma’s not dead.” He paused. “She’s not well, but she’s not dead, Logan. The primal energy depleted her and nearly killed her. Now she needs you, and she doesn’t need ye to murder everybody who looked at her.”

My inner wolf whined in the back of my head, and my gaze moved over the woman on the wooden slab, the one who had captured nearly every thought I’d since the moment I’d met her. Gingerly, I reached out to her through my enhanced senses, and even unconscious, she reached back, ushering me in.

There.Her weak heartbeat thrummed in my mind, and I knew what I had to do. I knew what she needed from me.

A breeze moved through the council den. The eyes of onlookers widened in the gust of my summoned shifter magic.

One step to the side brought me out from underFlynn’s hands, and I leaped toward Emma, shifting mid-air and landing beside Emma in my wolf form, my head at the same end of the table as hers.

Dr. Wise gasped as I encroached on her space. She caught the fur on my shoulder. “What do you think you’re doing?”

I brought my snout close to her nose, defying her as my wolf self, staring into her eyes until she stepped the side and glanced away. The confrontation lasted mere seconds, but they were moments Emma needed from me.

Settling beside Emma, I ensured as much of my body met hers as I could, wiggling until my fur parted and her cooling skin met the warmth of my own. If Acheron had worked out a way to absorb shifter energy, then I could try to share my strength with Emma, drawing her back from the edge of whatever oblivion she fought.

Dr. Wise frowned at me, as though she was attempting to figure out what I was doing or how to send me on my way, but she didn’t understand yet.

I’m not leaving her, Doc.

My eyes closed, and I blocked out the noise of the other shifters in the room, centering myself until peace took the place of my earlier anger. Delving could be dangerous, and if I frightened Emma, she might destroy us both by drawing another surge of primal energy.

Mentally, I reached for Emma once more, using my talent to delve. Sending my energy into her, I brushed against the heart in her chest, feeling the tremor inside her as she realized I was here. Her lungs were fine,her bones were fine, but her grip on the physical world was slipping. The primal energy had been too much for her so soon in her shifting journey, but she couldn’t help the strength of her ability.

Acheron’s strength is growing, and the shifters need you.I pushed the thought toward her, ignoring the fear that I might expose the depth of my attraction and devotion to her. Being in love with her would show me as weak, and alphas could have no weakness in them.

My mind circled the cloudy depths of hers. She was in there.Come back to us, Emma. Come back to me.