Confused? Afraid? That couldn’t have been further from the truth. The only thing I felt was the need, the desire to kill. And they were my targets. They always had been.
Maybe I said at least some of that out loud, because one of the golden wolves whined. “You can’t mean that, Luna.”
“Of course she does,” someone answered. “She’s a Wolfsbane. A Clayton. You can’t ignore it any longer.”
More laughter rose around us, savage and accusing. I ignored it, because the only thing that mattered to me was the three wolves. They were already bleeding, hurt from a previous battle. It wasn’t ideal, since I’d have liked to tear them apart piece by piece myself. Then again, they were already healing, so maybe it wouldn’t be so bad. They’d put up a bit of a fight before I killed them—more than the female in the hut, at least.
“We never wanted to ignore anything,” the black wolf said. “But we’re stronger than this. Come on, Luna. If you want us, come and get us.”
Quickly turning around, he rushed off toward the exit of the settlement. The golden wolves followed, and nobody tried to stop them.
I was so taken aback by their unexpected departure that I didn’t immediately follow them. Those three werewolves were strong males. Why would they run away like that? It was so strange.
But the crimson was more powerful, and in the end, I decided not to question it. Maybe they hadn’t wanted me to slaughter them in front of their pack. Maybe their instincts had told them they had a better chance of surviving me while we were alone. Either way, it didn’t really matter. I would find them, hunt them down, and kill them. They couldn’t hide from me.
With a furious snarl, I took off after them. The chaos guided me forward, but so did the spark of light in my chest. I ran faster and faster, tasting bloodlust and feral need in my mouth.
The lake was nearby now, its crimson waters glinting almost threateningly in the distance. And as I ran, the scent of blood, anguish, and fury invaded my nostrils.
A distant memory flickered through my head.“They say the water is red because it carries the blood of the weak. Every single member of the Firewolf Pack we’ve deemed inferior jumps into the lake and drowns himself, to protect the honor of the rest of us.”
It was only a legend, a story that had nothing to do with me, and yet, at that moment, I wanted it to be true.
But it wasn’t, and through the haze of crimson clouding my mind, I finally realized where the smell of blood was coming from. In my zeal to track down my prey, I’d somehow completely missed the fact that I’d been passing through a battlefield.
There were no bodies left behind, but now that I was paying attention, the disembodied limbs stood out starkly against the ground. The fight must have happened at one point in the past couple of days, and whoever had come here to retrieve the bodies hadn’t bothered with the severed limbs.
“Pack war,”a voice whispered at the back of my mind. “Because of you.”
Because of me? Interesting. Maybe that meant I could have more prey soon. After all, I’d earned it. It was something to consider. But that could wait until I caught up with the three males who’d dared to think they could escape me.
They weren’t trying to run away from me at all. They were waiting for me on the shore of the lake, looking as calm and relaxed as its silent, crimson waters.
Worse still, they’d shifted into their humanoid forms. I growled at them, insulted. Did they think I wasn’t a threat, that they could just stand there and challenge me? They’d pay for that.
“Really?” the dark-haired male asked. “You want to make us pay? If that’s true, you don’t need your wolf form, do you? You’re more than capable of fighting us in your human shape.”
“Don’t patronize me,” I snapped. “You’re my prey. You should remember your place.”
“And what place is that, love?” one of the golden-haired males asked. “At your feet, in pieces? Because there’s a slight issue with that.”
His twin nodded, pinning me with serious golden eyes. “We know perfectly well it’s not really what you want.”
Something in their voices called out to me. I shifted and took a step forward, just as furious and feral as I’d been before. “You know nothing. You understand nothing.”
When I jumped at him, the dark-haired male seemed taken aback, and I came very close to putting out his eye. My claws tingled as I dug them in his flesh, but he just laughed, as if he couldn’t feel the pain, as if he couldn’t have cared less. He grabbed my hair and threw me aside, but I didn’t let his counterattack hinder me. Flipping midair, I landed on my feet and reassessed my approach.
There were three of them and one of me, but I wasn’t afraid. They were mine. They had to be. I had to kill them. Nothing else mattered but that, but the desire to taste their blood.
They’d changed the rules by using their humanoid forms, yes, but I could break those rules, just like I’d broken everything else, just like my life had broken me. Anyone else would have deemed it foolish. How could one female—and an Omega at that—stand against three males and hope to win? But I had no intention of losing, not today, not ever.
“We won’t lose either,” the dark-haired male said. “I’m a Firewolf, Luna. A Savage. You don’t remember what we are to one another, not right now, but that’s all right. We’ll just have to fix that.”
A shiver ran down my spine at his words. “Is that a threat?”
“Call it what you like. A threat. A promise. I’ve hurt people I cared about in the past. I’ll hurt you too if I have to.”
It was my turn to laugh. “And you really think it’ll be that easy.”
