A heavy thump hit the hood, and the rear glass blew out.
Luca watched helplessly through the gap over the console separating the two front seats as they pried open the hatchback and forced Seung’s betas out at gunpoint. Another man yanked open Seung’s door and pulled her from her seat. A trail of blood followed to where he dropped her on the ground. Luca unclipped his seatbelt. His door opened, and he rolled on his back. With both feet, he kicked. His heels struck the man in the face, clearing the door. Luca scrambled over the console and dove out the driver’s side putting himself between Seung and the gunman aiming at her.
Blood poured from the hole in her shoulder. Luca stripped off his sweatshirt and pushed it against the wound.
Her silver wolf and the three blues belonging to the betas materialized from the shadows. Their ghostly forms bared their teeth and their hackles stood on end.
“You’ll be okay.” Luca folded the material of his shirt as it became soaked with blood.
“I’m sorry I failed you.” Seung gripped Luca’s wrist, leaving behind red streaks. “Please, forgive me.”
“You didn’t fail me.”
One of the gunmen advanced.
“Get the fuck away from her.” Luca shielded Seung and the phantom wolves lowered their heads.
“Let’s go, Suarez.” The man who spoke wore a mask like all the others, but his eyes were unusually dark. “You’re done here.” He reached for Luca and the three betas shoved past the men aiming at them. At the same time, Seung came off the ground with a primal yell, grabbing the man reaching for Luca.
Gunshots rang out. A fan of blood sprayed from James’s leg, Ty’s knees folded, leaving exposed bone, and the fabric of Eric’s trousers shredded across his thighs. The man Seung attacked slammed the butt of his rifle into her face.
The betas dragged themselves in Luca’s direction. One gunman put the muzzle of his rifle to James’s head. He didn’t even acknowledge the threat. His gaze locked with Luca’s.
“Stop.” Luca stood. “Stop, just stop. I’ll go. Don’t, please.”
The man beside James said, “The only one who won’t die here today is you.” He pulled the trigger and James jerked, his limbs seizing. Another shot blew a hole through the side of Ty’s face, and two men opened fire on Eric.
Blood welled up from the pits left behind in his vest.
The man who’d hit Seung raised his weapon. Luca dove for her, and another gunman yanked him back. A shot sounded off, leaving a hole in Seung’s chest.
The betas’ blue wolves and Seung’s silver fractured.
The man dragged Luca away. People spoke but what they said, their threats or demands, were lost under the keen of dying Fenrir. Each particle carried by a nonexistent wind and shattering into nothing. Each star in their eyes winking out.
… if the Fenrir can’t leave the body, the Varu can’t die…
“No… no…” Luca fought the man that held him. “Don’t go…”
A man dragged him toward the truck. Luca tried to twist free, but the man tightened his hold on the vest Luca wore and hauled him inside.
The door shut, trapping him.
The wolves watched Luca with no fear, no worry, no pain.
But with knowledge.
And trust.
The trucks moved. The M-ATVs fell in line.
Around the bodies of the Varu, between the vehicles, space shimmered like heated asphalt, warping the open field.
At the edge of every shadow, cast by dying grass and the wider shadows of the moving vehicles, wolves emerged. Their bodies nothing more than transparent outlines. Ethereal glass made visible by sunlight, they stood by the hundreds.
Silence fell, erasing the grind of tires against the ground. The laughing men. Even Luca’s pulse.
Then so soft it could have been mistaken for a sigh, and as powerful as thunder, a chorus of Fenrir said,“Call us.”