Heartsong (Green Creek 3)

“Yeah? Why don’t you come down here and we’ll see who’s breakable.” Jessie tilted her head side to side, popping her neck as she smacked the end of her crowbar against her hand. “I think you’ll be surprised.”

Michelle laughed bitterly. “I’m sure I will. You have a warrior’s heart. I can see that. It won’t be enough, but I see you. Jessie, isn’t it? The schoolteacher. And Rico. The roughneck from the garage.”

“Fuck you too, bitch,” Rico growled.

Her gaze crawled dismissively over the rest of us until it fell upon Kelly. I stepped forward, but it wasn’t enough. “And you. Kelly Bennett. This is because of you. You just couldn’t let him go. You just couldn’t let things be.”

“You stole from me,” Kelly said coldly. “And I’m going to make sure you never touch him again.”

“Are you?” Michelle asked. “And just how are you going to do—”

Kelly moved, almost quicker than I could follow. He stepped around me, raising his gun. A sharp crack of gunfire caused my ears to ring and my eyes to water.

Had it been anyone else, the headshot would have been true.

But he was dealing with an Alpha.

She jerked her head to the side and the silver bullet embedded itself in the door behind her.

The sound of the gun rolled over the lake and echoed throughout the compound.

Michelle’s expression twisted, her face elongating. “You shouldn’t have done that.”

“Behind you!” Aileen cried.

I glanced over my shoulder.

There, standing on the path that led away from the Alpha’s house, was a thin man.

He stood stiffly, as if all his muscles were tensing at once. His mouth hung open. A line of spittle fell from his bottom lip onto his chin. His eyes were completely white. He breathed, but it was harsh, chest heaving. He took a step toward us, but it was unnatural, his knees barely bending. He looked as if he were attached to unseen strings, like a puppet.

And I knew him.

Once he’d given me the truth, though I hadn’t known it then.

You. Are. Wolf.

You. Are. Pack.

You. Are. Bennett.

“Dale,” Gordo snarled. Mark roared as he stood next to his mate, tail curling around Gordo’s waist.

Dale didn’t respond. I wasn’t even sure he was Dale anymore.

He raised his hands, fingers twitching.

“Move!” Patrice shouted.

There was a beat where nothing happened.

Then all hell broke loose.

Michelle leapt from the porch toward the Alphas, dress tearing as she shifted. Joe shoved Ox to the side, and Michelle landed on the ground where they’d been standing, the tatters of her dress falling off her back and onto the ground. Her wolf was larger than I remembered, rivaling Ox and Joe and the timber wolf. Her eyes were on fire.

Before she could move again, Elizabeth jumped onto her back, claws digging in. Her head moved viper-quick, and Michelle yelped when fangs sunk into the back of her neck, Elizabeth’s head jerking side to side.

Gordo shouted in warning as the ground underneath our feet began to break apart. I looked back in time to see bright colors swirling in front of Dale as magic gathered at his fingertips. His mouth was still open and his eyes were still white, but he fell to his knees, slamming his hands onto the ground.