“You guys have let me be around other people and haven’t acted like this,” I point out, thinking about the hotel, the clothing shop, the alpha’s house.
“True, but you weren’t in danger then. And you’ve never been as vulnerable as Zara is now. We’ve kept it together, but it doesn’t mean it’s been easy. After what happened in the woods today, you might see us acting a little more caveman than before.”
Ruger’s big hands press against the tops of my arms, and he slowly rubs his palms down and then up, the gesture comforting in the otherwise volatile space.
“Where was her initial bite, Ezra? When did the Fade start to set in?” Ellery aims his questions at the caramel-haired man I suspect is the den’s leader. Before he gets an answer, the sheriff swivels his gaze and adds, “Brice, I’m going to need you to move away from her,” as he cautiously closes the distance to the bed.
“Not a chance,” Brice declares with a glare, tightening his hold on the weak woman, pulling her even closer to his chest.
“What are the three of you not getting?” Ezra demands from behind Ellery, his hazel eyes focused on his denmates and alight with frustration and fury. “The celestial is going to have to bite our mate. It’s that or she fucking dies.”
Menacing growls resonate through the space when one of their own says that dreaded word aloud. Every single one of his denmates turns furious glowing eyes on Ezra.
Their anger scrapes at my skin.
I’ve been dealing with my fair share of shifter emotion since I landed myself in Howling Rapids, but this level of concentrated aggression is staggering. Their responses ramp up possessiveness and jealousy and take them to a level humans would consider downright deranged. I feel like I’m sandwiched between a slice of roid rage and a full-on psychotic break.
The room starts to feel like a preheating oven when their body temperatures flare with their tempers. Black veins appear and disappear with the den’s intense surging emotions. Everyone is teetering on a knife’s edge, and it’s becoming more and more apparent that, no matter which way things fall, some of us are going to end up butchered and bloody.
Ezra doesn’t back down from the challenge that’s so intense my toes are curling in my socks. What shocks me even more is that I’m not cowed by it or eager to get out of the line of fire. Quite the opposite actually. I want to engage. I want to push the leader of this den and his members even further, like I can taste the chaos in the air and I’d like a big bite of it.
Don’t let the intrusive thoughts win, Noah.
Ezra holds Brice’s glare before snapping, “Stop fucking posturing and let the celestial do what he needs to do.”
“The longer she waits for a bite, the harder it is for her to fight the Fade. I’m not a threat to your claim. My mate’s standing right there. Just let us help you,” Ellery tells Brice firmly, but it’s clear his words are for all four Hudson den members in the room.
For a moment, I don’t think Brice is going to listen. His shoulders rise and his fingers curl into fists. But then, on an exhale, he relents.
With a quiet, animalistic whine that almost breaks my heart, Brice gently lowers Zara. He drags a hand slowly over her hair, staring down at her for a moment before he slides out from under the covers and strides over to stand next to Reid.
“I bit her leg, the outside of her thigh on the left side,” Ezra offers, answering Ellery’s earlier question as if no time has passed and we were never on the brink of battle.
Ellery nods as he studies Zara for a breath, like he’s trying to solve a puzzle when he knows he’s missing pieces.
“How does this work?” I ask Ruger in his head.
“Ellery will line up his bite with the original. We don’t know if that helps, but it’s what the alpha who first fixed a Fade did. Since it worked, everyone else follows those steps to a T.”
“And you don’t know why some bites fail? There’s no way to prevent this?” I ask. Perth said they weren’t sure, but I wonder if there’s a pattern or factors they suspect might contribute.
“Shifters think that the power to facilitate our other forms is passed down from parent to offspring, kinda like DNA. But sometimes that magic mutates or dilutes. There’s no way to know if there’s a variant in a shifter’s magic until something like this happens, and then it’s a scramble to try to fight the Fade and kickstart the transition.”
I stare at Zara and hope for her sake, and her new den’s, that this works.
Ellery looks over at Perth and then back at Ruger before his gaze settles on me. “Do you think you can help me?”
My brow furrows and my eyes widen with surprise.
Me? I look behind me to be sure there isn’t someone else he could be looking at, but there isn’t. I turn back, not sure what the hell he thinks I can do.
“Zara isn’t…uh…dressed, and I think it would be safer if you’re able to move the sheets and blankets around so I can see her bite.”
Understanding crashes over me like unforgiving waves at the beach. She’s still nude from the Hunt. Immediately, I nod and step away from Ruger. I expect some sort of snarl or growl of objection like before, but the other den stays quiet while they watch our every move with intimidating focus. It makes the very air around me so thick that I practically have to wade through it as I step over to the side of the bed.
I waste no time pushing the heavy duvet at Zara’s feet down further, grabbing the gray sheet and pulling it until the bottom untucks. Careful to keep as much of her covered as possible, I expose just her left leg.
I find red, angry-looking puncture marks just above Zara’s knee, the skin around the bite swollen and pink. I’d bet anything it’s hot to the touch.
Sorrow settles heavy in my chest, and I reach up and brush strands of sweaty hair from Zara’s brow. Gone is the bright, vivacious woman I met. Her once lovely hair is dull, her pallor sickly, her beautiful face contorted in pain. She was so quick to offer me a friendly smile, but now her lips are chapped, her complexion sallow.
She’d been so excited for the Hunt. I had no idea what she was talking about at the time, but now that I do, it makes what’s happened to her feel all the more like a tragedy. She went out that night hoping to find her future. She expected to wake up celebrating, adored and showered with attention from her mates.
Instead, doom is nipping at her, and if Ellery can’t stop it, death is going to clamp down its jaws and drag her away.
A surge of anger hits me—harder than it should because I hardly know her. It might be shifter hormones or the heightened emotions of everyone in the room, but I’m mad that this is happening to her, that it’s happened to others. Maybe it’s the fact that Zara has one of those sunshine souls, the kind that touches you even if only in passing.
Whatever it is, I don’t want her to go.
Ellery and I trade places and he studies the bite while I move to the opposite side of the bed. I find Zara’s hand under the sheet and hold it, offering her a quick squeeze of silent support.
“Hey, it’s Noah,” I tell her softly, using the sleeve of my hoodie to blot some sweat from her forehead. “We’re going to get you all fixed up and feeling better in no time. And, girl, when that happens, do I have a story for you.”