I thought about getting out of the car but didn’t have enough time. I rolled myself into a ball in my seat and hoped for the best.
I covered my face with my hands, but couldn’t help watching through the cracks in my fingers as the thing got closer. The ground rattled underneath the car.
I closed my eyes, bracing for impact.
And then there was nothing. No more rattling. Everything was still and quiet.
I sat up slowly and looked around. But I couldn’t find it. I crawled between the seats to make sure the beast was really gone and pressed my nose to the rear window. It was like it’d never been there in the first place. If the road in front of the car hadn’t been destroyed, I would’ve thought I’d been hallucinating.
Fucking teleporting fey.
The wolves started a song of grief as I put the car in gear. They kept pace with the car as I closed the distance with Donovan.
After another minute, I turned the corner and started passing rows of flats. Shops were sprinkled in with the houses until I hit the main street. Groceries, restaurants, and little mom and pop stores lined the street on either side.
Donovan was still in wolf form, standing in the middle of a roundabout in the center of town. A large statue of a human man towered over him, and beside him was a dark blob. I wasn’t sure what it was until I got a little closer and my heart sank.
If I hadn’t seen John’s room, I wouldn’t know what I was looking at. But I did.
The fey creature had found its second victim.
I parked in front of a Tesco and slowly made my way to Donovan. I was already too late. Rushing didn’t matter anymore.
The wolves ignored me as I wove through them. The entire pack gathered around the roundabout, singing the mourning song. Pack magic tingled along my skin, urging me to shift and join them in their song, but I wasn’t a member of their pack so I could ignore the pull. Someone needed to be in human form and properly dressed if any actual humans showed up. Even if the noise of the murder hadn’t woken anyone, the call would. Why this hadn’t occurred to them baffled me.
The wolves continued howling as I made my way to Donovan. Blood was dripping down his hind leg, but other than that, he seemed okay. He was much better off than what was left of the person beside him. A severed head was the only recognizable part. I swallowed, trying to not think about the life that had been taken, but the face… He was younger than me. Maybe fourteen.
“Who would do this?” I said to no one.
Two wolves approached the remains. One made a keening sound that ripped my heart in two. She lay beside what was left of the boy, her body shuddering with grief.
The other wolf snarled viciously at Donovan. He leaped at my mate, but Donovan put up a wall of power. The wolf hit it as if it were a physical thing and fell back, but that didn’t stop him from snarling.
An angry father. I got it. But this wasn’t Donovan’s fault.
Donovan didn’t retaliate but sat there calmly staring the father down. Finally, the other wolf ran off, leaving his mate behind to mourn.
I knew that everyone expressed grief differently, but how could he leave his mate? I tried to go to her, but her keening turned to a snarl.
I’d let them slide on the lack of an emergency plan, but not helping a distraught pack member? What the hell was wrong with these wolves? That was beyond unacceptable. “Someone come comfort her.”
A few wolves stopped their song to growl at me.
“Someone help her.” This time I used some of Donovan’s power to back my command. I didn’t care who I pissed off. They might not like me right now, but I was right. Someone needed to go to the mother.
Finally, two wolves stepped up to curl around either side of her.
I glanced back at the head. I’d thought someone from the pack was working with the fey, but maybe I was wrong. Why would any Were kill a pup? It didn’t make sense.
And why was this kid out here in the first place?
A car came around the bend. Its headlights blinded me, and I had to hold up my hand to block out the light. The wolves didn’t seem to react to the driver other than stopping their song for a second, so I took my cue from them. Whoever this was, he wasn’t a bad guy. He was just a dick for not turning off his lights.
The driver parked his car half on the center of the roundabout and opened his door, leaving the engine running. “What in the name of Christ is goin’ on out here?” He said as he stepped out.
“You mind?” I asked, waving at the lights.
“Aye. Sorry.” He leaned back in, and thankfully the lights went dark.