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Y elena wasn’t the person I thought I would have at my side corralling panicked deer in hallways or digging hissing possums out of closets.

Lights flashed from the alarm system and I fought my own instincts to bolt.

Yelena was a steady presence in the bond even with all the panic coursing through our pack, and I held on to it with both hands.

She carried a flailing sheep shifter in her arms, shoving them onto the elevator along with the armful of possums I carried while trying to herd a shifter ahead of us.

It’s following them , Velda told us.

Much as I hated that Logan and Haru were a target, it gave us the time we needed to get our people out.

“Find Protectors Velda and Shakti on the lawn,” I yelled to the elevator’s occupants a moment before the door closed.

They would have to handle the evacuation from there. Every door automatically unlocked during an evacuation, so Yelena and I went through each room one by one, closing off ones we had deemed empty.

The fucking alarm was going to drive me up the wall. It wasn’t even as loud as the ones they use in human facilities. I knew it was meant to drive up urgency, but gods-dammit, I was pretty sure it was impossible for me to get any more urgent than I already was.

Everyone was a cacophony in the bond. Logan and Haru were full of adrenaline, Velda a strange combination of relaxation and panic, Seth scared but determined, and Yelena bizarrely in control.

“How are you not freaking out right now?” I asked as we dug through yet another closet, finding a lone raccoon shifter. I clutched them to my chest.

“I will later. Crisis is typically where I thrive.” She turned to the raccoon. “We’re going to get you out safely. Don’t worry.”

Our resident moose shifter was backed into a corner when we opened the next room. I passed Yelena the raccoon and held both hands up, half surrender and half defense. “Change back. There will be room in the vehicles for you, but you can’t stay here.”

I can’t control it .

Their legs swung at me when I tried to get closer. “Easy.”

There’s no fucking easy. We’re all going to die!

“Not if we can get out of here. You’re a sitting duck if you stay in this room.”

I can’t—I can’t leave. I know it’s out there.

Shit. There was no way I could subdue a fucking moose.

They could snap my neck in either form. “Listen, I know you’re scared, and you have every reason to be, but I don’t want you to die here.

” I turned to Yelena. Don’t wait on us. I don’t want to leave him, but I can only spare so much time. Keep going through the rooms.

She departed with a quick nod to carry on our work.

“Marshall, this is important. Every moment I spend with you means a moment taken from someone else. We have a few minutes at most for you to get out safely. Just change back. I’ll carry over my fucking shoulder if I have to, but I can’t help you in this form and you can’t even fit through a door right now. ”

We didn’t have time for this no matter how much I empathized.

Logan.

Kendrick?

Whatever magic you did to change Marshall back into human form during their fight, I need you to send it through me right fucking now.

I don’t know what I did!

Try, or they’re going to die.

I didn’t want to distract her while she was fleeing, but I didn’t know what else to do.

Okay. In three, two…

I threw myself at Marshall while Logan finished the countdown, her magic searing through me and into him, leaving me face-to-face with their human form.

Thank the fucking gods.

Before they could react further, I chucked them over my shoulder exactly like I said I would and shoved my way into the hall, moving toward where I knew Yelena would be.

I’ve got them. Good job, Logan.

A whisper of pride snaked through the bond.

I’m done with the search , came Yelena’s voice in my head. She emerged from the final room in the hallway, two recalcitrant goats hooked under her arms, and the raccoon clinging to her head.

We hustled onto the elevator together, the ride down feeling like a thousand years.

Everyone was outside in full-blown chaos, cramming into vehicles as they streamed out, car after car blitzing down the road in a cloud of dust.

We pushed all of our last-minute additions into the next car available, already outfitted with a relatively calm shifter in the driver seat. Once they zipped off as well, we turned to Velda.

“That’s the last of them,” she said.

“Where are they going?” I asked, knowing Seattle couldn’t take any more of our residents.

“Anyone who has an indigenous-looking animal form is going toward Seattle and onward to Vancouver or Kananaskis, crossing the border as animals. Everyone else is headed south to Medford, some on to Sacramento. Margaret and Shakti have been connecting with the other nests all morning since Calliope went into labor.”

“Did she and her family get out?” I asked.

“She was spitting mad about it, but yes,” Velda replied. “Dr. Atling and Sarah went with her. I shoved Cora in with Shakti to make sure she didn’t try to stay.”

The last few vehicles disappeared down the road, leaving the nest painfully empty. I stood with Yelena, Velda, Caden, and Seth, staring into the woods where Logan and Haru had disappeared, risking their lives for the nest.

I’d been such a prick when Caden had suggested Logan be a Protector, assuming it was a simple power grab, and not something that was at the core of her being.

I knew she was forced to face this, that running was probably far more appealing, but if it meant saving us, she was willing to put herself in danger.

No matter how many times I had witnessed it, it was still a shock.

Our omega needed us to surrender our power. Mere weeks ago I never would’ve been able to do that, but even without knowing its purpose, she had shown me I was capable of it.

Please, gods, let us make it through this. It didn’t matter if I was missing my shifting or the magic core that gave me an extended life, I wanted to spend whatever years we had left together.

I slipped my hand into Seth’s. Warm affection buzzed through the bond when he turned to look at me. He took Caden’s hand on the other side, starting a chain reaction, Caden reaching for Yelena, and Yelena for Velda.

I had no intention of going quietly, even if I was willing to surrender the core of myself. I would give what was necessary, but I desperately didn’t want death to be in the cards. My pack was here with me, a steady presence in the bond no matter how afraid we all were.

Whatever happened, I was glad I didn’t have to face it alone.