Feral Love (Paranormal Alpha Werewolf Shifter Romance) (9 page)

Something happened and all the wolves felt it, even Remy.
A sharp pain stabbed through her gut, tightening around her stomach, and for a moment she was afraid that she might fall to the ground. Several wolves pawed at the snow nervously, others howled, still others snarled and barked in the winter air.

Everyone, except Locke.

The old grey wolf thrashed on the snow, slaver dribbling from his snout as he fought against the unseen demon squeezing the life from him. He tore and snapped at the air as his back arched into unnatural shapes, bent so far back that Remy feared it might snap. Loud yips and shrill shark barks came screeching from his throat. Every now and then, a few jumbled words came from his mind, but they were so fast and incoherent that Remy couldn’t tell what Locke was trying to say.

The other wolves formed a circle around him but none dared approach him.

“What’s happening?” she asked Blake, whose fists were tightened so hard that his knuckles were bone-white.

“Emma… Something’s happened to Emma and Locke tried to open a link to her…”

“Something? What do you mean something?” Dread settled in Remy’s stomach. Aaron’s threats reverberated in her head:
You’ll pay for this! Your parents! Your savage friend! They’ll all pay for what you’ve done
.

Aaron, you blind stupid fool… You didn’t… Please tell me you didn’t…
she begged silently. But the sight of Locke thrashing on the snow told her otherwise.

Suddenly, the fit was gone and Locke was left panting on the snow. He pushed himself up to all fours and Remy recoiled when she looked into his eyes.

His eyes were
wrong
. They didn’t look like the kind of eyes that belonged to anything alive. The pupils were gone and an empty blackness filled them from corner to corner. Then he threw his head back and howled, deep and threatening. A note that sent shivers down Remy’s spine and she instantly knew what it was.

A war cry.

In a blur of grey, Locke dashed away towards the direction of the village. A single word was repeated in the cold air.

Kill
.
Kill. KILL!

Other wolves, spurred by Locke’s actions, turned to join him. Several had already raced off into the night when Blake shifted and blocked the rest of the pack from going.

STAY!
he bellowed at them.
STAY HERE!

Two unknown wolves ignored Blake and rushed past him anyways. Blake was on them in an instant, bringing them down with his powerful jaw. One tried to fight and a sharp nip to the neck was sufficient to stop him but the other slipped away.

Chaos broke out over the pack. Other wolves started rushing after Locke. Try as he might, Blake could not stop them all. He lunged after one, tore ripped at snouts, snapped at necks, and clawed at bellies. Some stayed, but more rushed out.

Remy shifted too and she stood side by side with her mate, trying to keep the pack in line. But there were too many and she had difficulty keeping track of them all. Every once in a while, she saw a shadow slip past her and she was powerless to stop it.

Remy!
It was Blake. When did he become so bloodied?
Remy! Go after Locke! He’ll kill everyone at your village if he isn’t stopped.

What about you?
Remy asked as she snapped at a pup trying to sneak past her.

I can manage here. Go! Make sure your family is safe from Locke.

Blake… I…

Go!
He gave her an urgent nudge before turning his attention back to the wolves at hand. Many of them pulled back but there were still a few who thought they might sneak past them.

Wait for me, Blake.
She licked the bleeding cut on his snout, turned around, and dashed back towards her village.

***

Something was coming. Aaron could feel it in his bones. Something that screamed of vengeance, something that demanded death.

He pushed himself up from the floor. The blood of the dead was still sticky on his hands. He wrenched the door open as the low baying and howls of approaching wolves grew louder and louder.

***

The woods rushed past Remy as she chased after Locke. The old wolf’s scent was slowly being overwhelmed by the familiar scent of home. She splashed through a stream, darted beneath a low branch, and leaped over tiny mounds of snow. 

He was fast, faster than anything Remy ever encountered. The snow he kicked up in the air swirled and made it easier to track him but the wolf himself was nowhere to be seen. Remy cursed and picked up her pace. Her paws barely skimmed the snow as she raced through woods and meadows and clearings. Every once in a while, she caught sight of another wolf but she ignored it. Only Locke mattered.

Now and then, he would let loose a blood-curdling howl. It seemed to come from further and further away each time. Remy could only hope against all hopes that Locke might miss the village altogether but the familiar trees around her dashed that hope.

Desperate, she reached for Locke…

… and found herself nearly overwhelmed by rage and anguish. His emotions were
hers
as well. It shook her to the core, drawing something out from deep inside that made her wolf want to snarl and snap and tear and thrash until everything in front of her was dead.

No! Calm down!
She cried at her wolf.

STAY OUT!
Locke’s voice boomed.

Desperate, she called after him.
Locke! You have to stop this! You can’t do this! There are innocent people there! You can’t hurt them for something they had no part in!

But the only thing she heard back was.

Don’t tell me what to do, girl! Any collared wolves I meet, I’ll kill. Including you.

And suddenly the link was broken and Remy saw the flickering lights of the village and heard the screams and shrieks of women and children as Locke and his wolves descended on them.

Pandemonium
reigned in the village as the wild wolves loosed themselves. All around Remy were scenes of the brutal attack. A pair of wolves charged into a door, slamming it down. Snarls mixed with shrieks. An old woman was knocked to the ground by a wolf and it tore into her stomach, digging out the glistening entrails even as she clawed desperately to get away. Hunters were trying to rally a defense but they were overwhelmed by the wolves falling on them with teeth and claws flashing. Blood sprayed in the air and some held up their hand to fend off the attack. A wolf had a child by her foot and swung her savagely, slamming her head against a wall and then a tree.

Some of the other wolves had shifted into their human forms when they saw there was no real resistance. One of them had broken into Justine’s home and chased her—still in her pajamas—outside. With a single lunge, he pushed her to the ground.

“Hold still!” He barked as he tried to spread her legs.

“No-o-o! St-Stop!” Justine shrieked and kicked at him. One of her foot connected and the wolf reeled back, his face bleeding.

“Stupid little cunt!” He snarled and gave her a vicious backhand that drew blood and left her sobbing in the snow.

Remy darted forward and closed her jaw around the would-be rapist’s neck. The man tried to shift but it was too late. Remy’s teeth clenched and she heard a
crunch
. The man twitched once, twice, then went still.

Justine!
Remy called out to her sobbing friend, who shrank back from her reddened snout.
It’s me! It’s Remy! Shift! Shift and run!

But Justine was frozen in place, her mind not quite comprehending what happened and instead of reacting, she simply shut down. Cursing, Remy turned away and headed for her house, hoping that Justine would come to her senses before some other wolf saw her.

***

The shotgun was right where he left it. With a swift kick, Aaron brought it up to bear and aimed as best he could through the haze of alcohol. The barrel flashed and filled the air with the acrid smell of gunpowder. A wolf slipped in the snow and went still, steam rising from the gaping wound at its side.

Fires were starting to break out all around. Some of the savages had shifted back to their human form and began ransacking the houses. Aaron pumped the shotgun and aimed it again. His finger applied the three point five ounces of pressure that spat fire from the barrel again. A savage fell in the snow.

Then he saw her. Silver-furred with blood around her snout. He saw her and his heart broke.

You’re one of them now…
He knew what he needed to do. He was the Alpha of his pack. It was his duty to protect his pack, even if it meant doing what he had to do. “I love you, Remy…”

The shotgun rose up again
and Aaron squeezed the trigger.

***

Hot lead pellets ripped through the air and tore through Remy’s silver fur, embedding themselves like a million tiny blistering sledgehammers against her. Her feet were lifted from the snow and she found herself crumpling into the cold.

Am I dying? Is this what dying felt like?
Remy thought as she tried to take bearing of where she was. Somehow, she felt no pain. She always thought that being shot would be painful.
It should hurt at least a little, shouldn’t it?

She turned her head to inspect the damage and found that the shot had only grazed her back. The wound was smoking in the cold air but apart from that, she was fine. The snow crunched nearby and she looked up at the barrel of a shotgun.

Aaron…
She closed her eyes and waited for the clap of thunder.

***

His finger tightened on the trigger but somehow refused to press down. The shotgun barrel shook.
Do it!
A part of his mind shouted at him.
She’s a savage now! She’s one of them! She’ll kill you the first chance she gets!
But another part held him in check, restrained his desire for vengeance and blood.
You loved her. You still love her. Haven’t you done enough?

Her eyes closed. Those beautiful green eyes that he once drowned in. For a moment he wanted to throw the shotgun away and hold her in his arms, to kiss her and tell her that he didn’t mean any of the words he said, didn’t mean to hurt her, didn’t mean to do any of the things he did…

Aaron…
he heard. It was Remy’s voice, so soft that it might have been nothing but a trick of his mind. Yet a single whisper brought it all flooding back.

The bottle of whiskey. Sticky blood running through his fingers. Faces and smell and memories whirled together until Aaron Van Houten fell to his knees, trembling at the thought of what he’d done in his moment of madness.

A loud cry—human yet animal—snapped him back to reality. He turned around and saw one of the savages carry the bloodied corpse of the dead woman out into the snow.

He knew who the man might be. He knew from the moment he pushed the shard of glass deep into her belly. He knew from the moment he heard those terrible howls in the distance closing in. What had Remy said?

A mate is someone whom you’ve seen in your dreams, someone whom you’ve felt like you’ve known your whole life, someone whom you feel a deep connection to. The other half of you that you can’t exist without.

He looked back at Remy and saw she was stirring in the snow. Grabbing the shotgun, Aaron Van Houten pushed himself back up from the snow. He’d done many wrong things, so many wrong things… But now he would make things right.

He would make things right.

***

Locke’s cry shook Remy to the core and her eyes fluttered open in time to see Aaron push himself up to his feet. Across the snow, Locke carried Emma’s body. A large shard of glass was buried in her belly. Locke was sobbing but Remy felt the anger rising from his body. She stood up and saw Aaron limp towards Locke.

The shotgun in his hand pumped once and its barrel flashed. A bloody hole appeared in Locke’s chest but the old wolf did not fall.

Emma…
the word hung in the air like an icy knife and Remy knew. She knew what it meant, knew and understood the pain and grief Locke felt. Yet it didn’t make the next few seconds any easier.

She looked on in horror as Locke shifted. Grey fur covered his body as his nose lengthened into a snout. Long yellow teeth slashed forward and where a man once knelt in the snow, a wolf snarled. The world seemed to stand still. The wild wolf with his teeth and claws. The collard wolf with his shotgun shouldered. For a second, neither moved.

EMMA!
Locke howled and suddenly he was a grey wind flashing through the snow.

Aaron raised his shotgun and squeezed the trigger. The shot caught Locke across the shoulder but only slowed him down slightly. Locke lunged and for half a second looked so graceful that Remy thought he was flying.

“Oh.” Aaron grunted as the sharp teeth closed around his throat. The shotgun went spinning out from his hand and he fell back into the snow. Remy turned away but could not block out the wet
crunch
that filled the air.