Mihai felt the pull of the full moon even before the sun fully set. He’d been walking down the hallway of the mansion, chatting with Sean about their plans for the night and how they would try to take off the dog tags when a crackling of pain wracked through his body and he stumbled to the ground. He barely caught himself, although he felt like he’d vomit at any point.

“Mihai?” Sean cried, kneeling next to him.

Dimly, the werewolf felt him give a panicked shake of his shoulders. He gritted his teeth as he panted, trying to fend off the animalistic urges that were threatening to overtake him.

Pyt had been right. The pull of Phaeron’s magic was too strong for him, and he could feel the hold of Sean’s mark on him lessening.

He was going to lose it. He was going to transform and rip into Sean and drag him across the country back to Phaeron. And then they would both be subjected to the vampire king’s machinations.

Mihai would be a test subject. Even worse, Sean would be in the same position, and it would be all his fault.

It was his worst nightmare.

“Get away from me!” he growled, pushing the omega warlock away. Another thunderbolt of pain ripped through him, and he howled, even as a human. His eyes kept shifting, and he was struggling to gain hold of his more reasonable side.

The human part of him that didn’t want to hurt Sean.

“Please,” he panted. “It won’t work. It’s much stronger than we thought...”

His voice trailed off as he grimaced. He heaved and vomited up the lunch he’d had earlier on the floor of the hallway.

He still felt Sean’s hands on his shoulders. Why wasn’t the fool running away from him? He was going to lose his grip on his human side and then all hell would break loose.

“What happened?” a voice asked. Pyt. Mihai sensed another being kneeling next to him, feeling his forehead. Why weren’t they running away from him? Couldn’t they see that he was going to transform and then all bets would be off?

He was such an idiot for believing that he could be freed from Phaeron’s control. That still-familiar hint of Phaeron’s spell, the one that made him travel all the way from the mountains to Pyt’s mansion, on the hunt for the omega warlock that captivated his every thought.

He was going to ruin everything right now because he wasn’t strong enough.

“He just collapsed,” Sean was telling the elf. “I think the full moon—”

“Has already started exerting control over him,” Pyt said grimly. “It’s happening faster than we thought.” Mihai felt hands pull him to his feet, but he had no control over his legs. They felt brittle, like they would break at any point.

And then he would emerge as a strong, powerful beast that would do his master’s bidding.

“Let’s get him to the courtyard,” Pyt said, “before he claws my furniture.”

The elf sounded amused, but Mihai wanted to show him that he was so, so wrong. His wolf would show him just what he would claw up on his quest to satisfy his master’s desire.

Wait, what the hell am I thinking? Mihai wondered, feeling horror at these errant thoughts. His lips didn’t seem to want to work, but he managed to say, “Let me go, please.”

He wasn’t sure if that was him trying to save Sean or if he was trying to break free to kidnap him. Either way, everyone would be safe if he were to disappear. Or die altogether.

Anything to keep Sean safe. Mihai would gladly die to protect the omega warlock.

And that, he knew, was from the human side of him.

Suddenly, he was staring up at the night sky, the moon so big and bright, it felt like daytime to him. He growled and thrashed, trying to break away from the hands that were holding onto him. They held fast and he couldn’t break free.

Perhaps they were going to do away with him completely. He welcomed it.

“What’s happening?” he heard someone ask—was it Mary, the alpha he met earlier?—as he threw his head back and howled.

“The full moon,” Sean told the alpha female. “He’s changing because of it.”

“Well, you can’t have him out here,” Mary said. “He’s a danger to everyone, least of all himself.”

“I’m going to save him,” Sean said with such vehemence, it knocked Mihai out of his turmoil to focus on the man’s words.

He cares about me, he thought, wrapping the thought around him like a blanket. This omega warlock cares for me.

More than anyone else ever had.

His shock was short-lived, however, because he opened his eyes again and looked up at the full moon. It was so beautiful tonight, a blood orange color. It compelled him, commanding him to act on his wolfish instincts. The warm fuzzies he had toward Sean were turned against him, because those instincts latched onto his thoughts with a vengeance.

He cried out as the transformation hit him. He lost all track of his human self, as his alpha wolf emerged from deep within him, roaring through his body.

“Let him go, let him go, let him go,” Pyt commanded, and Sean’s hands on his shoulders lessened, as if reluctant to let him go.

Mihai fell to his hands and knees, panting heavily. He couldn’t fight it anymore. The transformation hit him so hard, he howled again, holding onto it as long as he could, his mouth shifting into his snout as he did so.

Damn, did it hurt like nothing else. And when he opened his eyes once more, everything was thrown into stark black and white. He was fully a wolf now. And he set his sight on Sean, like an arrow to a bull’s eye. There was his target, and the need to make his master happy back in the mountains was too great to ignore.

Sean looked a little uncertain as he held up his hands. “Mihai,” he whispered, “it’s me, Sean. You saved me from Phaeron. You and I have kissed before. We’re going to try to take off those dog tags to bring you back to me.”

Mihai snarled in answer. You can’t save me, he snarled in his telepathic thoughts. I’m going to tear you apart.

Of course, Sean didn’t hear his telepathic speech. But the other werewolves could.

“He’s gone,” Mary said through gritted teeth. “That’s not Mihai that you’re looking at anymore.”

“Like hell it’s not,” Sean snapped at her. “This is going to work.”

It won’t, Mihai snarled. It won’t work. Because I won’t let it.

Even though he was fully focused on Sean, he could see Mary shrink back, her hesitant gaze on him.

“Watch yourself, warlock,” she said. “And don’t let your feelings get in the way. Because if he starts attacking my wolves, then I won’t allow him to live.”

“I will be able to do this,” Sean said with more confidence than Mihai would have given him credit for. He had underestimated how scrappy this warlock was.

No matter. He was alpha. This warlock was omega. And Mihai would be able to overpower him.

Easily.

Sean held his hands up. “Can you hear me, Mihai?”

Yes. You sound delicious.

“You don’t want to hear what he said,” Mary muttered.

“I don’t need to,” Sean said. “I just need to reach out to the Mihai that I know is there.”

Mihai was going to show Sean what exactly was there. He leapt toward Sean, baring his teeth and snapping at his face. The warlock dodged out of the way, just in time. Sean pushed him away with a blast—a similar blast to what had stopped him when he first arrived. But the full moon was giving him the strength to remain conscious. And angry.

He swiped with a paw, surprising the warlock, and connected a claw with the meat of his upper shoulder. Sean cried out in pain—which gave Mihai pause—but then the scent of blood filled the air, and Mihai was suddenly back to his wild self.

“Sean!” Pyt called out, and Mihai watched as the glint of a blade flashed through the air, landing point-first at Sean’s feet.

“I’m not going to kill him!” Sean yelled, and Mihai pitied the warlock for his compassion.

“It’s not to kill him,” Pyt countered. “But you have to weaken him before you can try your spells.”

Mihai could see the trepidation on the warlock’s face. How he didn’t want to hurt Mihai. No matter. It would be Sean’s undoing.

He lunged forward, and to his shock, Sean grabbed the knife and slashed across his face. It was so surprising, Mihai let out a yelp, and scrambling to his feet. He snarled, feeling the blood drip down the gash on his cheek, and struck again.

Again, Sean was ready for him, slashing across the other cheek. Mihai was ready as well, and twisted his head to snap at the warlock. He managed to latch onto Sean’s shoulder, and the warlock cried out as he brought the knife around and slammed it into the fleshy part of Mihai’s chest. The wolf let go, whimpering as he put distance between himself and Sean.

The pain from the three wounds was intense, and Mihai’s shoulder where the knife had gone in deeply didn’t seem to want to work correctly. But he could see the doubt on Sean’s face.

He could use it against the warlock and win.

“It’s not working,” Sean shouted to Pyt.

“You’re going to have to do more,” the elf answered. “You’re going to have to weaken him as much as possible before you’ll see it work.”

“I can’t,” Sean said.

“You have to.”

Or else I will get you, Mihai said, feeling clever with his quip. From the sidelines, Mary snarled at him again.

“Don’t hold back,” she told Sean. “Mihai won’t.”

At that, he charged again. But this time, Sean reacted in time to avoid getting hurt. He feinted to the left and came up with the knife, slashing through Mihai’s side, deep and unforgiving. Mihai yowled and rolled away. The splatter of blood greeted him as he forced himself to his feet, but his legs buckled underneath him, and he crashed back to the ground.

How? How could a weak omega warlock overpower him?

Because he cares about me.

“He’s slipping,” Mary said.  “If you’re going to try something, do it now.”

Through his haze of pain, Mihai watched as Sean nodded grimly. “Good,” the omega warlock said. “I don’t think I could do another strike. Not without getting both of us really hurt.”

Mihai’s lip curled, but Sean didn’t budge. Instead, the man faced him, his expression set in determination. He dropped the knife and held up his hands, approaching him again.

“Mihai,” he said softly, and something changed in the air then for the werewolf. Like the smell of sweet lavender on the wind. It was something that, as a wolf, Mihai hadn’t smelled in a long time.

Love.

Mihai blinked through the agony, trying to focus on the here and now.

“Do that again,” Mary said softly. “It’s working.”

The warlock didn’t ask what she meant. Instead, he just repeated, even softer, “Mihai. Can you hear me?”

Mihai dipped his chin in answer.

A timid, yet brilliant, smile spread across Sean’s face. “Good. I’m trying to reach out to you, to get these dog tags off.” The smell of lavender picked up again, stronger this time. “Because...” The warlock gulped down some air. “Because I want you to be free. To have a future with me. Because...”

Because? Mihai’s heart hammered in his aching chest.

“Because I love you,” Sean said. And with those words, he threw a blast of power toward Mihai. Not a ball of energy meaning to hurt him. No, this was something else, a kinder, gentler kind of power that wrapped around Mihai like a warm blanket.

And, for the first time that Mihai could ever remember, he felt the chain around his neck snap and slide off, the dog tags falling to the dirt.

Free.

He was free of Phaeron’s stranglehold on his life. Tears pricked his eyes as he looked up at Sean. He hadn’t realized how much those dog tags had affected everything in his life. Suddenly, for the first time, he felt a sense of clarity he didn’t know existed.

He was free.

He called back his wolf, because he had the willpower to do so. Turning back into a man hurt because of his injuries, but there was a lightness to life that he never had before.

Sean watched him warily as Mihai lifted his head again, and gave him a brilliant grin.

“You freed me,” he said. Before he passed out once again.