With a growl, he thrust another blast outward. The force of it lifted the brown wolves off their feet and high into the air. Before they could fall, he wrapped them both in invisible clouds of magic, halting them in midair, where they hovered in place, slowly spinning—too high up to reach the ground.
Another of Merrick’s wards broke—the ward to the balcony doors leading into his bedroom—accompanied by the sound of shattering glass.
Merrick’s heart seized, and for an instant, he couldn’t even feel his magic anymore. All that remained were his feelings for Adalynn—his love for her, his need to protect her.
The alpha charged in Merrick’s moment of hesitation.
A gunshot boomed in the bedroom and echoed across the night sky.
Huge, black claws sliced through the air an inch from Merrick’s face. He staggered back from the wolf, whose jaws snapped close enough to Merrick’s throat for him to feel spittle splatter his skin. He’d only barely managed to keep the other two wolves aloft in his sudden fear; his concentration was still too jarred to mount any meaningful defense now.
The sound of Adalynn’s terrified scream—“Merrick!”—from inside the bedroom sharpened his focus instantly.
A fresh surge of power flowed through Merrick—not the ley line’s power, but his own, drawn from somewhere deep inside that he’d been unaware of before that moment. The alpha’s claws raked across Merrick’s chest, but he didn’t feel any pain, not even distantly. He was beyond that now.
Crackling blue energy coalesced around Merrick’s hands and spread upward to sheathe his arms, intensifying the light he emitted. He lashed out with his left hand, catching the alpha’s extended arm at the elbow. The magic flared, shifting closer to white than blue, and Merrick’s fingers sank into the wolf’s suddenly sizzling flesh. The alpha growled in pain. Before the wolf could retaliate, Merrick thrust his other hand forward, unleashing a raw burst of concentrated magic that flowed out in a wide, short cone.
When the light faded, the upper left half of the alpha’s torso was gone—including most of his head. The body fell aside, landing heavily on the charred ground. Merrick poured more power into the corpse, blasting it to dust within a few seconds. He couldn’t risk it getting back up again.
Need to get to her…
He glanced up at the remaining wolves, who were hovering ten feet off the ground. The threat to Adalynn was more immediate; these two weren’t worth the time or energy it would take to dispatch them right now—but he couldn’t risk losing hold of the magic keeping them aloft.
Merrick focused on the mana song of the dirt; it was a simple thing to alter it and make the ground intangible, no more solid than a ghost, as malleable as water. He released the magic holding the brown wolves in the same instant.
They dropped into the ground; Merrick returned the dirt to its solid state when only their heads were still above ground level. He willed the dirt to pack tight, as solid as stone, creating a rock-like prison around the wolves as he ran toward the house.
Coming, Adalynn. Hold on.
Chapter Twelve
The sounds from outside—bestial, preternatural snarls, growls, and roars, and strange whooshing noises almost like bursts of flame—were terrifying, but Adalynn couldn’t help looking. Merrick was out there alone, facing down a pack of werewolves; she had to know he was still okay. She peeled back a curtain to peek out into the back yard.
Fiery blue energy—Merrick’s magic—had scorched a huge patch of the lawn, but the wolves were still alive, still moving. She couldn’t see Merrick due to the angle and the balcony in the way. Her fear mounted with each passing second, and her heart lodged in her throat.
Just a glimpse of him. That’s all I need. That’s all I need to see to know he’s all right.
“What’s going on?” Danny asked. “Is he okay?”
Adalynn knew Danny was trying to be brave, trying to be strong, but there was a slight tremor in his voice.
She looked at her brother over her shoulder. “He’ll be fine. We’ll be fine. He’s…powerful.”
Danny’s features hardened, and he nodded.
A sense of pride filled her at the sight of her brother’s resolve, but it wasn’t without a touch of sadness—he shouldn’t have been forced to grow up in a world like this.
She turned back toward the window, and crippling terror seized her muscles. Glowing amber eyes stared at her through the windowpane—a werewolf’s eyes. The wolf’s lips drew back in a predatory grin, baring sharp fangs.
“Danny, go! Hide!” Adalynn cried as she stumbled back, releasing the curtain. It fell, obscuring her view of the beast.
Heavy footsteps sounded along the balcony, moving around the corner and stopping at the glass doors leading out. The thin line of light below the long curtains was suddenly blocked out. The doors rattled violently.
Adalynn’s breath hitched. She raised the shotgun.
The balcony doors exploded inward with a cacophony of shattering glass and snapping wood, the shards glittering momentarily in the faint moonlight that streamed in through the opening. The werewolf was huge—he had to duck to fit through the doorway, and his shoulders were almost as wide as the double-door entry. But despite his size, he moved with lightning speed.
Adalynn pulled the trigger. The shotgun boomed, and the butt kicked back, slamming against her shoulder, but she was too scared to feel any pain.
The werewolf darted aside; Adalynn’s shot hit the upper doorframe, blasting a chunk out of it.
“Merrick!” she screamed. She tugged the shotgun’s grip back, ejecting the spent shell.
With another powerful leap, the werewolf was in front of her. Before she could finish pumping the weapon, he grabbed its barrel—it looked tiny in his massive fist—and tore it out of her grasp, tossing it aside. His other hand lashed out and wrapped around her throat. He lifted her off the floor like she weighed nothing and slammed her back into the wall.
Choking, Adalynn clawed at his hand and forearm in a desperate but meaningless battle against his hold.
“What’ve we got here?” the werewolf rumbled. He leaned his face closer, stuck his snout into her hair—close to her ear—and inhaled deep. A low, hungry growl rose from his chest. “You smell like sex.” He loosened his grip on Adalynn’s neck just enough for her to draw breath.
Adalynn dug her fingernails into his hand. “Let me go.”
The beast laughed—the sound was oddly raspy—giving her a whiff of his breath; there was metallic hint to it, reminiscent of blood. “When I’m done with you, woman.”
He licked her cheek, neck, and chin before shifting closer to settle his other hand on her thigh—her bare thigh. It was then that Adalynn realized the robe she was wearing had parted. His thickly calloused palm slid higher, but it didn’t hold her attention for long; something else grazed her inner thigh, something hot and thick that nonetheless sent horrified chills up her spine.
Releasing a growl of her own, Adalynn simultaneously slammed her fist into the side of the werewolf’s head and rammed her knee into his groin. She opened her fingers to grasp the fur near the wolf’s ear and tug it sharply.
The werewolf grunted, swatted her hand away, and retightened his grip on her neck. “Lively one. I like that. But you’re gonna have to learn your place, bitch.”
Adalynn continued her struggles, kicking, clawing, and hitting the werewolf, but it only seemed to arouse him further. When he finally released her neck, she fell to the floor, her legs crumpling beneath her. She sucked in several deep, gasping breaths. A second later, pain stabbed across her scalp as he grabbed her hair and dragged her away from the wall, forcing her onto her hands and knees.
Realization of what he intended to do struck her hard.
“No!” she cried, turning, drawing back her foot, and kicking the beast’s chest. It was like kicking a brick wall—the wolf didn’t budge. Adalynn managed only to scoot herself back on the floor a foot or two, pulling her robe taut beneath her. She flipped
over and crawled away, but the werewolf caught her ankle and dragged her back beneath him.
His weight pressed down on her back. “I’m gonna get off whether you fight or not,” the wolf growled, “but it’ll hurt a lot more for you if you don’t knock it off.”
“Get away from my sister, you fucking asshole!”
Adalynn’s throat constricted, and everything within her stilled, frozen in icy terror.
No, no, no. No! Danny was supposed to go!
Adalynn turned her head to see her brother charging the wolf, his ridiculous bowie knife raised overhead. His lips were pulled back in a snarl that bared his teeth, and his face was contorted with more hatred and rage than she’d ever thought possible from him.
Danny brought the knife down, plunging it into the werewolf’s back.
The beast snarled and reared back, dragging Danny—who clung to his knife with furious desperation—along with him as he swung around, lashing out to reach for the boy. Danny grabbed a fistful of the werewolf’s fur, pulled his knife out, and stabbed the beast again.
“Danny!” Adalynn cried, scrambling out from beneath the wolf.
One of the werewolf’s groping hands caught Danny’s shirt. The beast plucked the boy off his back like he was pulling an insect from his fur and threw the boy across the room. Danny hit the wall and fell to the floor in a heap.
The wolf stalked toward Danny. “You little shit, you’re gonna pay for that!”
Adalynn pushed herself up to her feet and lunged at the werewolf. She grasped fistfuls of fur on his back and forearm, planted her feet on the floor, and wrenched back with all her strength. “Leave him alone. Don’t you fucking touch him!”
He shook her off effortlessly. Adalynn stumbled backward and fell, landing hard on her backside.
“I’ll deal with you in a minute, little bitch,” the werewolf said.
Gritting her teeth, Adalynn braced her hands on the floor to either side, meaning to get back up. She paused when her fingers brushed something cold and hard. She turned her head to see the shotgun on the floor next to her.
Slapping her hand down on top of the weapon, she picked it up, swung it around, aimed it at the werewolf’s torso. She slid the grip forward, producing a loud click as a new shell loaded into the chamber. “I said, leave him alone, dog.”
The werewolf spun around. His reflective eyes flared, and he opened his toothy mouth wide to release a roar. Adalynn pulled the trigger just as he leapt off the floor. His roar died in a snarl of pain as the shot struck him in the groin, shredding his flesh and spraying blood on the floor.
Adalynn rolled aside as the wolf crashed down nearby. She shifted the shotgun and tugged the grip down to eject the spent shell.
“You fucking cunt,” the werewolf wheezed, pushing himself up from the floor and cupping his bloody groin. He grimaced and snarled before launching himself at her again.
Adalynn braced for the impact, for the inevitable pain, tightening her grip on the shotgun. She wouldn’t get it reloaded in time, wouldn’t be able to get another shot off—and she didn’t think it would make a difference even if she could.
A blast of roiling blue, fire-like energy struck the werewolf with enough force to lift him off the floor and send him crashing into the wall. The plaster cracked and crumbled, and wood snapped inside the wall itself. Adalynn flicked her gaze to the open doors.
Merrick stood in the open doorway, his body wreathed in crackling blue energy that both flowed like fire and scintillated like electricity. It burned in his eyes, and wisps of it poured from the claw wounds on his arm and chest. Behind that energy was a darkness far too deep to be natural, from which shadowy tendrils writhed and whipped.
Adalynn dropped the gun and crawled across the floor toward her brother. She swept her hands over him quickly but gently, checking for wounds. Danny groaned and opened his eyes. Adalynn helped him sit up; he seemed unsteady even in that position.
Danny’s eyes rounded as they fell on Merrick. “Oh shit.”
Those two words sent a wave of relief through her.
Adalynn clutched the sides of her robe together and turned to look at Merrick.
The wolf struggled to get up. Merrick stalked across the room, trailing blue energy and star-flecked shadow behind him, and stopped to stand over the beast. With a grunt, the werewolf lashed out and buried the claws of both hands in Merrick’s sides.
Merrick didn’t flinch, didn’t make so much as the slightest sound of pain. He clamped his hands on the sides of the werewolf’s head. The energy sheathing Merrick flared, and the shadows swarmed around it, swept through it, to envelop the werewolf and pierce him with their tendrils.
The brightness intensified; Adalynn turned toward her brother and squeezed her eyes shut, throwing her body over Danny to shield him. The light was so bright she could see it through her eyelids, even while facing away. The only means she had of marking the passage of time were her own rapid, thumping heartbeats, which were too fast to count.
When the light finally faded, Adalynn straightened and opened her eyes, blinking to rid them of the dark afterimages skittering across her vision. She looked at Merrick over her shoulder.
He was standing over a pile of ash that had been the wolf only moments before. A thin, slowly dissipating cloud of ash hung in the air in front of him. Though the magic on his skin had faded from its height, it still crackled and pulsed like constantly shifting veins in a marble sculpture, casting a blue glow throughout the room. He turned his head to look at her, and his eyes burned a little brighter.
Adalynn turned toward Merrick as he walked over to her.
He sank into a crouch in front of her. There was fury on his face, but also a strange hint of wariness and uncertainty. He reached for her, but stopped before he touched her, lowering his hand. “Are you two all right?”
Adalynn launched herself at him, throwing her arms around his neck to embrace him tightly. Somehow, she knew the magic flowing around him, over him, and through him would never hurt her. That magic whispered over her and permeated her body as she touched him; it sang to her.
Merrick wrapped his arms around her and held her just as tightly. His magic made her skin tingle in the most delightful way; it brought her every nerve ending to life despite all that had just happened.
“Wow,” Danny said, his voice strained. “You obliterated him.”
Drawing back from Adalynn, Merrick flicked his gaze between her and her brother. “Are you okay? Are either of you hurt?”
Adalynn shook her head. “Just some bruises. It would have been worse, but you got here in time.”
He raised a hand, settled it on her cheek, and brushed his thumb across her skin. “It was too close. I should’ve just stayed with you.”
“You didn’t know.” She looked down at his body and gently touched the skin just below the glowing claw marks on his chest. “What about you? You’re…not bleeding, but you’re hurt.”
“I am fine, Adalynn. I will heal.” He took hold of her wrist and guided her hand away. “There are two more outside I have to deal with. Grab the shotgun and stick close to me.” His eyes flicked to Danny again. “Both of you.”
Knowing that there were still more werewolves nearby sent a fresh jolt of fear up her spine, but Adalynn nodded and went to retrieve the gun. On her way, she pulled the sides of her robe together and tied it tight.
Once she had the shotgun in hand, Merrick led them into the hallway. His magic gave everything an ethereal blue glow as they walked along the silent corridor and descended the spiral stairs. Adalynn might’ve thought this place haunted had she seen a light like his when she’d first arrived.
Danny kept close to Adalynn’s side throughout, and she walked only a couple feet behind Merrick, unwilling to get any farther from him than that. They walked into the kitchen and through the back door, stepping onto the porch.
The devastation wrought by his magic was even more apparent from this closer vantage. A wide swath of the back lawn—a
t least ten yards across in all directions—was scorched to ash and dirt. Half of a tree had been in the blast zone, and was now a charred mess with faint blue energy glowing through the cracks, a harsh contrast to the other half that was, for now, still green and alive.
Merrick led them to the wide steps and down onto the lawn. As they walked forward, movement ahead—at ground level—caught Adalynn’s attention. Her eyes widened as she realized what she was staring at.
Two werewolves, both with brown fur, were in the ground, only their heads visible. They were buried up to their cheeks, their eyes wide with fear and their breaths shallow and ragged.
“Whoa…” Danny said.
Adalynn seconded that sentiment.
Merrick strode up to the wolves and crouched in front of them. “I found the last member of your group.” He slapped his hands on his pants, producing a small cloud of dust.
Not dust. Ash.
The smaller of the two werewolves sputtered and coughed as she breathed in the ash.
“I suppose that makes one woman he got inside tonight,” Merrick said.
Adalynn looked at Merrick. For all the hardness he’d shown her and her brother when they first arrived here, he’d never sounded so cold, so callous, so unforgiving as he did in that moment. She realized then that Merrick really was a monster. He was dangerous, and his power was terrifying. But he was her monster. She knew he’d never hurt her and Danny—because there was a man within that monster, and that man had given himself to her.
“So, who here feels the burning need to avenge their fallen comrades?” Merrick asked. The energy around his hands intensified, casting long shadows behind the wolves’ heads.
Their eyes widened farther, bright with reflections of his magic.
“We submit,” the male said, lowering his snout as far as possible and averting his gaze.
“Please,” the female replied. “We…we didn’t want this.”
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