I panted toward the ground as the hunter pressed the gun to the back of my head, standing above me.
“I’ll do it,” the hunter said. “Don’t think I won’t. You don’t like that, do you? This one yours, Omega? How is that? I thought Omegas traveled alone.” He cocked the gun as the wolf took another step toward us. “Unless it’s that magic I heard about. Nasty shit if you ask me. All witches should be put down, just like the wolves. This is a human world, and it should stay that way.”
I rocked back on my knees, the wound on my head healing even as blood dripped down the side of my face. I looked back up at him, still caught in my half-shift. I grinned, and he flinched. “Killed your people,” I growled. “Killed them dead.”
The man nodded slowly. “That you did. Shame, too. Aren’t many of us left. Not like there used to be. Your kind has seen to that.” Quick like lightning, he pulled out another gun as the wolf roared at him, and pointed it at the wolf’s head. The others aimed their guns at the wolf too, and I felt the moon on my face. If I was going to die here, if we were going to die, we’d put up a good fight. I thought Kelly would be proud of me.
The man said, “The way I see it, this can go one of two ways. The right way and the other way. The right way being that I put you down like the rabid dogs you are.” He dug the barrel into the side of my head. I felt my skin split. “The other way—and I’m a big fan of this one, so pay attention—the other way is that you shift back and tell me how many more there are of you. Because I was expecting one, and yet here we have two. By that logic, there could be three or four. Hell, there could be a whole pack of Omegas. You shift back and tell me how many and where they are. And then I put you down. I know that might not seem like a good deal for you, but I’ll tell you what. In the long run, I think it’ll do us both some good. You won’t have to feel like your brain is on fire, burning you from the inside out. I’ll get to help a few more of your kind to see the error of their ways. And since I’m the magnanimous sort, I’ll sweeten the pot a little.” He kicked me in the back, knocking me forward. “This one seems awfully fond of you. I’ll kill you first and then him so you won’t have to watch.” He stepped on my back, pressing down heavily. “Ticktock. Ticktock.”
The timber wolf roared at him again.
“Shift back,” the man said.
“There’s no one else,” I snapped at him. “There’s no one here, you piece of shit, you motherfucke
r. I’ll kill you, I’ll fucking kill you—”
A sharp crack of gunfire.
Pain unlike anything I’d ever felt bowled through me. I screamed into the ground as the silver began to burn in the back of my calf.
“He’s got a few more limbs,” the hunter said mildly. “I’ll put a bullet in them too.”
The wolf moved back. The other hunters tracked every step he took.
“Run,” I said, teeth grinding together. “You hear me? You run.”
He didn’t.
He tilted his head back and howled a rage-filled song.
It felt like a forest fire overtaking me.
Grass tickled my cheek.
Kelly crouched down next to me. He pressed his hand against my sweat-slick forehead.
“I’m sorry,” I told him.
He smiled sadly. “I know.”
The timber wolf’s howl echoed through the forest.
And as it began to die, there came an answering howl.
I’d never heard such a sound. It came from all around, as if it were in the air itself. My body shook at the heavy weight of it, the furious song of a monster.
Kelly said, “He’s coming. Carter, whatever you do, whatever happens next, you need to leave while you still can.”
“Not without—”
His eyes flashed orange. “No. It’s too late for him, it’s too late, and you need to—”
Trees crashed in the forest. The roots groaned as they were torn from the ground. The hunters covering the wolf in front of me pointed their guns toward the forest, panicked looks on their faces. The barrels of their guns shook. The surviving woman took a step back.
“What is this?” the hunter above me breathed. “What the fuck is this?”
“Alpha,” I whispered.