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  Laughter echoed from ahead, making my face flame. Clearly my pack needed a refresher in appropriate protocol for keeping watch. They’d grown too comfortable out here in the woods. Too careless.

  “This is a mistake, Drew. We never should have left the others,” his twin whispered.

  The laughter stopped. I drew myself up and squared my shoulders.

  You are still alpha. They have to obey you, even if they don’t like it. My wolf encouraged me.

  “Put your gun away.” I motioned to Becca.

  She met my gaze but didn’t budge.

  “I promise my pack won’t hurt you. You have my word.”

  She scoffed. “I’d rather not take any chances.”

  My wolf resurfaced, indignant that this human dared defy us.

  “Becca.” Her brother’s eyes narrowed in warning.

  “Alpha?” Jay’s voice cut in.

  I turned to face my beta and his mate. They gaped at us and behind them the rest of the pack crept closer, their whispers carried by the warm breeze.

  “Humans?”

  “Here? What are they doing here?”

  Some had already shifted, their wolves ready to handle this new threat. Becca stiffened at the first growl, but her hands were steady, finger on the trigger. Jay’s face hardened. His wolf was waiting for my command.

  “Stand down. They’re with me.”

  Surprise flashed on my beta’s faces and murmurs erupted. Jay’s eyes shot to mine and though he said nothing, I could read the question burning inside him, burning inside everyone—What are you doing, Val?

  I wish I knew.

  The injured girl whimpered, the sound soft and pitiful. I winced. Some of my wolves would mark her as prey. I glanced at her. Her eyes were wide with pain. She looked young, maybe not much older than Jaime. The face of my brother flashed in my mind, making my heart twist. How could I send this girl away? After all we’d lost—our mothers, fathers, sisters, and brothers we couldn’t save—how could we allow death to take one more life?

  I looked to Jay. “Take her to Cruz. Now. The girl needs a healer.” I turned to Tati, “Go tell him.”

  She nodded and ran for the healer’s tent while Jay reached for Jen. Becca swung her gun at him, making him pause. His eyes flashed silver—the signal his wolf was about to emerge.

  Jumping between them, I yanked the weapon from her grasp. She was strong. For a human. Stupid too, to point her gun at the giant beta.

  “You want our help? You’ll listen to me.” I let my wolf’s anger lace my words.

  Her eyes were murderous, but she said nothing.

  “Please. We don’t want trouble. Just help our friend,” Drew spoke up.

  The girl was past saving, but I’d given my word. I nodded for Jay to lead them to Cruz. The other wolves stood, watching the scene with unabashed curiosity and suspicion. Humans were dangerous. Unpredictable. There was a reason Elijah and I moved the pack farther from the city and the human mobs.

  I pushed away the memory of the attack they’d launched on us in our old neighborhood. The violence and blood. Murder. Elijah’s revenge on them.

  His face flickered in my mind once more. The dark, gold-flecked eyes that always saw too much and his sly smile. I pushed away the image. It was hard to forget him, but impossible to forgive his abandonment. Even if it had been to hunt his sister’s killer. The path he’d chosen wasn’t one I couldn’t follow.

  Dismissing the thoughts, I turned to give my orders. “Cameron and Spencer. Back to your posts. Now. Red wolves are in the area. I want four more guards posted. Who’s posted at the edge of the woods?”

  Jay and Tati exchanged glances.

  “Who?” I insisted.

  “No one, Alpha. We—I thought it was unnecessary.”

  Tati shifted nervously beside her mate.

  My wolf growled at Jay’s admission. He thought it was unnecessary?

  I glared at hm. “That isn’t your decision to make. Help them bring the girl to Cruz and then you can go take first watch.”

  He nodded. “Yes, Alpha.”

  The others hurried to obey, but the fact they’d broken protocol still made me seethe. When the humans were gone, I’d have a little chat with them.

  They need their alpha. My wolf spoke.

  I am their alpha.

  She fell silent, wisely reading my mood.

  I followed the humans and Jay farther into our camp and to the healer’s tent. Becca’s head swiveled as she took in our layout and my heart skipped. Did I make a mistake? Were they really spies sent out under this guise?

  My fist clenched. They wouldn’t be leaving until I got some answers.

  We reached the large, green and brown tent in no time. Cruz and Tati stood outside waiting for us.

  Tati ran to her mate’s side, his giant, dark frame dwarfing her. Cruz lowered his gaze in respect to me and glanced at the others.

  “Thank you, Jaylen. Tatiana.” He nodded at my betas.

  His blue eyes darted to Becca and her twin. “Set her on the blankets.”

  They strode forward and disappeared inside. I moved to follow them.

  “Val—Alpha.”

  I stopped at Jay’s address and turned to face him.

  “How long are they staying?” His huge arms hung by his side, but my wolf could sense the tension running through him.

  “Until I decide they can go.”

  His lip curled, but he didn’t question me. Tati shuffled on her feet beside him, flipping her long hair behind a shoulder.

  “Alpha,” Cruz spoke.

  I met his serious gaze.

  He shook his head. “That girl. I can’t save her.”

  “I know. Just… do your best.” I mentally kicked myself at the words. Do your best?

  “If she dies. What happens to the others? They’ll be mad. Blame us. What if they want revenge? What are we going to do?” Jay’s voice rose.

  I shot him a cool look. “You’ll do what I tell you to do, Jay.”

  He stiffened. “Yes, Alpha.”

  “Go to your post. And send out a scout. The red wolves could be close. Or vampires.” I thought about the girl’s injuries. Damage done not just by werewolves.

  Jay nodded and Tati swore, trailing her mate back to the perimeter. I turned and followed Cruz into the tent. My heart pounded in my ears, the sound echoing Jay’s questions as well as my own.

  What were the humans really doing here? What was happening in the city? Was Elijah okay?

  The smell of death filled my nose as I entered. My wolf didn’t like it. Not one bit. Ignoring my instincts to tuck tail and run, I approached the injured girl.

  Cruz ripped her shirt, revealing the bloody gash on her side. Deep. It was way too deep for our healer to fix. Drew swore, distress flashing on his face. Becca straightened, her eyes full of resolve. She accepted the truth.

  “This will stop the blood and take away the pain.” Cruz brought a glass jar over. Crushed flowers and spices filled it.

  Without proper medical equipment nor the doctors and nurses knowledgeable in how to use it, we were lucky to have a healer. Lucky Cruz’s abuela taught him the old ways. Though there was still a limit to what we could do without modern technology. Just another side effect of the spell the witches cast. No technology. No adults and no children. Just us.

  Jen hissed as the mixture touched her.

  “Ugh. What is that?” Becca covered her nose.

  “Turmeric. Honey. And yarrow,” Cruz answered.

  “And this will heal her? She’ll be okay?” Drew continued staring at the open wound.

  Jen’s eyes met Cruz’s. So hopeful. Even after all she’d endured, she still wanted to live. I looked away. The injustice of it made my stomach churn. Six months ago, she was just an average teen worried about high school. Not death. Not a death like this.

  “She’s lost a lot of blood.” Cruz’s answer hung in the air.

  Becca’s jaw clenched.

  Drew looked to Cruz and t
hen me. “But you can save her?”

  Cruz turned to me.

  “We will do our best,” I replied.

  Becca glared at me, but she didn’t say anything. Probably to spare her dying friend and her brother the cold, harsh truth.

  A wave of sorrow struck me. For a moment, I was back at the bedside of my dying brother. Jaime. Only twelve. If he’d been thirteen, he would have survived the curse. I didn’t know the importance of the ages, but for whatever reason only those between thirteen to nineteen were safe from the spell.

  My wolf whimpered, pulling me back to the present.

  I turned to Drew. “Did the wolves who did this follow you into the woods?”

  He shook his head. “No. Only to the outskirts of Savannah.”

  “Why didn’t you get help in the city?”

  Becca scoffed. “Help? What help? Those wolves control every hospital and clinic. They guard all the medical supplies.”

  Her words startled me. Since when had the Red Wolves taken over? The last time I’d been in Savannah, the human teens were the ones with all the power. I shuddered as memories of the first few months returned.

  The fires. Gunshots. So much senseless violence.

  Though the witches were the ones who’d cast the spell, all of us were blamed. All of us who weren’t human were hunted and killed like animals. Had Diego put an end to it like he’d sworn?

  “We couldn’t get through. To make it back to our… camp.” Drew rubbed a hand across his face.

  Cruz returned the jar to its place on the shelf and started cleaning the skin around her wound. Jen’s eyes were clenched shut, her body trembling.

  “Once Jen is healed, we’ll go back,” Drew added, brushing the sweaty clump of hair away from Jen’s face.

  His dark eyes shone with an intensity that reminded me of that sibling bond I’d had with Jaime. That same protectiveness and empathy. My heart twisted in two. Drew thought we could save his friend.

  Becca gripped his shoulder and motioned him to follow her. I watched as she led him outside the tent and listened as they exchanged hushed words.

  “She’s not going to make it, Drew. It’s too late.”

  “You don’t know that. The bleeding stopped. They said they’d save her.”

  “Yeah, well they’re lying.”

  They fell quiet. I turned away, not wanting them to look in to see me eavesdropping. Cruz held a cup up to Jen’s mouth, coaxing her to drink and swallow the pills he’d given her. She closed her eyes. The sound of her labored breathing filled the tent. Cruz’s gaze met mine briefly and returned to the dying girl.

  “You should see this.” He motioned me over.

  I walked to him and looked to where he pointed. He moved her curly hair away, revealing several bite marks on her tanned neck. Vampire and wolf. My stomach churned at the sight. They’d used her like a freaking chew toy. How the hell had she survived that?

  “She’s going to turn,” Cruz whispered to me.

  My stomach rolled. Turning humans had been a thing of the past and only alphas could do it. Most of the werewolves were born not made. The ones who were turned from a bite… the inner wolves that bonded to them were notoriously savage as if the pure human gene called to something darker, something stronger to rise within them.

  This is true. My wolf agreed.

  Drew and Becca reentered the tent, and Cruz returned to cleaning Jen’s other wounds. I stared down at the girl with a silent apology. It would have been better if she’d bled out. Her body wouldn’t survive the change. One was bad enough, but two? No one survived two turns.

  Anger stirred inside me. Why did they do this to her? What could this girl have possibly done to be abused so badly?

  Waves of regret and hopelessness washed over me. The world didn’t make sense anymore. We were supposed to make things better, be the next generation that would change everything. It was a good thing our parents were gone.

  They didn’t have to see the monsters we’d become.

  “Could I talk to you? Please?” Drew’s voice broke my thoughts.

  I whipped toward him and nodded.

  He rubbed a hand over his creased forehead. “I’m sorry. I still didn’t catch your name.”

  “Valeria.”

  A brief smile flickered on his face. “Nice to meet you, Valeria.”

  Becca glanced at her gun still in my hand and glared at me. She didn’t trust me. Well, I didn’t trust her either, and she wasn’t getting her gun back.

  I turned to her brother. “What is it you want to talk about?”

  His eyes darted to Becca and back to me. “It’s not safe in the city anymore. We have to move our camp. We have to bring the others here.”

  My wolf growled. More humans?

  I was already shaking my head. “No. You can’t bring them here.”

  Frustration shone in his eyes. “We can’t leave them in the city to be tortured. Like Jen.” His voice cracked.

  I looked away, not wanting to see his pain.

  “Ben isn’t going to move the camp, Drew.” Becca cut in.

  He ignored her, his big brown eyes still imploring me. “Please. We just want a safe place to stay. We aren’t going to hurt anybody.”

  Out of the corner of my eye, I caught Cruz watching us with interest. The heaviness of our situation weighed on me. It should have been Elijah and I making the decisions, but he’d left it all to me and I should have hated him for it, but I didn’t. How could I? The crisis hit him harder than most of us, leaving him a broken shell of what he used to be.

  “No. You’ll have to find another place. Further into the woods maybe. But away from the Crescent Pack near the river. Or out of Savannah altogether.”

  Drew’s eyes narrowed. “We can’t. Haven’t you tried leaving the state? We’re stuck here.”

  His words startled me. Stuck? But hadn’t people left when it started? When our phones and screens still worked, showing the same phenomenon was happening everywhere?

  “There’s some kind of barrier keeping anyone from leaving. The witches couldn’t break it,” Becca added.

  I frowned. “There has to be some place in the city you can go.”

  Becca gave a harsh laugh. “The city’s gone to hell. How do you not know that?”

  My wolf growled at her tone.

  “Well, you can’t stay here.”

  Drew sighed. “We are better off sticking together. Your pack is small. Most of them don’t look like they have any fight in them. We have more people at our camp. People who can fight.”

  I frowned at his words. My wolf snarled at the assessment. He didn’t know what we’d been through. We were fighters. Survivors.

  Calculation shone in his eyes and I felt stupid for not seeing it earlier. They’d already cased my camp and hadn’t even been there more than an hour. My cheeks flamed.

  Humans cannot be trusted.

  “We don’t need fighters. We can hold our own and the Red Wolves aren’t our enemies.”

  In fact, Diego had been in some of my classes. We weren’t exactly friends, but we traveled in the same circles. Back when life was normal.

  Jen moaned, the sound slicing through the silence. We turned to her. She was convulsing. Spit bubbled from her mouth.

  “What’s happening?” Drew rushed to her side.

  “She’s turning,” Cruz answered.

  Drew staggered back, distress written on his face. Becca’s fists clenched.

  Bones snapped. A scream tore from Jen’s mouth, the sound sharp and chilling. Her tan skin turned ashen, her eyes sunken. Numbness filled me at the sight. I remembered Mama on her last day. The smell of death so strong, pungent, and offensive. It marked her and there was nothing I could do.

  You can’t save her. You can’t save anyone. My thoughts darkened.

  3

  McKenzie

  Wind swept through the trees in the square, the branches shaking under the assault. My magic welcomed it. Nature could be one of our greatest alli
es or worst enemies. Tonight, it was on my side.

  My witches and I were boxed in now. More and more teens streamed out of the buildings to watch what was going on. Funny, really. Not even a year ago, these same people were flipping through TV apps, glued to their smartphones or video games for entertainment. Look how barbaric we’d become, and it hadn’t even taken much of a push.

  “Well, this is a turn out. All of Savannah, here for you, Queen.” Diego’s voice rose above the noise.

  I flinched at his address. It was hard enough hearing Mel’s title used by my witches but hearing it from him made me want to sew his lips shut.

  His mate, Sylvie, stood close by, scanning the park for danger. She was thinner than when I’d last seen her. Her blonde hair dirtier too. I smiled as her gaze fell on me. Her blue-green eyes narrowed.

  Bitch, please. I was the biggest threat to the wolves, we both knew that, but the girl wouldn’t have time to shift before I struck.

  “What are we doing here, Diego?” I turned to the hulking werewolf.

  He flashed me a grin. “I give you Elijah Martin. Alpha of the Shadow Wolves. Elijah, you should be honored. Not everyone gets to meet the queen of Savannah. The newly, self-appointed queen, I should add.”

  A lick of anger curled within me. I was the only one qualified for the position and no one wanted the title now with all the pressure of breaking the curse. The crown was mine by default.

  I glanced at the injured werewolf. His dark eyes pierced me with their brutality. He wasn’t honored. He wasn’t grateful for my rescue. He wanted me dead.

  So much for me playing hero.

  “I thought it was only humans you strung up in the square.” My voice echoed, carried by the wind.

  Diego shrugged. “I made an exception. An alpha who abandons his pack? Tell me that doesn’t sound like something a human would do?”

  Snarls and howls echoed. They wanted his blood. Hell, I wasn’t so sure the lone wolf even wanted my help, but I’d already come. To leave now would show weakness and I wasn’t weak.

  “Let him go, Diego.”

  The crowed hushed. Kohl and the others stepped closer, tightening our line of defense.

  Diego folded his arms across his broad chest. “Now, why would I go and do that? No fun in that, Queen.”