Before I get to the edge of the darkness, Sylara finds me. She’s the fastest and most cunning of my pack members. Her instincts are incredible.
She huffs, and I know she’s got Ambrose. I pull him onto her back, and then we both run. Neither of us knows what is chasing us, just that we have to get out of here before they attack us like they did Ambrose and Lumi.
Suddenly, the darkness vanishes. As if being sucked into a vacuum. Night returns with my vision.
I suck in a steadying breath. Lumi does the same. And it’s like all of a sudden I can sense her again. Her heartbeat. Her scent. Her pain. It floods me in a way I haven’t felt since our connection was severed.
Our connection hasn’t been restored, just my senses, but right now that’s more than enough.
“I don’t know who attacked us. But I’m okay. Just scratches, really,” she says as if she knows what I’m going to ask without having to ask it.
Her voice is reassuring, but I know her. She’s downplaying how bad she’s hurt. But when I glance over at Ambrose on Sylara’s back, just behind us, I’m just thankful that Lumi is upright and talking.
Sylara stays just behind me. Just far enough that Lumi would have to purposefully look in his direction to see him.
“Ambrose isn’t okay, is he?” she finally asks me. And I know she senses him in her mind.
I shake my head gently.
And then she does it. She looks back at him. Her fingers dig deeper into my fur, like it’s the only thing grounding her.
“Where’s Riven?” she asks.
I don’t have to answer her. My entire pack greets us. And then we are all running together. The link we all share is enough. I don’t want them searching for whoever attacked us. I want them by my side, protecting Lumi at all costs. And that’s exactly what they do.
Together, we run into the house. Moonlight pack members circle outside.
Lumi climbs off my back, running to Ambrose’s side.
Shift,I think.
But just like before, I don’t shift. Not instantly. I look around at the others. Sylara shifts the second that Ambrose is off her back. Talonis follows. But Brax and Riven seem to be struggling.
“Shift,” I give my alpha command to them. And they shift, relief flooding their faces.
I funnel the same energy into myself until the pain almost explodes out of me, before I finally shift.
I want to collapse from the pain and energy I just exerted shifting. But there isn’t time for that. I run to Lumi, who is bent over Ambrose.
Blood covers both of them now as she checks him. Then she looks up, searching for someone to help him.
Riven is there in a heartbeat. Emeric follows, bringing with him his own pack’s healer. And then Emeric collapses on the floor from the pain.
Fucking curses.
Riven almost goes to him before Lumi stops him. “Healing Ambrose will heal Emeric. His pain is linked to Ambrose’s.”
We all hold our breath as Riven works. Until Ambrose’s breath gets louder and louder. His heartbeat steadier.
“Lumi’s turn,” I say as soon as Ambrose is good enough to be tended to by his pack’s healer alone.
“I’m fine, Ambrose—”
But Riven takes one look at her and says, “Sit down. Ambrose is fine. I need to look at your neck.”
Lumi touches her neck, and for the first time, notices the gash that I’ve been doing my best to ignore while Riven made sure that Ambrose was still with the living.
Before Lumi can even complain about the pain, Riven has her skin pulling back together. Her neck, her cheek, her wrist.