Heartsong (Green Creek 3)

There was a deep rumble as the ground split, columns of dirt and rock shooting up around us. The people around me cried out as some of them were knocked off their feet. Kelly raised his gun and fired again, this time aiming for Dale, but the bullet ricocheted off an unseen barrier in front of Dale with a sharp whine.

I grabbed Kelly by the hand and pulled him out of the way just as another column rose where he’d been standing, dirt and grass and rock showering down around us.

Then the children came.

They ran out from between the houses.

They fell from the rooftops.

A couple of them crawled from the lake, water dripping from their little bodies, eyes alight in Omega violet. They weren’t shifted, but hair sprouted and receded along their faces, and their claws were wicked sharp, like little needles.

We broke apart, our group moving in opposite directions. I turned in time to see Michelle knock Elizabeth off her back, the wolf mother landing on the ground with a terrible crash. Joe and Ox both shifted, black and white, yin and yang, and charged Michelle.

Gordo’s tattoos were as bright as I’d ever seen them as Mark charged Dale. For a moment, I thought he’d get there and tear out his throat, but Dale raised his head, eyes wide. Mark stopped in his tracks with a surprised whine before he rose off the ground, levitating a few feet in the air. His body contorted painfully before he slammed into the side of a house, the siding cracking before giving way.

“Oh,” Gordo breathed, “you should not have done that.”

I grabbed Kelly by the hand and pulled him away from the house as Rico followed us, gun raised. “Who do I shoot?” he was screaming. “Who do I shoot?”

I didn’t know.

Rico couldn’t shoot the children as they swarmed the wolves. Patrice cried out in pain when a little girl sunk her claws into his leg. One of the Alphas lifted a child—a boy named Caden who’d smiled brightly whenever he’d seen me—and hurled him into the lake. He landed with a splash and breached the surface, sputtering, already moving back toward the shore.

Rico couldn’t shoot Michelle, as she was tangled up in a drag-out fight with Joe and Ox, each of them moving in a blur, drawing blood. Joe’s white fur was splashed with it. Michelle was savage in her attacks, going low, and Ox whined when her teeth closed around his right back leg and bit down.

Rico couldn’t shoot Dale, as there was a barrier in front of him.

It was chaos.

The timber wolf was furious when a little girl landed on top of Carter, stabbing Carter at the back of his neck. Gavin went for her, looking feral, but Carter snapped himself to the side. The girl fell off him and landed on the ground, slowly blinking up at the sky.

“We have to help them,” Kelly panted, sweat dripping off his forehead. “We have to—”

There, standing near the back of the Michelle’s house, was Tony.

Next to him was Brodie, the boy whose pack had been so cruelly taken from him.

They were holding hands, their eyes violet. Tony looked at me blankly. He didn’t recognize me. Neither did Brodie.

I took a step toward them.

They turned and ran.

I chased after them.

“Robbie, no!” Kelly screamed

as I shifted and hit the ground running as a

wolf

i am wolf

i am

pack

i am