Page 40

CHAPTER

TWENTY

Avery

Above them, the metal viewing platform creaks. Avery squints at the rock’s high crest, eyes burning from drips of sweat, and sees the blurry outline of Beryl, crouched between the railing and Arch Rock itself.

The cougar doesn’t have time to release Avery before Beryl pounces.

Despite whatever care Beryl puts into not landing on Avery’s head, the cougar doesn’t let go easily, and its teeth ripping through Avery’s forearm sends him reeling back into the pile of leftover hair and skin cells.

His freshly shortened bones snap into place, body reabsorbing whatever collagen it can as it mends everything the werevirus just warped and broke.

Gasping, Avery scrubs sweat from his eyes.

His body aches and leftover hair has matted over sticky trails of blood, irritating wounds in various stages of healing.

The alpha magic is running dry, leaving Avery barely able to keep up with everywhere he’s been maimed.

Taking a night to sleep off exhaustion in Sascha’s arms was far from sufficient in restoring his depleted energy reserves; clearly, it wasn’t enough for Sascha, either.

Though Avery wills himself to stand, his body refuses.

He counts the seconds until shifters rip him apart, limb from naked limb, but the longer it goes without happening, the more of his wits return.

Finally, he passes a hand through the brittle remains of his detransformation, reducing it to a pile of dust, over which he sees Petra hanging off the wrong side of the metal railing with her large medical bag slung over her shoulder.

Avery yelps when she jumps, adrenaline finally giving him the strength to move.

Petra lands hard on her booted feet but doesn’t appear bothered by the impact.

Her eyes slide past Avery, to where Sascha is moaning behind him.

Beryl turns from whomever they’re growling at to glance at Petra, but fortunately doesn’t mark her as a threat, instead going back to snarling straight ahead.

Avery sidesteps to let Petra pass, making a beeline toward Sascha. He then follows Beryl’s gaze, and when his eyes land on their target, all the breath leaves his lungs.

Celeste, along with a man who Avery guesses must be Sascha’s father, the Madison pack alpha, are standing on the viewing platform directly parallel to Arch Rock.

Suddenly aware that he’s naked and disgusting, Avery staggers back, covering his crotch with one hand.

Most shifters are apathetic to nudity, but this isn’t that—it’s Sascha’s dad seeing him for the first time, a scrawny, injured werecreature standing defenseless between him and his son.

Avery lacks even the nerve to growl or show fangs.

A visual standoff follows. Members of both packs watch their alphas, waiting for instructions.

Avery stares at the alphas, too, unwilling to look away even when he hears Sascha mumble behind him.

All Avery wants is to go to him, but knows enough about shifter posturing to be aware that averting his gaze first would be seen as a sign of submission .

“Beryl,” Celeste snaps, breaking the silence. “What the fuck do you think you’re doing?”

Rather than speak or shift back to answer their alpha, Beryl hisses.

They don’t turn away either, but manage to inch backward and wrap their snakelike spine around Avery, wide back hiding the worst of his exposed body.

As far as statements go, it’s a clear indicator of transferred loyalty.

Avery doesn’t know what to do other than pet them in gratitude, stroking a jagged orange stripe as his gaze links with the Madison alpha’s unwavering one.

The rage in Sascha’s father’s eyes speaks loud and clear, but Avery refuses to show any further weakness.

“You,” the man says, pointing at Avery. “You will stand down.” Oppressive weight from his alpha magic clogs the air, demanding Avery’s submission.

Without enough magic to generate any matching display, pure stubbornness is all that keeps Avery upright. “You fuckers are the ones who started the fight. No one would’ve gotten hurt if you weren’t stalking us.”

“Tracking my son’s location to ensure his safety isn’t stalking.”

Avery’s mouth opens as he processes that. Tracking …?

Although they abandoned the car so the geolocation function wouldn’t give away their position, Sascha’s father had his phone for days.

While Sascha turned off location permissions, that doesn’t mean there aren’t other ways to track a device.

If that’s the case, even getting the flight to St. Ignace wouldn’t have kept them from discovery.

“Sascha is way less safe with a fucking wolfpack attacking him. Or did you not notice how many times they almost killed him while trying to take me down?”

“All the better reason for you to give yourself up now, without any more pointless fighting.”

“Why, so you can kill me?”

“Yes. ”

His candor momentarily shocks Avery into silence. Beryl rumbles in displeasure, so Avery pets them again. “Why would I let you kill me? Y’know, just wondering.”

Sascha’s father looks away first, his eyes flicking past Avery to where Petra is murmuring at Sascha.

Avery doesn’t let himself look—he keeps his eyes trained on the Madison alpha, asserting control over the situation despite lacking any remaining alpha magic to bolster his display of confidence. It’s a bluff, but Avery does his best.

“You just admitted that your presence is endangering Alexander, did you not?” Avery opens his mouth to argue, but Sascha’s father talks over him.

“Alexander will never be safe with you. If you truly care for him, you’ll surrender and remove yourself from the equation.

I don’t trust either of you to stay away from each other, so this is the only way to ensure Alexander’s continued safety. ”

“Sascha is an adult who can make his own decisions,” Avery responds, not letting on to his amusement at Sascha not having mentioned his given name was actually Alexander .

When they get out of this—and they will, Avery is now doubly determined to make it so—Avery is going to tease Sascha about it. Mercilessly and at length.

The Madison alpha frowns deeply. “Alexander’s disability makes him vulnerable. Not that you care to?—”

“Disability doesn’t make anyone less of an adult,” Avery snaps.

“Don’t interrupt me.”

“Fuck off, how about that?”

The cougar alpha’s hands shake. “I’m giving you one chance to make this choice peacefully.”

“My answer remains that you can go fuck yourself.”

“Samuel,” Celeste says, drawing her fellow alpha’s attention toward her. “Enough.”

Avery keeps his eyes on Sascha’s father—Samuel—for several seconds more, ensuring the arrogant shifter really feels it , before shifting his attention to Celeste.

Celeste looks back at Avery, her gold wolf eyes flashing. “Werecreature. If you’d prefer to not die, this is your last chance to accept my offer. Otherwise, I’ll greatly enjoy having my wolves hold you down so I can rip you to shreds.”

“Celeste, you can’t trust a?—”

Head whipping toward Samuel, she growls, “I know what I’m doing. Don’t forget that I’m not subservient to you, cougar . You have no authority over me or my pack.”

Avery remains silent while the alphas bare their teeth at each other, scratching more forcefully against Beryl’s shoulder to keep himself from visibly shaking. They lean their weight against him briefly.

Celeste snaps her fingers. “Zuhr. Come forward.”

The stocky werecreature moves out of the shadows where she and the rest of Celeste’s bitch pack were lurking.

Memories of her hand around Sascha’s throat have Avery’s fangs dropping, and he curls his lip with a growl.

Samuel takes a step aside, putting additional space between himself and the werecreatures.

Fucking coward. Avery opens his mouth to call Samuel a piece of shit bigot who bases his self-superiority on irrational fear, but closes it when Celeste speaks first.

“As you can see by the actions of my former enforcer, I’m aware that loyalty can be bought and shifted. Thus, if the ursine makes the wise decision to submit to me, I’ll accept him only with insurance.”

“Are you gonna take out a State Farm policy?” Avery snarks.

Shockingly, Celeste laughs. “In a way. Zuhr is skilled in applied magic, as you might have noticed. There are techniques designed to subdue carriers of the werevirus.” Zuhr’s spine straightens, her eyes widening in alarm.

“You’ll allow Zuhr to imprint her magic onto yours, tethering you to my control. ”

Beryl’s entire body vibrates in a deafening snarl. Avery curls his fingers into their fur, lips parted wordlessly as he processes the implications of such magic existing.

“Alpha,” Zuhr says, her voice surprisingly timid despite her fierceness during physical conflict. “I wouldn’t— Can’t perform those techniques.”

“Nonsense. The magic can only be used by other werecreatures, and you’re more than capable. You’ll do it if I say you will.” When Zuhr hesitates, Celeste adds, “Think of your brother.”

Avery raises his voice to ensure Celeste’s attention diverts to him, away from the werecreature. “Weaponizing someone’s family to get them to obey you? Definitely seems like your pack follows you out of respect.”

“Limiting your power to respect is weak.”

“Is that why your strongest enforcer is currently protecting me, not you?”

Celeste slams her fist on the metal railing, the clanging sound running along the support rods. “You have thirty seconds to make your decision, werecreature.”

“I don’t need them. You both can drown, for all I care. Leave Sascha and me the fuck alone.”

“Fine.” Celeste bares her teeth, her voice grating when she says, “Samuel. Call your pack. We’ll end this.”

“Gladly,” Samuel says.