Dad breaks eye contact first, glancing toward Grayson like there’s any chance in cold hell I’ll let him get past me.
I twist my head to track the movement and my growl is louder. An impossible sound to ignore, to the point where other members of the pack closest to us pause their frantic fights.
Even the moon-mad pause with an uneasy fascination. Whatever happened snagged their attention.
I recognize Jrue with the darker stripe of chestnut fur along his spine. His friends surround him, limping and battered.
If any of them come for Grayson, I’ll show them exactly what has been hidden in my blood all these years.
A sense of rightness settles and I bare my teeth, a gesture of dominance.
There’s no going back.
There’s no going forward unless Dad makes the right choice, because my wolf and I both know how this will end if he doesn’t.
I stare down at him and can see each individual strand of fur on his muzzle with my enhanced vision.
Seconds tick by before he deflates, his shoulders slumping forward. Slowly he bends his legs and settles before rolling ontohis side to bare his stomach. Showing me the exact spot where he’d tried to tear into Grayson.
Forced to submit to me.
It takes human me much longer to understand the adjustment in dynamics.
My wolf isn’t sated yet, nose crinkling, senses spanning the room and taking in every erratic heartbeat we’re now claiming as our own. Including those moon-mad creatures still alive.
Shock ripples through the crowd.
It’s an energetic change in the air I pick up like a cloud passing over the sun.
I lift my paw from the ground, stepping toward Dad, to accept his surrender, then a yelp at the door fractures my attention.
“Holy shit, this is going to be harder than I thought.” RJ’s sarcasm bleeds through her concern before a blast of her power takes the remaining moon-mad wolves down.
A chilling breeze from the ruined doorway heralds the arrival of the vampires. Lacey and Colt use their swords against any of the foolish creatures who dare to stand against them.
My heart gives out, my legs demanding to do the same.
“Looks like we’re a little too late to help with the fight.” Aimee picks her way gingerly over dead bodies in her path.
“We’re not late,” RJ corrects. “We’re right on time because we have the cure.”
Her gaze scours the crowd and skips me entirely.
I cast a final deadly look at my father, peeling my lips up in a snarl before breaking away and slinking toward Grayson.
His eyes have dulled, a haze falling over them as he rests on his side, breathing heavily. I nudge him with my nose and some unnamable instincts assuring me he won’t attack.
Then I settle at his side and bark at the witches to grab their attention.
Aimee is the first to realize who I am, what’s happened. Her eyes go marble round and she huffs out a laugh. “Mandi? Damn!”
“What? Who is…Mandi shifted!” RJ claps her hands and runs toward us while the vampires secure the rest of the room. “It’s about time.”
Aimee helps inject the moon-mad wolves to quash the last of the fighting while RJ heads my way.
She takes one awed look at me before drawing a syringe from the pocket of her jacket.
“I have the cure. It’s time for you to heal, buddy. This should be exactly what you need. And if it works the way we think it will, then you won’t be alone.”