Page 22 of Alpha’s Hated Mate (Shifters of Clarion)

I figure that we’re only going to have seconds of confusion once Nadia comes back. She’s no fool, after all. In fact, given her knowledge about wolf biology and probably Scarlet biology, too, she’ll probably realize what’s happened faster than any other wolf.

Just looking for a miracle here.

The lights come on, and we’re all hidden. Camouflage is more than just hiding for a Scarlet. Our fur can absorb the elements of our surroundings and make us seem to disappear completely, even in full lighting.

And I think that’s the part that’s caught her off guard. It’s why the lights are so damned bright in here when she turns them on. I’m counting on her thinking that if there are no shadows, we can’t hide.

She walks in slowly, the wheels turning behind her eyes. I just need her confused long enough to open the gate. Just a few seconds of acting instead of thinking.

And then Aydan walks in behind her. I have a moment of joy at seeing him, but then doubt seeps in. He’s not restrained, and he’s not being dragged in. What if he . . . ?

No time to wonder. She’s moving toward the gate.

“No,” she mutters as she pulls out the key. “They can’t be. They can’t . . .”

She stops, key in hand, her eyes slowly searching for us. Shit.

“Look like you’ve got a hitch in your plan,” Aydan says. “No army. No new world order.”

She shushes him, and her eyes narrow. “It’s a trick,” she hisses. “I don’t understand how. There aren’t any shadows.”

Aydan crosses his arms. “Looks to me like your captives have escaped.”

“No!” she shouts. “Don’t you understand yet? They’re tricksters!”

“We don’t have time for this, Nadia.”

“They are fooling us!” She turns to him, her face turning bright red. “How blind can you be?”

He walks up to her and snatches the key out of her hand. I could laugh with relief. I mind-link to the others around me, Get ready.

“Stop!” Nadia reaches for the key, but Aydan’s at least a foot taller than she is. He holds it out of her reach with a childish smirk on his face. “Aydan,” she growls. “Do not open that door.”

He crosses his arms, the key securely in his grip. “I think it’s time we face the music, little sister. If we head back now, I can convince the dean to give you some leniency for breaking curfew.”

“ Curfew? Have you been listening to anything I’ve said?” She reaches for the key again, but he steps out of her way.

“They can’t hide in bright light,” he says to her. “Everybody knows that. That means they’re not here.”

Her face relaxes slightly. She believes him, or at least believes that he believes it. Thank the Goddess for those stupid myths about us.

“They’re gone.” He puts the key in the gate. I just hope he steps out of the way fast enough. “I’ll prove it.”

“No. Wait!”

The gate opens, and Aydan jumps out of the way. Go! I mind-link to the others. I bolt for the door, the others behind me. I angle myself toward Nadia, knocking her down as I come back into view, dropping my camouflage. She screeches, clawing out at me as she starts changing into her wolf. Her legs shift into haunches, and the next thing I feel is her back claws digging into my belly as she pushes me off her. I fall backward, and she scrambles to her feet, a full white wolf, and dashes out of the room.

I look over my shoulder just in time to see Aydan changing to his wolf as well. Let’s get her, he mind-links.

Out of the underground, we emerge, chasing the white flash of fur through the darkness of the woods. I’m mind-linking orders to the others to flank her and move around to cut off her path. It’s working. She tries to zig-zag off the path, but very quickly, she finds herself face to face with a line of angry Scarlet Wolves.

She stops and turns just as Aydan and I and several of the others block her way back. It’s over, I mind-link. Surrender quietly and no one needs to be hurt.

She growls and snaps at me. You do not command me, Scarlet, no matter how you’ve entrapped my brother. I am in control.

I don’t know if you’ve noticed, Aydan chimes in, but you’re outnumbered and outgunned. He steps forward, his head held high as he steps in front of me. Nadia, please don’t make us hurt you.

Hurt me? You could never hurt me. It’s what I’ve been trying to show you, Aydan. We can be the wolves that we are meant to be. We can make it all right again . . . but you will not listen to reason, so I must show you.

A blood-red streak appears on her forehead, spreading out through her fur like a gaping wound, staining the white into a shade of crimson.

I am the fury of our ancestors. Her inner voice warps as her eyes change from crystal blue to sanguine, her teeth lengthening in her ever-growing snout. I am the justice long deferred. I am your future . . .

Her body changes from the small white wolf she was and grows and morphs into a creature so large that it starts to fill the clearing. Everyone steps back as a flurry of panicked voices rushes into my mind. Large malformed claws gouge the ground, and her great head blocks the moon and the sky above us. Nadia has become a living nightmare. She crouches down and snarls at us, the sound thrumming through the air like tiny pebbles against my brain.

I am the Blood Lycan!

She rears back her head, and I realize, too late, that we’ve all rushed headlong into her plans. We were meant to be her army . . . and now we’re all around her, ready to be commanded.

The howl of a million wolves spills out of her and pierces my chest. Suddenly, I can’t breathe, and my limbs are losing strength. I stumble and fall to the dirt, and as I look around, I watch as the others collapse as well. We are hopeless against this creature.

A flash of white and a growl rush past me. I look up in time to see Aydan leaping up at the creature, attacking its neck. He latches on, and the monster’s howl stops, replaced by an angry growl.

I try to stagger to my feet, but those few seconds of her howl has taken so much out of me. I stumble and fall, then stumble again. This time, my stance is wobbly, but I’m up.

Aydan digs his teeth and claws into her as she whips her head back and forth to try to jar him loose. Unlike the last time, however, he’s staying with her, burying his teeth into her fur and staying firmly attached.

I try to mind-link to the others to attack, but . . . but something is wrong. I can barely think . . . I can barely . . .

I shake my head to force myself to stay conscious. I’m not blacking out this time. I try to rush forward, but my feet drag and I’m on the ground again. Aydan needs our help. He’s not going to be able to stop her alone.

The rumble fills the air, and the darkness splits as a rush of wolves enters the clearing and leaps at the Blood Lycan, claws and teeth bared. A silver wolf and a jet-black wolf lead the pack. Joy leaps up within me as the realization that it’s Chad and Yarra with the security team. The cavalry has arrived.

Get to safety! It’s Chad commanding us all to do what we do best. Hide in the shadows. I don’t want to hide, however. I want to fight with them. All I can do now is lie in the dirt and watch as the beast throws the wolves off one by one, swiping at them with her jagged claws. Wolves fly in all directions.

Chad, Aydan, and Yarra avoid her worst attacks, dodging her gigantic jaws as she snaps at them. My strength is starting to return, and in the noise, I hear the other Scarlets.

We’ll never win against that thing . . .

It’s enormous. It’ll rip us to pieces once it’s done with them . . .

. . . weakens us with its howl! How can we fight a thing like that?!

I climb to my feet. They’re all right, of course. All it has to do is howl and we’ll either be drained or come running to her aid. I dread hearing that sound again. I have to do something.

Aydan falls from the beast as she whips her head with one hard jolt. He rolls away for a few paces before he stops. But the monster doesn’t let him recover. She turns, teeth bared.

Chad leaps up and swipes at its left eye, blinding it momentarily. It roars out in pain, and the trees shake around us.

I stumble to Aydan’s side as he slowly gets to his feet. Aydan? Are you—?

Get out of here, he says. His inner voice sounds weak. Run while you can.

No.

I am your Alpha, now, Saffron.

And I am your Luna. The door swings both ways, Aydan. It’s all I have time to say as the beast turns its head back to us. Chad and Yarra have been flung to the side and are lying a few yards away with the wind knocked out of them. The beast glares down at us with its one good eye, blood red and glaring in rage.

It’s going to howl. That horrid sound of a million wolves . . .

Like a lightning bolt, it hits me all at once.

The door swings both ways.

Howl! It’s only one word, but I put everything I have into sending it to all the Scarlets in the darkness around me. Immediately, the message I get back is confusion and terror. I step forward, facing the great beast. This might not work at all, but if it doesn’t, then I’ll have died some kind of honorable death—with my head turned to the sky and a howl hurled at the moon above.

I let loose a glorious howl, sending the sound directly up into the face of the Blood Lycan. Her good eye narrows with confusion, then rage. I’m toast.

My voice is suddenly amplified, rising up from behind me and all around me in the darkness. A wave of warm energy flows around me as my voice is doubled, tripled, quadrupled . . .

They’re howling with me. All the Scarlets. And the sound . . . oh, the sound is music . It’s all our joy and laughter. It’s our sense of adventure and strength. It’s everything and everything all at once . . .

The creature growls in pain, and I open my eyes long enough to see her grimacing and backing away. Oh, my Goddess, it’s working!

That’s it! I mind-link. Keep it up!

The gigantic monster that was once Nadia Vaultmore stumbles and whines in agony, its snout wrinkles up in a pained grimace. As it backs away from me, the fur starts to gray at the ends, then it spreads, the bloody shade receding inward like the plug was pulled in a drain. Her body shrinks, and massive bones crack and bend as her body contorts.

And all the while, a rush of energy fills me. Everything that I lost when she howled for us is coming back. We’re taking our power back from this thing!

A flash of white jumps across my line of vision. Aydan leaps up, head ducking down as he barrels his shoulder into her side. She falls over, and he pins her to the ground, his teeth in the back of her neck.

No! she screams. Get off!

That’s enough, Nadia. This is over.

She struggles, and as our howl dies down, her half-wolf form struggles under her brother’s weight. Her fur is almost all white again with tinges of pink as it disappears from her body, leaving patches of her tan skin exposed.

What . . . what are you doing? Her inner voice is barely a whisper, like the air is leaking out of her lungs. Aydan bites down harder, and she roars, the pained sound mixing with her human voice.

I am your Alpha, Aydan says, and a Neutral. Both of your wolves must submit. Stand the fuck down.

An anguished whine escapes her, and down she shrinks until her fur and snout contract. She transforms back into her human form as the rest of her body goes limp. Aydan finally releases her and backs away, letting her lie there broken and naked in the grass and dirt. Not so intimidating anymore, I guess.

Aydan changes back into human form, and the rest of us follow suit. He’s still staring down at his sister, a storm brewing behind his eyes. I walk over to him and take his hand, but he doesn’t move. He’s just staring down at what’s left of Nadia, golden skin streaked with bright red claw and bite marks.

She seems so frail and delicate, like a translucent butterfly lying dead on the ground. But she’s not dead. I can hear her heart beating and the soft sound of her breath. She’s only unconscious. And she looks cold.

“Robby,” I say. “Can I have your coat?”

Robby takes off his dirty blazer and hands it to me. I drape it over Nadia.

Evil or not, she’s still Aydan’s sister. She’s still a part of his pack . . . our pack.

“It’s over,” I whisper to Aydan. “She’ll get the help she needs.”

Aydan simply nods once.

“Check on the others.” Chad’s commanding the rest of the security team, and I’m only vaguely aware of everything else that’s happening around me.

“Saffron?” Yarra rushes up to us. “Are you two all right?”

“Yes” is all I can say. It’s all I need to say. Aydan’s hand squeezes mine. Then he releases it, and his arm moves around my shoulder as he pulls me into his warmth.