My world narrows to instinct for the wolf and me: sights and smells, sounds and senses. There’s a distinct line of distress running through the pack bond just outside the meeting hall. Dashing down the hallway, I take the curves fast. The doors in this building all have special kick plates and latches near the base that a wolf’s paws can open. I use them to rush outside and find out what’s going on.
There’s a strange wolf shifter on the ground in human form, naked and covered in blood, dirt, and sweat. He’s straining against the hands of two Pack Jade warriors who are holding him tight, while another warrior in wolf form snarls in his face. I rush forward, my wolf bigger, stronger, and more dominant than the others.
Although I can’t see what the strange shifter sees, I can easily imagine it in my mind’s eyes. My wolf is huge, even for a future alpha, with thick shaggy fur and ice blue eyes. My coat is a burnished bronze color, each hair a dark reddish-brown from the base up until the tip, which are all black. My paws are huge, tipped in thick black claws, and the black of my muzzle emphasizes the white of my fangs, which I show quite liberally as I stalk toward him.
Almost as soon as he next inhales, he smells my scent. The wolf inside him whimpers and cowers, then flips over to show his belly. I’ll give this shifter this much, though: I can sense and smell his strength. He’s not some juvenile wolf, or a low-status pack member. This wolf is someone important—someone strong and fierce.
And he smells like fear and terror and madness.
It hurts to see a powerful shifter brought so low. I approach him, the Pack Jade warrior wolf stepping aside and lowering his head submissively to me. My wolf and I sense the turmoil of the wolf inside him, and together we calm him down, letting him know that we have it from here.
I watch as his dilated pupils constrict and his clenched muscles relax. Slowly, the two warriors holding him tight are able to loosen their grips without him escaping. He takes in deep breaths through his nose, exhaling through clenched lips.
As he relaxes, I take him in. He has a muscular build, pale skin that has been tanned liberally by the sun, complete with tan lines, and dark amber eyes that contrast with sun-bleached light brown hair. Under the fear, blood, and everything else, he smells like citrus and smoke.
Over the other scents, my nose picks up the distinct whiff of fae magic.
Unease pricks through me. Nodding sharply to the warriors holding him, I make room for the third warrior, the wolf, then shift back to my human form. Standing naked before the visitor, I stare down at his kneeled form and quietly tell him, “Pack first. Then your story.”
“Amethyst.” He swallows. “If there is still a Pack Amethyst, that is. When I left…” Shuddering, he tenses all over, his jaw clenching as his pupils dilate. “All of it, all ofthem…shadows everywhere, darkness on my skin, there was blood in the sky and—let me go!”
The two warriors, Mason and Henry, have to dig their feet in and hold him tight as he suddenly thrashes in their grip. Behind me, the warrior in wolf form snarls, taking a step forward—but I hold a hand out to calm him. “I’ve got this, Jasper.”
I take a step toward the Pack Amethyst shifter, letting my wolf simmer beneath my skin, where his wolf can smell him. This visitor is strong and dominant, I’ll give him that. I have to hold his gaze for several long seconds, during which I canfeelhis wolf fight us, before he simmers down again.
“I’m sorry,” he says, jerking all over once more, then relaxing again, as if an invading spirit has left his body. “It’s the madness. I don’t know why, but it comes and goes. I’ve tried fighting it off, but… I can’t.”
My hackles rise at his words. If a wolf this strong and dominant can’t fight off the madness, then no wolf can. “Tell us what happened.”
Raising his face to me, the shifter says, “I will, but I must tell your elders and your alpha all at once. I’m not sure I can give the story a second time.”
After considering him for a long moment, I give a sharp nod of assent. Mason and Henry take him into the meeting hall, while Jasper follows in his wolf form. I grab the Pack Amethyst shifter a plain black T-shirt and a loose pair of boxers from the utility closet near the back doors, and pull on a spare set of my own clothing. While he dresses, I observe him.
He looks to be around my age, maybe a little younger, early twenties or so. With striking amber eyes and a strong wolf, he should be high in rank, but I don’t smell the confidence of a warrior on him, and I know he’s not being groomed to be alpha. I’ve met Pack Amethyst’s future alpha, Riordan, and he’s nothing like this man.
Since he seems to have calmed down and is no longer having a fit, I motion for Mason and Henry to let him go,although they stay close at hand in case he loses his control again. Walking beside him casually, I observe, “We’ve never met before, although Pack Amethyst and Pack Jade are close allies, being that we’re neighbors. I’m Kieran.”
Rubbing the back of his neck, he takes the cue to introduce himself. “I’m Pax. Messenger to Pack Amethyst… if there stillisa Pack Amethyst, that is.”
His words hold a tone of foreboding. When we reach the main room of the meeting hall, where the elders and my father are waiting for us, it becomes clear why. As soon as he’s introduced and given permission to address them, he starts by saying simply, “Alpha Tylin is dead, and his son, Waylon is missing, as are his daughters Farroh and Yvette. All of our warriors have gone mad. Along with most of the pack, as of when I left, which was nearly a day ago. By now… by now they could all be gone.”
The story he tells isn’t that different from the story I got just this morning out of Pack Garnet, and neither is the timeline. Knowing all this was happening concurrently, not all the way across the continent but here in our own backyard, makes the fine hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. My wolf is similarly disturbed, his hackles standing up as he paces restlessly for an enemy too slippery to be easily hunted and killed.
Especially when Pax reluctantly admits, “I’ve felt it too.” He shudders, his pupils dilating, and Jasper stalks close to guard him, his lips peeled back to show his teeth. “It’s like something is watching me, waiting, like… like nowhere is safe, and no one can be trusted.”
Swallowing, Pax quietly says, “I’m afraid I would turn on my own mate, if I had one, and the madness overtook me.”
As soon as he says those words, I know he’s doomed himself. I don’t have to look at my father to know what will be coming next.
“The fae have returned to our world,” Elder Bear says, shuddering in a rare moment of vulnerability. “We must do something at once.”
“And we will,” my father says, looking Pax up and down. “First, though, this man must be exiled.”
I keep my mouth shut, knowing he won’t be swayed. To my shock, a few of the elders start to object, but my father holds up a hand and snarls at them.
“Silence! A stray in the outskirts is one thing, especially if they know this place. But I won’t have my inner sanctum invaded by a wolf from another pack, especially a mad one. Slipping past guards, showing up unannounced,daringto demand an audience with our elders and alpha? This stinks of trickery, and I won’t be falling for it. We’ll protect ourselves from catching this madness ourselves. Henry, Mason, Jasper, you’ll take him out.”
His eyes swing to Pax, and without mercy he says, “Go back to Pack Amethyst lands and face your fate—or become a lone wolf like the rest of them. You’re not welcome here.”
