Page 39 of Broken Wolf Heart (Mafia Pack #3)
GREY
I smell them before I see them. Diavolo stench thick on the wind. I’m halfway out the front door when I see movement in the trees.
Then the howls start.
“Ambush,” I roar, already shifting.
My bones tear and reform mid-sprint, pain shearing through me as my wolf bursts free. I don’t stop to give orders. Don’t check whether the others are behind me.
I know they are.
We’ve done this before. Most of us anyway.
Already shifted, Dutch appears on my left—fast and lethal, the blade of our formation. On four legs, Razor is behind him, solid and brutal, our shield. Sleek and fast, Mia takes the right, precise and sharp like a scalpel. And Lexi?—
Lexi is at my side. Already full wolf.
Her white fur blurs in my periphery as we charge the clearing. There’s no hesitation in her. No fear.
Only fury.
They hit us like a wave.
Fangs and claws and snarling bodies crash together in a chaos of teeth and blood. I tear through the first wolf that lunges for me—rip his throat and fling his body aside. Lexi takes the next, leaping high, jaws locking around the spine.
It snaps like dry wood.
Another wolf goes for her flank.
I’m there before he makes contact.
I slam into him, jaws crushing down on his skull. Blood sprays across my muzzle, hot and metallic.
Lexi doesn’t thank me.
She doesn’t need to.
This is what I was made for. Not speeches. Not strategy.
Death.
On my left, Mia flips a wolf onto his back and rips him open with surgical precision. Razor barrels through two more, flinging one into a tree. Dutch is a blur of claws and snapping jaws—his wolf moves like smoke, cutting down enemies before they know he’s there.
And then—Crow arrives.
He joins the fight from the far side like a wrecking ball. No warning. Just a howl and a flash of dark brown fur. He slams into a Diavolo brute twice his size and shreds him to pieces.
The ground is wet now. Mud and blood and fur.
Lexi and I tear through another pair trying to circle back. Her fangs sink into one’s shoulder while I take the other’s throat. They fall together, twitching.
My pulse is wild. I’m not tired. Not even winded.
I’m alive .
Magic buzzes inside me like adrenaline. Franco’s voice echoes in my mind to show no mercy. I have a vague sense that my form is different somehow. Not quite my wolf. Not quite human. But then there are more things to kill, and I forget all about what I look like.
I am pure darkness.
Death incarnate .
Another wolf stumbles, blood pouring from his side. He raises a paw, whines—surrenders.
I glance at Lexi.
She doesn’t hesitate.
Neither do I.
We lunge.
He dies between our jaws.
There’s no room for mercy.
Not anymore.
Not when my father keeps coming. Not when they keep hurting our people.
When the last enemy wolf falls, the clearing is a graveyard.
Panting, shaking, I approach her, lungs burning. Lexi’s still a wolf, pacing beside me, blood soaking her white fur like paint.
She’s beautiful. Terrifying.
Mine.
Somehow, that thought is enough to make the darkness recede. My wolf returns. Then my human form. Until I can feel my control returning over my own thoughts.
All that matters is her.
“Shift,” I whisper. “Come back.”
She stops.
For a long moment, I think she might refuse. Or that she’s stuck, unable to find her humanity again. But then she shudders. The fur melts away, leaving her naked and blood-slicked, crouched in the dirt. She lifts her head, and her striking green eyes are all Lexi again.
I drop to my knees beside her, fingers brushing her dirt-streaked cheek. “You okay?”
She nods once. “You?”
Despite the carnage, I almost smile. “Better now.”
Around us, the others are shifting back, some groaning, some limping. Crow helps Mia to her feet. Razor wipes blood from his arm, scanning the tree line for stragglers.
I do a quick count.
Razor. Mia. Dutch. Crow. Lexi.
“Where’s Andy?” Dutch asks.
Silence.
Everyone freezes.
I look to Dutch.
He shakes his head slowly. “She was next to me when it started. Then I lost sight of her.”
Crow steps forward. “I caught her scent when I first arrived. She was fighting. Then… nothing.”
My stomach drops.
I sniff, but there’s no sign of Andy anywhere nearby.
Lexi stands, her legs wobbly but her voice low and lethal. “They took her.”
I can feel my claws again. The darkness whispering that I was too slow, too merciful.
They didn’t come here to win.
They came to distract us.
And it worked.