47

T he scream that escapes me without my consent hurts my throat nearly as much as my body and soul ache as I take in the scene in front of me.

There is quite literally a trail of dead bodies leading to Khaos. I try to talk to him, but there's blood everywhere, and the squelch of every step I take makes me gag.

Noticing my trouble, Roman picks me up and carries me to Khaos. I would say he's unphased by the blood, but that's the wrong word. He's definitely phased, just not in the same way as I am. Where I'm horrified and trying not to hurl my guts up, he's furious. The anger is radiating off of him in nearly visible waves.

I have to remind myself that he's seven hundred and thirteen years old and the commander of a werewolf army. Of course, he's unphased by the gore surrounding us.

When we finally reach where Khaos lies, I scramble out of his arms. He's hesitant to release me, but he finally gives in.

It takes all of my self-control not to launch myself at his tattered body to hold him close. I hover my hands around his body, begging it to hold on. If he looks like this hours after calling us, how bad did he look before? I know they have faster healing than people.

“Khaos,” I choke. “Can you hear me?”

His eyes immediately flutter before he raises his eyelids about half way. “You came.”

“What? Of course, we came. We're here,” I cry, looking around at the devastation everywhere. “What happened?”

“Leera, honey, slow down. He needs Jeanine,” Roman says softly.

“You'll be okay. You have to be okay.” I continue to cry as I hold Khaos' hand against my chest when I hear a shaky intake of breath.

I lift my eyes to find Roman staring at me, his eyes wide in shock.

“Wh-what is it?” I whisper in case there's an attacker behind me.

He points at Khaos. “His arm,” is all he says.

I look down, also gasping and jumping away from Khaos. “What's happening to him?!” I cry even harder, clasping my hands against my face, trying to hold in the pain.

There's a silver light barely glowing from his hand, slowly creeping up his arm to his shoulder.

The light continues across his shoulder, growing larger to cover his head and his chest. Spreading to his other arm and down the remainder of his body.

“This isn't possible.” Everywhere the light travels, it...“This isn’t possible,” I say again, shaking my head.

Everywhere the light travels across his body, it leaves healthy, unmarred skin in its path.

Khaos is now able to open his eyes as the light from his head has gone out, and he's watching it consume his legs.

All of us stand in shock and awe at what's happening.

When the light goes out, no one says anything for a moment. We just stare at Khaos and glance at each other. The others are beginning to arrive behind us, and I still can't move.

“R-roman, what was that?”

But he's still stunned when Khaos responds, “Leera. It was...do you truly not know?”

“Me? Know what? What MORE don't I know?” I scream-sob.

“It was you. I don't know how or why, but you just...you just healed me,” Khaos says with far too much seriousness, though still shocked himself.

I can't help but outright laugh at him. “I'm sorry, but that's just not possible. I'm a wolf. I met her. My par... the people who raised me were witches. Not me.” I shake my head and cross my arms around myself.

Roman finally finds his voice. “Last night was your first shift,” is all he says, mostly to himself. He lifts his eyes to mine. “Your shift. Sometimes, when a wolf shifts for the first time, they unlock something within themselves. Little things like having premonition-like feelings, being able to feel other wolves' energies, an even more heightened sense of smell, but I've never seen anything like this. You healed him. You can smell your scent all over him from your gift.”

If the real world were like the cartoons, where jaws can fall until they literally hit the ground, that would be me right now.

I want to deny it. This is crazy. But as I go to say something, my wolf snorts at me like I've offended her.

This was you...er us?

She huffs in response.

I stare at my hands in disbelief. “It was me, us. My wolf...she confirmed it.” I turn to look at Roman. “How?”

He shakes his head as his eyes change from shock to beaming with pride. “I don't know. The Goddess does everything with a reason.”

Khaos rises from the ground to stand beside us, just as the others approach. His clothes and hair are still covered in blood, and Lord knows what else, but he's whole. He wraps his arms around me and whispers in my ear, “You saved me,” and squeezes me one more time before pulling away.

Everyone stands in shock for a moment, just staring at us.

“Later,” Roman says firmly. “We have plenty here that still need our attention.”

When the realization hits me, I shout, “Wait, where's India?”

Khaos spins on his heel and lurches over about ten feet, where a mangled body is leaned against a tree. “India, they're here,” is all he says as he shakes and tries to wake her.

Having completed my first shift, my hearing is now exponentially better than it was before, and when I lean towards her, I can barely hear her heart beating, and she’s struggling to breathe. I frantically turn to Khaos and say, “I don't know how I healed you. What do I do?”

Roman leans down with us and scoops a tear from my cheek that had just fallen. “Your tears are shimmering. They weren't doing this in the car or on the plane, but there wasn't anyone injured. It's the only thing that comes close to making sense right now.”

He wipes the tear on India's forehead, and the light shimmers but flickers instead of consuming her like it did for Khaos.

“Lee-ra,” she breathes raggedly.

“Shh, I'm trying to help—"

She grabs my arm, shaking her head. “It’s...too...late...” She tries to take a large rattling breath, but it makes her cough and blood drips from her lips. “I...wa-wanted...to say...I'm so...ry...” She coughs again.

My tears continue to shimmer and fall, but when I wipe them on her, they only flicker for a moment. I wipe a few on her chest, hoping to at least ease her pain.

“I forgive you,” I cry, because even though we absolutely hate each other, no one deserves this. She was trying to help. I've never seen someone die. The light on her chest flickers a little more than the others but still sputters out after only a few seconds.

“Be a...g-good...q-queen. Save the...r-realms. D-don’t...let...th-them...win...”

“I don't know how to do that.” I look around at the men who have all kneeled around us, Jeanine standing behind me crying with the couple of women that came with her to help. “I don't know how to do any of this. But I promise, they won't win anything. I promise.”

She closes her eyes and nods before her body stills, and I swear, I can feel her soul wrap around my body before lifting to the sky.

In unison, we all howl for the soul lost. She may not have been a good person, but she was still a wolf. A person. She may have deserved to get her ass kicked, but no one deserves to be mutilated and murdered for power.

When we've finished howling, my ears perk to the left as I hear another howl, much further away.

“That's n-not possible,” Khaos says before he takes off running so fast that I can only gape at him.

Roman scoops me up and begins running after Khaos. Benny, Andrei, and Slate are on our heels.

“The whole pack was slaughtered. Whoever attacked them, they killed everyone, and they didn't leave a single scent to trace,” Benny informs us.

The weight of his words hits me square in the chest. “They killed an entire pack?”

“They were likely hunting India and killed them because Khaos was helping her,” Andrei says from behind me.

We slow as Khaos weaves through his decimated pack lands. The homes are still smoldering with embers when we approach.

I throw myself out of Roman's arms, and a feral scream rips from my lungs as I take in the devastation in front of me. There are still traces of anguish and terror drifting through what’s left of the trees. In a rage, I whip around to face them.

Roman, my mate, my love, my safe place.

Andrei, my twin brother, my other kind of other half.

Benny, the sunshine that kept Roman together in my absence.

Slate, the serious tech wizard who tries not to care.

Eris and Dolos, the twins, wild most of the time but serious when it counts.

“We have to stop them! Tell me what to do! They did this because of me!” I scream and fall to the ground.

Roman crashes to the earth beside me and pulls me onto his lap. I can feel him nod, but he can feel the devastation coursing through my body. I can feel the pain and the hate here. It’s still radiating all around me.

“I mean it, Roman. I've never done anything like this in my life, but we have to do something!”

I'm still yelling, and I can't stop the pain in my chest over all the souls lost over this. Over me.

“I don't care what we have to do. I don't care if I have to throw my life away to become a fucking princess if that means I have an army of werewolves at my disposal to take care of this.”

Roman squeezes me tighter. “We'll take care of it—"

“Together,” I say firmly. I'm not budging on this.

“Together,” all six men promise as one.

“No one fucks with my pucking family. Not my family. Not my people. Not my friends. Not my enemies. This is wrong.”