“I don’t want to leave you.”
“Go,Zio. Youhaveto find Devan, no matter the cost. Find him and come back to us. Make our pack whole again.”
Zio stood and, after a lingering glance back, shifted and darted for the undergrowth again. The air still held no trace of Devan’s scent, but as Zio circled the compound, whispers of it reached him.Devan. He called out with every instinct he had, but there was no reply. Desperation clawed at him, the primal need to find his mate overwhelming his wolf. He had no idea how Devan had come to be in the compound or what had happened to him since, but of one thing he was certain, Devan was in danger. Every thud of his heart and twist of his gut confirmed it.Something’s wrong.
A silent howl burst from Zio’s chest.Hold on. I’m coming.
* * *
Devan lay on the ground, his head pillowed by flesh that wasn’t Zio’s or Dash’s or anyone else he’d ever sought comfort from before. His mind was thick with pain and grief, not all of it his own, but beyond his links with any nearby wolf, something else simmered. A fog he couldn’t shake.I’m dying.He couldn’t say why or when, but every facet of his being—human and beast—knew it.
A cool hand touched his face. “There’s fighting not far from here. I think your mate has come back for you.”
Devan could no longer speak, and he’d given up denying that Zio was his mate hours ago. The southern female—Mari—didn’t care for his arguments.
“The technicalities don’t matter anymore. You’ve claimed each other, whether you know it or not, and this won’t end until you’re together or you’re both dead.”
At this point, death seemed the most likely conclusion. Agony racked him, shuddering through his body in angry waves. Mari tried to soothe him, but her touch was alien, her compassion inexplicable to Devan’s jumbled mind.
He drifted, straining his ears when it sporadically occurred to him to try and hear what Mari could hear. But it was no good. As he faded out a final time, he remembered that the abandoned bunkers Varian’s pack had hurriedly repurposed to house Mari were sunk into the ground, designed from wars past to mask sound and scent. Even if Zio was still close enough to find him—if he’d survived the assault on the compound long enough to pick up Devan’s scent among the chaos of the battle—the chances of him tracing Devan to the cells were next to zero.
I’m gonna die underground in the arms of a wolf from the wrong pack.
* * *
Devan’s scent was everywhere. Strong and perfect, it seeped into Zio’s senses, pulling him forward, step by step, as he fought to stay downwind of the enemy wolves guarding the compound.Our compound.
Fresh anger flared in his veins, tainted by the vengeance that had carried him from the border to the moment he’d realised Devan had followed him, but he swallowed it. Owned it. Only the rare patience Varian had battled to instil in him for moments like these kept him from breaking cover and slaughtering every enemy wolf he found until they cut him down with their damn-fucking guns.
Devan’s scent was strongest around Varian’s house, in the garden, where Tomas fed the birds every morning. Zio crept as close as he dared, grateful to Varian and Tomas that their penchant for privacy had led them to grow tall and thick conifers around their home. He was pushing his luck, though. A few more paces and his black fur would be visible to the shifters patrolling the garden. In human form, they were vulnerable to Zio’s wolf, but once they’d caught wind of his presence, they wouldn’t be human for long.Take out the biggest dude before he shifts. Bury the rest.
Zio summoned his powers and set his sights on the hulking shifter by the garden doors. Getting to him required evading the three other shifters between them, but Zio barely glanced at them, his focus so absolute even Devan’s scent faded a touch.
The respite was fleeting, though. Panic flared in Zio’s chest, but it wasn’t his own. Fear, pain, defeat. And something else too—love, warmth... regret.No. Don’t give up. A growl built in Zio’s throat. Devan was close; he had to be for his emotions to be blasting Zio through the connection they’d forged since they’d met. And he was dying.
Zio knew it like he knew water was wet.
No!He tensed, ready to spring, but as he prepared to launch himself out of hiding and obliterate any wolf that got in his way, the air shimmered with an inhuman power that sent him flying.
He hit what remained of the garden wall and slid to the ground. The impact knocked the breath from his lungs, and he couldn’t contain a yelp of pain.
For a moment, he lay immobile, dazed, eyes unblinking as he gazed at the unfolding scene in Varian’s garden.
The wolves were gone, dead on the ground. In their place roamed dozens of great cats—tigers, leopards, pumas.
A huge lion threw back his head and roared. The wall at Zio’s back shook. Bricks crumbled to dust.
Shadow Clan had arrived.
Chapter Twenty-Six
“Get up, Zio. We need you.”
Zio blinked. Somehow he was human but couldn’t recall shifting back.
A young man crouched at his feet, blond hair and glowing blue eyes like Devan’s. He smelt of fighting. Of blood and war. He was a soldier, like Zio, but he was Shadow Clan. Like Devan.
The man held out a hand. “Hurry. You need to lead us to Devan. There isn’t much time.”