He recoiled as if he’d been shot. His eyes rolled in his head, and blood poured from his ears and nose. He reached up with shaking hands, trying to tear her loose from his throat. She clung with everything she had, letting Zach’s power rend his brain to pieces.
The sounds issuing from him were a mix of human and beast, and all strangled. Jessie curled her fingers, sinking the tiny claws in deep. And then, she ripped them free. Blood fountained from him, pooling on the floor. His rasping snarls became horrible gurgling noises as he fell to his knees.
“NO!” Laura crawled toward him. Her limbs were contorted, caught halfway through the change.
Braden’s body was still changing, the bones making horrible popping sounds, but the process was slowing. His breathing grew labored and his eyes bulged. Then they rolled up in his head and, with a final rattle of a strangled breath, he slumped to the ground.
Laura crawled over to cling to him, her own body writhing.
Then a burst of pain drove the breath from Jessie as the full moon rose over the horizon. And took her humanity with it.
* * *
Zach was hanging on by the skin of his teeth. At one point that was literal. He spat out a mouthful of Storm’s mane and blasted another Dire.
It was taking everything he had to project. Each blast sent piercing pain through his head, and he was bleeding from his ears as well as his nose. It only added to his general state of gore. But he couldn’t stop. Not until they fought their way through to Jessie.
Easier said than done. The sun had disappeared below the horizon. The last vestiges of the sunset were taking the day down with it. The valley floor seethed with fighting Weres. Storm battled like a demented demon. Spinning and kicking, she squealed, grunted, and roared like no horse he had ever heard before. And she was wickedly accurate with her hooves. Not even a Were could withstand a full-strength blow to the head.
At some point in the blur of motions, Storm and he had been joined by Kade, fighting just clear of the kick zone.
Connected by Jessie, Kade was now a permanent presence. Zach’s brain should have been split in three, rendering him unable to function. But it wasn’t like that. The big Were guided the process as they battled through the Dires. He sent Zach and Storm ahead into clusters of snarling Weres. Her arrival immediately created a bubble, separating combatants and enabling Zach to send targeted blasts of crippling and sometimes lethalrage. Then Kade and the others moved in to finish what was left of them.
They’d fought their way close to the buildings. Inside one of them was Jessie. Plugged into her through the link, he and Kade were aware of her brutal battle with Braden.
They were close enough for Zach to send a blast to her, desperate to drive Braden off. He sensed the Were recoil, and then he lost track.
The next few seconds were a blur, flashes of images among the slashing claws and teeth, the hammering of hooves and Storm’s enraged squeals. And then Jessie reached for him a second time. Kade and Zach came together in perfect sync and sent her a pulse of purerage.
A few heartbeats later, everything changed. A ripple passed through every Dire in the valley.
And just like that, the fight was over.
Braden is dead, Kade’s voice rumbled in his head.The Dires’ pack bond is broken.
The Dires broke free from the Sabres and ran. Kade sent Cody and the Sabres after them, with a clear goal—to pursue and hopefully find where they’d kept the third woman.
As the rest sped away, Kade and Ryan bounded for the building. And Zach urged Storm after them. She slid to a stop outside as the two Weres pushed through the door. Zach half slid, half fell off the mare. His shaking legs wouldn’t hold him up. He had to retain his death grip on the horse. Storm turned her head into him, and he leaned on her.
“Thank you,” he whispered.
She snorted, blowing her warm breath over him.
A wave ofpainhammered at him, but it was not his own. Jessie. And Laura’spanicseized him.
Need you,Kade said.Now.
He couldn’t walk. And Storm wouldn’t fit through the door.
Ryan popped out of the building, sent by Kade. He was human again. “C’mon, soldier.” Ryan wrapped a strong arm around Zach’s waist and lifted him.
Ordinarily, being held by a naked man wouldn’t be at the top of Zach’s preferred methods of locomotion, but the desperation of the women pounded at him. His legs were useless. He felt them but had no control. Ryan basically carried him into the building.
The women were in the back room. Laura was curled in a tight ball, and Jessie sat beside her. As they entered, Jessie lifted her head and stared at him.
Her eyes glowed silver in a face that was half beast.
Zach had braced himself for this moment. About what it would be like to see the woman he loved turn into an animal. He’d expected to be dismayed, perhaps even disgusted, as her form twisted its way to something else.
