I was trapped.
He took another step toward me, hands coming up because he knew what a cornered animal would do. He knew that I was on the edge, and the moon was so bright, so strong, so fucking close.
He said, “Listen.”
He said, “I need you to listen, okay?”
I jerked my head as the wolf and witch behind me began to move.
“Robbie,” the wolf in front of me snapped. “Look at me.”
I did. I was helpless not to.
He nodded. “Good. That’s good. It’s me, Robbie.” He took a deep breath. “It’s me. It’s Kelly.”
And I said, “Who?”
His face crumpled immediately, and I was submerged in the blue, drowning in an ocean that rose around me. He hurt. He hurt so fucking bad that I didn’t know how he could stand it.
“Kelly,” he whispered. “I’m Kelly.”
The witch said, “Can we do this later? We need to leave. Now.”
The Alphas took a step toward us.
The man in front of me—Kelly—shook his head furiously. “Wait. Just—”
Gordo said, “We don’t have time to wait,” as the brown wolf growled low in its throat. “They’ll be right behind him. And if it’s really my father, then we need to—”
They shouted after me as I ran toward the side of the bridge. Kelly screamed my name as I vaulted over the edge. My clothing tore as I fell, wind whipping around me. Muscle and bone groaned and broke as I listened to the moon.
I landed on the ground as a wolf, dust billowing around me.
I
need to
run
run
escape
find a tree
hide
quiet as a mouse
i am wolf
i
barely made it from under the shadow of the bridge before my shift was ripped from me in a terrible burst of magic, causing me to fall to my knees, and I was surrounded by wolves.
One was large and gray with flecks of black and white on its hind legs. It had violet eyes.
The second and third wolves were smaller. They were white and brown with black hair across their backs. Their eyes were orange, but they stood side by side with the Omega like it didn’t matter, like they weren’t scared.