Danielo crept closer. Devan snarled and sprang forward, sending wolves scattering like mice.
They backed off, leaving the yard altogether and gathering at the gate. The sour scent of fear reached Zio.Fuck. They’re scared of him.
And he couldn’t blame them. Dividing Zio from his pack, Devan paced, his rage so palpable that flames seemed to flare from his mouth with every warning growl. His message was clear:stay away.
Zio swallowed thickly, his mind a jumbled mess. His connection to Devan seemed stronger than ever—so solid he was almost sure he could see it shimmering in the dark—but he didn’t know the shifter guarding him. Or how to reach him.
Healed leg throbbing, Zio stood and crept forward. His chest was so tight he could barely breathe. More than anything, he yearned to go to Devan, put his hands on him, and urge him to shift back to the form Zio recognised. Anything to help him make sense of the chaos he’d woken up to, but right now, it was about more than the two of them. It was about pack, and as long as Devan didn’t recognise Danielo as a brother, he was a danger to everyone.
Zio moved level with Devan, arms outstretched. “Come here.”
Devan stopped prowling and stared at him.
New energy flowed between them. Zio stepped closer and stretched up to stroke Devan’s chest. “Stand down. It’s over.”
Devan didn’t move, a simmering growl his only response.
Zio kept their gazes locked. “Danielo, shift back.”
A low whine signalled Danielo’s protest. Zio dug deep for the beta authority he rarely used with his closest brothers. “Now. He needs to see you’re no threat.”
A beat of silence. A shimmer in the air. Then Danielo, tired and bemused, was human. “A threat to who?”
“Anyone.”
“Dude, I don’t think he gives a fuck about the rest of the world right now.”
“What?”
“How doyoufeel, Zio?”
Zio tore his attention from Devan and spared Danielo a glance. “The fuck are you talking about?”
Danielo raised his eyebrows. “I’m talking about the fact that a shifter with more control than all of us put together is about to burn the world down to protect you. Not anyone else, Zio.You. Don’t tell me you can’t feel it.”
“Feel wha—” But the words died on Zio’s lips before he could finish the sentence, eclipsed by the absolute certainty that whatever had happened tonight had changed him forever. “Fuck.” His hand flew to his chest. “I do feel it. What is it? What’s happening to me?”
“You’ve triggered a potential mating bond,” Danielo said flatly. “With a Shadow Clan shifter who’s ready to kill us all if we come any closer. Oh, and the humans are on their way, so you might want to think about fixing this shit so they don’t shoot us where we stand.”
Sarcasm was Danielo’s baseline, but urgency laced his tone, and as if on cue, sirens sounded in the distance. It wouldn’t be long before the helicopters went up—aircraft modified by the authorities with orders to shoot any shifters who could be considered a threat to the general population.
From a human perspective, a cluster of nervous wolves and a raging tiger would be a hard risk to ignore.
Brain spinning, Zio reached again for his beta authority, focussing it this time on Devan. “Stand down. No one is going to hurt me except the humans heading our way, and I need to get my pack to safety. If you can’t shift back, you’ll have to run until you’re far enough away that they won’t find you.”
He gave Devan a gentle push.
Devan didn’t move.
Zio tried again. “Please, Devan. For me, okay? If you stay and you’re like this, the humans will shoot us all. I can’t let that happen... to you or my pack. I need you to go.”
For the longest moment, Zio feared Devan wouldn’t budge, that he wouldn’t do the only thing left to protect himself, Zio, and the pack that had brought them together, but as the approaching sirens grew louder, he finally seemed to hear them. He bent his neck and nudged Zio towards the rest of the pack. Then... he was gone, and the crushing pain of his departure drove Zio to his knees.
* * *
Zio sat on the cold ground by the fire no one had bothered to keep going. The humans had been and gone, unconvinced by Zio’s explanation of a training exercise gone wrong but unable to prove otherwise. Danielo had taken a team back out to bury the dead, while Michael took care of Bomber.
Shannon had been the only one left to sit with Zio, and he did, shoulders touching, his presence a comfort, but nowhere near enough to soothe the pain ripping through Zio’s soul.