Jagger’s pulse thundered through me. Able’s red eyes seemed to hover in the space around me. But, Jagger was stronger. My own inner beast fought with him. I don’t know if I gave him strength. He would probably tell me I did. But, I also felt the Pull as Jagger pushed against it. It was a swirling undertow that could take him away from me forever.

I tore away from Jett and Lena and ran at top speed toward the house. Jett’s warning yell bounced off me. Nothing mattered but getting to Jagger. I would live or die by his side.

Then, a wall came down.

The force of it blew me backward. I landed on my ass. Able Valent’s eyes burst into stars that swam in my field of vision.

“Rowan!” Lena and Jett shouted in unison. The shockwave of Able’s death hit them too. They felt it through Payne and Gunnar. Only Jett stayed on her feet. She was the first to see the gathering threat through the tree line.

“Fuuuck!” she shouted.

I scrambled to my feet beside her. It seemed a thousand pairs of shining eyes blinked through the underbrush.

The Pack.

“Will they stop?” Lena asked. I reached for her. My mind was a jumble of things. Jagger’s wildly beating heart made it hard to breathe. Adrenaline rushed through me. Still shifted, I saw in four dimensions. The wolves streaming through the woods were red with heat.

“They can’t think for themselves!” I shouted over the rising howls. “He told them to kill!”

“Move!” Jett yelled. “Higher ground. Now!”

She grabbed Lena’s rifle off the ground and tossed it to her. Jett’s hair flew behind her as she started up the hill as fast as she could go. She held her rifle over her shoulder. She wore two ammo belts crisscrossed over her shoulders. Sweat glistened off her toned arms. When she reached the highest point she could, she turned and aimed in one fluid movement.

A smaller group of wolves had broken off from the main one. They peeled off, heading straight for us. I shoved Lena behind me and dropped to all fours. Jett fired. The deadly staccato echoed and bounced off the trees. She took out the two closest wolves. A third jumped over his fallen comrades, his eyes blazing with that red bloodlust.

I bared my fangs and growled, letting the beast out all the way. When the wolf caught my scent he skidded sideways. Jett’s rifle jammed, but Lena had her 9mm raised. Her bullet struck true, hitting him square in the chest.

Jett dropped to her belly at the top of the ridge and sighted her scope. Not liking what she saw, she pulled her walkie off her belt clip and shouted into it.

“They’re heading southeast! At least a hundred. Fall back!”

Her radio squawked with static, then a voice rang through. “We see them!” Holy hell, it was Molly!

Jett’s eyes got big as she looked at her radio. Nostrils flaring, she dropped her chin and thumped the radio to her forehead in shocked frustration.

“What the hell are you doing out here?” she yelled into the radio.

“Didn’t want to miss the party.”

Jett didn’t have time to answer. Another group of Able’s last guard headed our way. Instinct fueled me and I got out in front of Jett and Lena. There were two of them, long and lanky, their gray fur was matted and sparse in patches. I’d seen more and more looking like this over the years. Some detached part of my brain told me they were more victims of Able’s failed genetic experiments. Just like me.

I threw out a mental command. It came to me unbidden. Stop! The closest of the two wolves staggered and whined. He ran in a circle, confused. Whatever I’d just done, it worked. It had been enough to break through Able’s last order.

Jett raised her rifle. I spun around and put a hand on her shoulder. “Let him go! He’s free.”

Sure enough, the wolf cowered before me then rolled to his belly. His companion didn’t. He froze for a second, then charged Lena. She was ready. She hit him cleanly through the shoulder. With the dragonsteel bullets laced with wolfkiller toxins, the wolf’s spine curved the wrong way and he dropped to the ground, writhing.

“They’re weakening!” I shouted. “I can feel it. Half of them don’t know up from down.”

“It’s the other half I’m worried about,” Jett said. “Come on. We need to get down there. Gunnar and the others have their hands full.”

Sure enough, the majority of the Pack held formation around the yellow house. Liam, Gunnar, Payne and Mac were in the center of the circle, fighting off those who dared venture close enough. I couldn’t see Jagger, but I knew he was still inside.

As I rose, my legs nearly gave out. My heart jackhammered and my vision wavered. Lena’s steady hand on my arm brought me out of it. When our eyes met, I knew she could tell something was wrong. But, there was no time for it now. We needed to move.

All through the woods, we heard gunfire as Jett’s troops picked off other members of the Pack. She had trained them well.

I reached out for Jagger with my mind. We were not truly mated. He had not marked me, but my need for him burned through me. I needed to see him. Needed to know he was alive. The wall that had dropped when Able died seemed to go up again. I knew instinctively it was Jagger, trying to protect me.

As Jett, Lena and I got closer to the house, I saw why.

The strongest of Able’s forces were circling the yard. Gunnar’s wolf snapped his fangs and lunged for a huge black wolf. They were well matched. Gunnar had a size advantage, but the black wolf was faster. He blocked Gunnar’s bite and landed a body blow, knocking Gunnar sideways. Jett raised her rifle, but there was no way she could get a shot off without risking hitting Gunnar.

“Dammit,” she said, lowering her gun, she wiped the sweat from her brow with her forearm.

“Can you do something?” she asked me. “Can you...I don’t know, distract that fucker?”

Jett’s face blurred in front of me. I tried to keep my expression neutral, but a flicker in her eyes told me she knew something was off.

“Let me try,” I said. I moved in closer. Lena was at my side. Mac had his hands full with two big wolves on the east side of the property. His silver fur gleamed under the full moon as I watched him land a lethal blow, breaking one wolf’s neck while another landed on his back.

Jagger. Where the hell was Jagger?

“Look out!” Lena yelled. Two more wolves charged us. They’d emerged from the underbrush on the south side of the house. Jett was quick. She got a shot off, bringing down one while I charged the other. He was small, weak, not much more than a boy. As his wolf eyes settled on me, he rolled to his belly.

“Good choice,” I spat, then turned my attention back to the house.

Payne had launched himself into the woods. Lena reacted. She went after him at a dead run. I tried to call her back, but her mate’s distress drowned everything else out.

“She can shoot straight,” Jett said. “Come on!”

My heart burst as Liam’s growl rose above the chaos. He stood in the yard, right in front of the entrance to the house. A shadow moved across the threshold and Jagger stepped out. He was covered in blood. His gray fur matted and sticky with it. His left ear was torn in half and dangled down over his eye.

My throat went dry and I couldn’t call to him.

I whirled to the right as my senses picked up more advancing wolves. Growling, I squatted and took a ready stance.

“They’re ours!” Jett called out. Squinting, I had a hard time sorting out what she said. But, sure enough, I recognized two of the beta wolves from around Mammoth Forest. Finn and Rackham, I thought. Jett had told me Gunnar busted them out of a POW camp last year.

Gunnar howled and Finn and Rackham’s wolves changed direction, heading straight for him.

Something drew my eyes to Liam. Standing tall, his head thrown back to the moon, his eyes gleamed gold. His reddish wolf fur shone, catching the moonlight. His heat signature rose, making him glow. My hair stood on end as I realized what he was about to do.

At least a dozen of Able’s wolves froze, turning to face Liam. Jagger’s wolf stood behind him. Our eyes locked. A shiver went through me. I felt Liam’s gathering power.

There were three Pack Alphas left. The last of Able’s most powerful members. But, Liam wasn’t aiming for them. He focused on the group of wolves who had broken off toward him.

Liam howled. It reached a pitch I’d never heard before. Cold. Commanding. Powerful.

The group of beta wolves halted. Their keening whine pierced my ears. I held my hands up to cover them.

Twelve wolves. They dropped to their bellies in a line in front of Liam. He was not my Alpha. I was not a full shifter. But, the flash of power in his eyes told me exactly what he’d done. Liam ripped through Able’s hold and exerted his own over the twelve wolves. Each of them bowed down to him, acknowledging their new leader. In that one thunderous moment, Liam McConnell became a true pack Alpha.

The wolves rose in unison, then turned on Able’s last generals. Liam, Gunnar, Mac, Payne and Jagger tore across the yard. The generals scattered, but they weren’t fast enough. I felt their blood leach from them as the Mammoth Forest wolves brought them down.

Then, Liam’s new pack moved into formation with their Alpha at the rear. He sent them out into the woods.

Gunnar stepped forward. Rackham, Jones and now Finn were at his side. Gunnar threw his head back and howled in the same way Liam had. And just like that, another new pack was formed.

The change in the air broke something in the remaining members of the Chief Pack. Confusion set in. In groups all over the woods, wolf turned on wolf. Those too far gone and loyal to Able were ripped to shreds by those who still had enough of their true selves left to understand freedom.

The shots we’d heard echoing across the valley stopped as Jett’s troops began to see the new battle taking shape.

He’s gone. I heard Jagger’s voice in my head strong and clear.

My vision wavered, but I rose to my feet. Jagger shifted right there on the porch. In his human form, his wounds looked even graver. He had a deep gash over his eye. Claw marks raked across his chest. Another deep gash snaked around his neck. Another inch in, it would have shredded his jugular. But, even as he took the first step toward me, I knew he would heal.

“Baby?” he said, his voice ragged with exhaustion.

All around us, mates found mates. Molly appeared. Liam’s wolf peeled off to greet her. From my periphery, I saw him shift and take her in his arms. They stood in a circle of wolves. Molly’s jaw dropped as she watched them all bend low, showing respect for their new Alpha and his mate.

Jett’s cry tore through me as Gunnar got to her. They too stood in the center of a smaller circle of wolves.

Mac staggered into view, grabbing one of the porch beams to hold himself up. The rest of the house had all but caved in on itself. It seemed fitting. The House of Able Valent was no more. Mac was bloodied and battered, but whole. He had a wife and son waiting for him back at the caves.

Payne got to Lena. She collapsed into his arms and I felt fresh tears of joy bubbling up. Lena had been a friend to Jagger during his darkest times. She had helped keep him whole until I could find him.

I stood in the center of the yard. The sky turned brighter and I knew my eyes still glinted silver. I locked them with Jagger’s. Wolves yipped and howled in every direction. A breeze kicked up, pushing the clouds away as the first pink bands of dawn streaked across the horizon.

“Jagger,” I said and took a step toward him.

He stood before me, eyes shining with fresh tears.

“It’s over, baby,” he smiled. “Able’s dead. It’s over.”

No, I wanted to tell him. It was just beginning. I took one more step and pain shot through my heart. The ground gave way and it felt as though I would fall straight through the earth.

But, Jagger’s strong arms came around me. His voice reached me as if I were underwater. Filled with love. Filled with pain.

“Rowan?” he cried.

It was the last thing I heard before the world went dark and cold.