HAVEN ✓

Forty-Six

Sweat drips down my back as I adjust my grip on the atomizer. The day has melted into twilight, but the glaring lights around the perimeter illuminate the monstrous group of Skinwalkers that are growing in number right before our eyes. Their wails echo in the shadows, a longing, mourning sound. It sends gooseflesh rippling across my skin.

"Are you sure this is going to work?" Rhett asks Miles who is fiddling with the breaker box affixed to one of the power stations along the fence.

Miles turns and claps a hand on my brother's shoulder. "You're the scientist, I'm the strategist. It will work." He gives me the smallest grin. "Just make sure you zap 'em the first moment you can. We don't want to keep the power off forever."

Luke nods grimly beside me. "Just long enough. And if it looks like trouble, we turn it back on immediately."

Rhett nods, taking my hand and guiding it to the atomizer's trigger. "Aim high and pull hard. It will give a kick, but don't let go. And when they start reacting," Rhett swallows. "Just make sure you're ready to run if you have to."

Luke and I leave them to it, our feet treading a muddy path toward the bulk of the horde. While Miles and Rhett prepare to interrupt the electric current to let the Skinwalkers amass, I mentally prepare myself for my part of the plan.

Luke stops my stride with a gentle hand on my elbow. "Let me be the bait."

When I gawk, he lifts an eyebrow, the only trace of amusement on his otherwise grim expression. "What, you thought I would just be your escort toward an early grave?"

Heat flares at my temple. "They don't want to hurt me."

"But they still could." Luke squeezes my elbow. "I'm not leaving your side."

"Why do you keep insisting on putting yourself in danger?"

"I could ask you the same thing."

I can feel his fingers tremble against my skin, much at odds with the confident set of his shoulders. For Luke to come face-to-face with the beings that ruined his life, took away his mother, and forces him to live with the fear of what lurks in the shadows at night, it must be terrifyingly surreal. My heart floods with the overwhelming urge to protect him. "I won't allow them to get near you."

Luke's gaze searches my face, but he will find no cracks, no weakness in my resolve. "Fine. But I will be several meters behind you, just in case." I eye the compound bow slung across his shoulder. "Extra precaution, and maybe it will help funnel them toward a meal."

I frown, not wanting to entertain the idea of Luke becoming dinner. Luke's hand slips down my arm and wraps his lithe fingers around my free hand, squeezing. "Please, please be careful. I don't trust those animals." His voice dips to a whisper. "And I cannot bear to lose you."

I reach up on my tip-toes to wrap my arms around him. I squeeze him tightly, until there is no more shaking. Until it's just his body solid and firm against mine. He releases me and presses his lips to the top of my head, then my temple.

"Ten meters," I say. Luke agrees, and I watch him march a few paces away before turning to the mountain of undulating limbs and bodies.

Glancing to Rhett and Luke far off across the lawn, I nod.

It's time.

This close to the fence, the smell is overwhelming. The charred flesh and animal body odor penetrates my nostrils, and I swear my nose hairs are crying. The moans and whimpers of the Skinwalkers are the only things I can hear over the surging electricity. The cacophony rings in my skull, blocking out the pounding of my heart in my ears. Never before have I come face to face with this much danger. I could very well die today.