Chapter Twenty

Callie didn’t hesitate. She ran full force for Aimee. A Den shifter stepped in her way, but she shoulder-checked him, not sparing him a second thought. Her tall stature offered her a small advantage. It allowed her to plow through the shifters, until someone was smart enough to swing around and grab her by her hair.

Pain lanced through her scalp. Her whole body flung back until she hit the ground. Still, the shifter didn’t let go of her hair. Callie didn’t want to fight him. She wanted to get to Aimee. Swinging at his face, her arm sliced through empty air. She tried to sit up, to find Aimee, but the shifter holding her hair yanked her back down again.

Callie screamed. She knew chunks of hair would be ripped out. This shifter was doing nothing to spare her. If she didn’t know what her father wanted already, this told her everything. He was done with Callie. He didn’t need a daughter who would always rebel.

This was an extermination.

The thought hit her stomach. Revulsion threatened to bring up her cereal from earlier. This wasn’t the world she knew. This wasn’t the life she’d lived. This was something else. It was nefarious. She wanted to claim her father was possessed. It was a reasonable excuse, to blame this kind of action on a demon or spirit.

Instead, it was only a side of her father she’d never seen—the side that came out when things did not go as planned. As she lay on the ground, the shifter putting a boot on her chest, she wondered if the same kind of menace lived inside her. Was she capable of the things her father did?

Just as she thought she felt the rise of darkness inside her, Morgan slammed into the man above her. They toppled together, ripping her hair from his grip. She hissed in pain. It was worth it, she told herself.

Her beast shook, ready for the fight. That was what she’d felt. It wasn’t darkness, not the potential for evil. It was her beast. The creature looked around and saw its family being hurt. Aimee lay motionless. Dom howled while three shifters held him back. Morgan tumbled with the shifter that had held her down.

They needed her.

She wouldn’t let them down.

Her beast rose with a fury. The shift ripped through her. Muscles burned like never before, the change between human and bear happening faster than she’d ever felt before. The shift settled over her and she let out a roar that shook the clearing.

Her massive paws slid over the ground, uncaring of what lay beneath her feet. She didn’t have to worry about stumps or rocks. She was the earth beneath her feet, the power of it, and that power was going to shake the world.

Stampeding toward the fight, she rammed herself into the shifter that’d held her hair. She found purchase with her teeth and strained the muscles in her neck. The shifter soared through the air and tumbled down the hill. She faintly heard the sound of bones cracking as they hit the hard tree stumps. Callie didn’t have time to worry about that.

Morgan laid a hand on the scruff of her neck, a way of saying he was okay. She turned her attention to the three shifters holding down Dom. The man in their hands slumped forward, suspended from their grip.

Callie’s beast had no time for guilt or shame. All it saw was Dom’s pain, the danger he was in. She rose to her feet and threw her head back. All three shifters paused to look up at her. Stunned, they didn’t hear the forms approaching from behind. Massive in their bear forms, Reid and Addison each tackled a shifter. It left one man standing.

Morgan slid to catch Dom before he hit the ground and Callie took the opening to leap on the last man. She didn’t bother trying to wrestle him. Instead, she bucked her head. It crashed into his stomach, stealing the air from his lungs and sending him soaring. He, too, rolled down the hill.

She put her back to the unconscious shifters on the hill and turned toward Aimee. Dom shoved Morgan back and was crawling over the ground to reach the otter. Callie let out a breath. Aimee hadn’t shifted back to her human form. She still had enough presence of mind to know that meant Aimee wasn’t dead.

However they’d been hurt, they could heal.

“Bravo,” her father cheered. “That was quite the display.”

Her blood froze. The momentary feeling of victory was shattered when she saw her father’s hand on Orion’s neck. Claws pierced Orion’s skin. Her father pushed Orion forward, making him stumble and keeping him off balance.

“It’s time to go home, Callisto. You’re not the daughter I hoped you would be, but it is clear that you’re still my daughter. Now, end this madness before you force me to do something I might regret.”

Callie watched Orion’s eyes flash with defiance. The changed shifter would risk himself for them. She couldn’t let that happen. Callie knew she’d caused enough pain here. The beast in her wanted to fight. It would not lose sleep over the end of the man her father turned out to be, but Callie pulled it back. She forced her body to change when it didn’t want to. It left her exhausted and panting.

Morgan stared at her, horrified. He knew what she was doing. Callie tried to pour a silent apology into the last look they shared, but there was too much she wanted to say, and she didn’t have time. This was how it had to end. She didn’t want anyone else getting hurt.

Even if that meant handing herself over before Orion could riot. She had no doubt Orion wouldn’t hesitate to fight back, but she didn’t want him to injured. She was finished with everyone getting hurt. It was the last thing she wanted, but now everyone around her was hurting in one way or another.

“Callie, don’t do this.” Morgan’s voice was strained.

He reached for her, but she sidestepped him. It hurt, a knife in her heart. If he touched her, held her, she wouldn’t have the strength to do this. Callie turned her back to her mate once again. This time, the pain cut deeper. Morgan might never forgive her, and she wasn’t certain she deserved to be forgiven.

Callie couldn’t stand to watch the pain and suffering any longer. It could be ended if she agreed to leave. Callie was the only one who could end it.