Cursed Mate (Feral Shifters 3)

We’re wasting time!

I nudge Malix’s shoulder with my own. Shh. Just wait.

We watch in total silence as porch lights pop on at the highest cabins, those only a stone’s throw from our hiding place. Wolves begin to pour from the cabins, and I duck deeper into the bushes, peering out between the leaves to watch them race away from us. Down the mountain, where our allies are stirring up trouble.

Now, Kian grunts. Then he takes off.

I fall in behind Malix with Frost on my heels. We stick to the shadows behind the cabins, and all I can do is trust that Kian knows where the hell he’s going.

The night fills with the chaos of confused fighting, while Felicity and her wolves communicate in mind speak. So much is happening that I can’t seem to focus on anything but the clamor and Felicity’s authoritative voice snapping directions to her pack.

As we round the backside of a cabin, a figure looms out of the darkness. It’s a female in her human form, clearly as caught off-guard by our appearance as we are by hers. She opens her mouth to scream, whether at us or for help, I don’t know.

Kian leaps onto the woman, his jaws clamping onto her face. He takes her down to the ground hard, and when she shrieks, the sound is muffled inside Kian’s mouth.

Do not kill her! I snap.

He growls, and even in the growing dusk, I can see his jaw tighten just a little more.

Don’t you dare, I warn him, adding just enough of a menacing growl to make sure he knows I mean business. No casualties, Kian. Not if we can help it. She was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time.

He growls, a surly, irritated sound, then slams the woman’s head on the ground, knocking her out cold before he opens his jaws and releases her. A dozen small pinpricks of blood line the side of her head where his teeth tore into her skin, but she’s breathing, so crisis averted.

The Silver Crest pack’s attempts to stir confusion appear to be going well, based on the little communication I can make out of the bedlam. I know Felicity’s plans included a kind of darting, figure-eights game that will hopefully keep Quinton’s wolves occupied and distracted, without putting any of her shifters in danger. Since that level of the plan seems to be working, I’m buoyed by the idea that our half will go well too.

We enter another copse of trees on the other side of the village. Several yards into the dark forest, a small clearing opens up to the fading sky. Kian stops in the center of the clearing, shadows swirling around him as he returns to human form. For a moment, I think there’s nothing here, until he stoops down and hooks a finger into the ground.

A hidden trap door opens, leading to a claustrophobic stairwell that descends into total blackness. Frost and Malix shift, as well, and I’m about to do the same when Kian lays his hand on my head.

“Stay in your wolf form and monitor the fight,” he tells me. “If the tides turn, we need to know.”

I nod. It makes sense, but it’s still odd to be the only wolf left in our group.

With my heart racing and Felicity’s voice echoing in my head, I follow my men into the darkness.