Compared to these, Riggs almost seemed civilized. What a thought. I wondered if any of the werewolves gathered were howlers. Riggs had said the scent of vampire would essentially drive them into a frenzy without the Alpha suppressing them. I felt more vulnerable then, realizing nobody gathered would likely do much to stop me from getting swarmed except Kyla.
I folded my arms around myself. When I looked toward the woods, I noticed a lone figure approaching. He was just a dark shape at first as he moved between the shade of the canopy. My heart felt like it stopped beating while I waited for some sign it was him.
“Unbelievable,” Anabelle breathed once he stepped out into the moonlight. Before I could see who it was, the human figure flickered with small, crackling white bursts of light.
I stared in confusion, blinking away the brightly colored afterimages left by the light. When I looked back toward the source, I saw a huge wolf loping toward us. The true size of it wasn’t clear until it was right in front of me. Its shoulders were at my chest and its head was well above my own. It was huge. Each paw was the size of a dinner plate and the teeth were like chef’s knives.
I’d been picturing regular sized wolves, not a monster like this.
The wolf had a patch of glimmering silver fur running down from its head to its back and bright, yellow eyes that looked clearly full of life and intelligence. It threw its head back and howled long and hard. I felt something vibrating through me, like a call to release. I couldn’t exactly explain it, but it made me want to let go, somehow. Before I could contemplate it, all the other werewolves started shifting into wolves around me. Only some of them flashed with those bright lights like the big wolf had, and none of them were quite as large. I was surprised to notice a sound as they shifted, like a sizzling or hissing of gas.
They all howled together, and the sound was chilling.
I looked to Kyla, who was wiping at her eyes. She was crying? Oh, God. That big beast was Pax, wasn’t it? They were celebrating because their alpha had won.
I fell to my knees. It felt like my chest had been hollowed out.
42
Sylvie
Kyla saw me on my knees and rushed over, taking me by the shoulders. She had to raise her voice to be heard over the howling wolves all around us. “It’s okay. That’s Riggs. He did it.”
I lifted my head. “What?”
She smiled, but her eyes were still wet. She rubbed at them again.
“Then why are you crying?”
“It’s nothing,” she said.
But I realized it then. Riggs said she had killed her wolf to become a vampire. I didn’t know why she would do that, but I imagined it was hard to see this. To be reminded of what she’d lost.
There was a period of howling and an odd circling ritual where the wolves walked in a restless circle around Riggs, who towered over all of them. After a while—I couldn’t say how long—more of the white lights started to pop and sizzle from him as he formed back into a human. I blushed when I saw he was completely naked now, then realized I was surrounded by the clothes of the werewolves who shifted.
I guessed that made sense, but it still felt vulgar to see him like this in broad moonlight with so many others around.
He locked eyes with me, then I noticed the wounds all over his body. Trios of bloody red slashes cut across his bicep, his chest, his thighs, and even his chin.
I moved to him, putting my hand on the side of his neck and searching his face for any sign of how he was doing. His eyes were still yellow, and he lifted me into his arms, carrying me toward a nearby building.
“Riggs,” I said. “What’s going on?”
He didn’t answer, but God, he was burning up. It felt like his skin might actually burn me if he held me much longer.
“Riggs?”
He was breathing hard as he kicked open the door to the diner, then set me on the edge of one of the tables. It wobbled as he plopped me down, then pushed me back.
“I’m really not sure this is the time or place, Riggs,” I said. I glanced around him out the windows, but didn’t see any sign that we’d been followed. Shockingly, Kyla had decided not to come after her naked assed brother when he carried me off like a dog in heat.
“Riggs,” I said again, more forcefully this time. I clutched either side of his face, trying to get through to him like I had that first night. It seemed as if there was a sort of inner beast in him that tried to take control when he was aroused. Last time, I’d been able to snap him out of it.