“No,” she moans softly. “If anything, it wasus. We’re something special when we’re together. We fix each other, Ramsey.”
“I agree,” I roar. “I know it’s true.”
“You have to wake up.”
“What?”
“Please. They’re in here now. I don’t know what to do. Ramsey.Please. They’re going to hurt us. Kill us. Please.”
My bones stiffen, and I throw my head up, howling at the impossibly big moon, letting my wolf’s warning carry so that it must skim across the ocean and touch the edge of the world.
I’m letting everybody know that nobody ever gets to hurt my woman.
The wolf won’t allow it. My teeth, my strong bones, and the savage boiling blood pumping in my inhuman veins will not allow it.
“No, please, no!” Ruby’s screaming, her voice flooded with fear, her scent sparking. “Let go of me! Letgo!”
* * *
Two wolves are fighting.
I start awake, blinking my eyes open, feeling my solid bones and the thickness of my muscles. It must’ve been the change joy again, the slow change because I feel the same sharpness.
Liam’s fighting a wolf I’ve never met. They’re outside the barn, rolling around in the grass. Liam’s struggling, his scent shivering in the air, the other wolf cloaked in the intent to kill.
He doesn’t want to talk. He wants to kill my friend.
And there are humans, close by.
My Ruby.
Three humans in combat gear wrestle her away.
I snarl and rise to all fours, opening my mouth and letting out an ear-piercing howl. It’s so loud everybody instinctively lifts their hands to cover their ears.
I move fast, driven by the knowledge I have to keep my woman safe.
These men reek of death. They’ve killed before.
And they callussavages.
Leaping forward, I lash with my claws out. My accuracy and my speed shock even me. With three well-placed strikes, I mangle the gun hands of the men. Blood blooms and laces the air.
The humans scream, all of them staring at me, scrambling, with Ruby standing in the middle. I lurch forward, grab one by the shoulder, clamp my teeth down, so I feel his bone crack, and then toss him through the wall. The barn smashes, and he rolls over, yelling, hurt but alive.
Ruby rushes forward, grabbing a pistol and raising it at the men with her shaking hands.
“D-don’tmove!” she yells.
My heart soars at her bravery, even more so because I can feel her fear trying to wrestle her down. Instead, she points the gun at the two men, crowding them to the edge of the room.
“Ramsey, you have to get Mom.”
I snarl and grunt.
I can’t leave you.
She looks at me over her shoulder, causing my gaze to snap to the men in case they try anything. Outside, Liam’s barking, and the other wolf whines. I think Liam’s just wounded him, but there’s too much blood in the air, the human hands lying mangled on the ground.