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CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

ZURI

“We need a plan,” I said, hurrying after all the warrior wolves racing out of the house.

Stone rushed by me and headed for the back door, growling to himself. I ran up to him, grabbed his wrist, and dug my heels into the ground. If they ran out to Derrit blindly, then it would be even worse.

“Stone,” I attempted to reason, “please, you have to be careful.”

“We will.”

“You don’t know what he’s capable of,” I whispered.

Twirling around, Stone stopped at the back door. “ You haven’t seen what I’m capable of.”

My eyes widened slightly, brow furrowing. I … he was right. I didn’t know what he was capable of, but I had seen what Derrit could do with his own magic. As far as I knew, Stone didn’t possess any kind of magic. At least none like that.

“You’re staying here,” Stone growled at me.

His eyes burned black, his canines dripped with thick saliva, and his claws extended far past where I had ever seen them. I hadn’t seen him this pissed since he’d brought me home and then gone back to my old pack to burn it to the ground.

Tears welled up in my eyes, but I refused to back down. “You’re not leaving me alone.”

After snarling at me, he turned toward the door. “Don’t leave my side and stay shifted.”

And then he leaped into the air, transformed into his large black wolf, and ran into the forest. I followed in his footsteps, shifting into my wolf and running after him, pushing myself so fast to catch up to him.

Halfway to the borders, he glanced over his shoulder at me. “Don’t fall behind.”

“We should go to his camp,” I said through the mind link. “This has to be a trap.”

“I’m going to murder him,” Stone said, running faster.

“You need to outsmart him. Not out-magic or out-muscle him.”

Wolves howled in the distance. I cursed underneath my breath and continued forward to catch up with Stone’s large beast. Two enemy wolves lunged at me from the back left, and I barely even caught sight of them before Stone turned and ripped their throats from their bodies.

They smacked against the ground with a thud as blood dripped from Stone’s canines. I jumped over Stone, spotting another wolf lunging toward us, and swiped my claws across his belly, so deep that his guts spilled out onto the ground.

“Protect my neck,” Stone said. “And I’ll protect yours.”

Three more enemies ran at us from the north, and I swept my snout underneath my mate’s neck while he lunged forward to fight the beasts. Adrenaline rushed through my system. My mind was focused on one thing: my mate.

A wolf reached under in an attempt to bite Stone in the throat, but I caught his snout between my canines and bit down so hard that I crushed his nose and jaw in the process. He howled out in pain as Stone finished him off by swiping his claws across his belly.

“When I tell you to run,” Stone stated, “you run.”

I howled in response. “I’m not leaving you out here alone.”

Another two wolves lunged at us from behind. Stone whipped his tail so hard that after the impact, one flew through the air and smacked into a tree. The other caught my backside between his teeth, and I fell onto my belly and growled in pain.

A ferocious growl escaped Stone’s mouth, and he sank his teeth into the wolf’s neck, shattering every bone inside it until the wolf released his grip on me.

And then Stone jumped on our enemy, tore each of his limbs off, and continued to rip him apart until patches of his fur littered the forest around us.

I scrambled to my feet and dipped my head underneath Stone’s neck as the other wolf ran toward us from the tree. I snapped my mouth around his neck and tore out his throat to protect my mate.

Blood dribbled from my mouth and onto the leaves underneath my paws. Stone roared and spit out guts onto the ground, scanning the area for any other sign of enemy wolves or his own brother.

“There are too many of them. My packmates are dying. When I say to run, you run.”

“And leave you here?” I exclaimed. “No.”

“Unless you want to see me turn into the demon who burned down your old pack, run.”

“I’m not going anywhere unless it’s with you,” I said. “If we die here, we die together.”

A low growl escaped his throat. “We won’t die tonight.”

Fire suddenly blazed from his fingertips, engulfing his entire body. The man that was Stone was no more, and a demon stood in his place, taking over his body, flesh becoming burned charcoal and the whites of his eyes becoming black masses.

Trees were set aflame, creating a ring of fire around the fighting and corpses. It burned so heavily and so hot that any wolf who attempted to leap over the fire burned to dust within moments, their ashes drifting in the blazing breeze.

Sweat rolled down my back, yet I stood behind Stone and watched the enemies burn to pieces around us. I stared up at him, my heart pounding and my nipples taut. It wasn’t the time or the place, but I had never seen such … strength and power in my life.

And when all the enemies burned away in the madness, the fire died out within Stone’s body. He stood before me, breathing heavily as pieces of his flesh burned with the flames. Part of me believed that we might really have a shot at beating Derrit.

That we could possibly win.

James stood over the enemy wolves, shaking his head.

“Find Derrit,” Stone said to the remaining warriors. He walked over to James and placed a hand on his shoulder, squeezing gently. “You good?—”

Before he could finish his sentence, James turned around and slammed his extended claws right into Stone’s throat and hurled him halfway across the wooden landscape. “I’m right here, brother. You’ve already found me.”

Blood gushed from Stone’s mouth, and he collapsed onto the ground, his body transforming into his human. I shifted into my human and dropped to my knees, my hands on his wound to keep it closed so he wouldn’t die.

“Stone,” I whimpered, fingers shaking.

“R-run,” he said, voice a hoarse whimper.

“I’m not going?—”

“Run before he kills you too.”