Animals ✔

Chapter 26

I've never seen her wolf before. She's not as large as Ira, but she looks just as menacing.

I don't know what she's doing here. Does it mean Tiberius is here?

Maybe they found Callum? I try not to think about it. I hope he's alright.

The sound of Nora's menacing growl pulls me out of my thoughts and I look up on time to see Ira launching himself at her.

It's a flurry of claws and teeth, and it's impossible to tell who's winning. Nora keeps backing up, pushing me further and further from the fight before moving back to the snarling black wolf.

She's trying to get me to run. It takes a second for me to realize it, but when she retreats into me once more, it doesn't take a genius to figure it out.

If there's one thing I know about Nora, it's that she doesn't retreat. Ever.

I scramble to my feet.

My head is still spinning, but I try to ignore it. I don't make a move to run though, how can I just leave her alone with him?

It's not that I don't think she can take him. But she doesn't know him. Doesn't know that he'll do anything to win. He's not afraid to go low.

He gnashes his jaws in her direction, inches from striking her neck. They separate briefly, circling each other and snarling. I step back against the wall.

I reach for the heat, feeling it there. It washes over me, calming my shaking limbs and pounding heart. It's part of me.

My eyes lock on Ira. I hesitate for half a second, considering how I've changed since he first forced his way into my life.

The fur on his back catches first, spreading quickly until nearly his entire body has caught on fire and his whimpers fill the air. He stops fighting to roll on the floor, but the flames aren't doused. He rolls into a rug and it lights up like a match, spreading quickly to a table, a couch, the curtains.

This time, I don't look away. I can't. Maybe this is just who I am. Danger. Destruction.

Nora pulls me out of my head, aggressively nudging my legs with her snout and forcing me to stumble back.

I follow her out of the burning house and into the large back lawn. But I'm not prepared for what's waiting for me.

The yard is a battlefield.

Wolves attack wolves in the dark of night, and the sounds of their fighting – growls and howls and anguished whimpers – fill the air. I stop short. All of this... because of me?

Not just you, I remind myself before I have the chance to fall apart. He took far more than just you. This is vengeance. Justice.

But still, I can't tear my eyes away from the fighting.

Nora doesn't hesitate to leap into the fray, and without her by my side, my knees feel weak. My adrenaline is fading fast, as I stagger slowly away from the house.

My eyes rove over the battlefield, searching. None of them seem to have noticed me yet.

I almost don't see him.

The white parts of his fur are dark with blood as he leaps at an incoming wolf, wrapping his jaws around its neck and tossing it aside. Just a few weeks ago, I would have probably thrown up at the sight of such senseless violence.