Ravensong (Green Creek 2)

Joe moved in front of his mate.

The man tried to stop, but he slid in the snow right into Joe’s open jaws. He barely made a sound as the jaws shut tight.

The woman was last.

Her arms moved.

Her fingers twitched.

One of the shifted Omegas, a thin and mangy creature, rose in the air in front of her. She twisted her wrist, muttering under her breath, and it folded in half, the sound of its back breaking loud and wet. It writhed, feet kicking, and she threw it at a small group of approaching Omegas. They yelped as the wolf collided with them.

A half-shifted wolf came running at her from her left, but she raised her leg at an angle before slamming it down against the ground in the snow. The ground split beneath the Omega, swallowing it down to its hips before closing around it. It struggled to pull itself out, but then it tilted its head back and screamed as it began to thrash. Whatever was happening below the ground was hurting it, and it took only seconds before it slumped over, violet fading from its unblinking eyes.

But that was as much damage as she could do.

Another Omega jumped at her, and she stumbled backward through the wards.

Directly into Ox.

She whirled around, the Omegas behind her throwing themselves against the wards, trying to get through to her, to their Alpha.

Ox wrapped a hand around her throat, lifting her off the ground.

Her feet kicked uselessly.

She clung to his bare arm as he lowered her face toward his.

She said, “My name is Emma,” and Ox stopped.

The feral Omegas growled along the wards. There were so many of them.

“My name is Emma,” she said again, voice frantic. “Emma Patterson. I am Emma. I am Emma. I am Emma.”

Ox’s half shift faded.

He blinked slowly up at her.

And then—

He set her down on the ground.

She wheezed as he let go of her neck.

“Emma,” Ox said. “Emma Patterson.”

She nodded. “Yes. Yes. Yes. You said you only wanted my name. You asked me for my name—”

She was smart. We were distracted. Violence and bloodshed spread out before us, and this woman, this tiny woman, was sobbing her name, telling us to please spare her, her name was Emma and she didn’t want to be here, this wasn’t even her idea, she only went along with it because she had to, she thought she had to.

It was only at the last second that I saw her reaching into her coat. The moonlight caught the blade, causing it to glitter in the dark. The knife was long and curved, looking as if it were made of pure silver.

They couldn’t see it. Not like I could. She was bent away from them.

I ran toward her. Toward my Alpha.

She spun on her heels, bringing the knife out in a flat arc and—

I reached out to grab her wrist and overshot.