A series of furious growls answered me.
“You fixin’ to run back to your brothers with your tail between your legs? We haven’t found ‘em yet. Doesn’t mean we won’t.” I recognized the one speaking. He was there at the old boat launch when we went after Cady.
One of his eyes was so swollen, it could barely open. There were deep gouges across his cheek. The injuries didn’t disguise the hollow expression on his face. The way the beast in him had devoured the human parts of him, leaving a cruel and soulless monster.
That one might not be worth saving. I wasn’t sure there was anything left to save.
I could see the hesitation in the others, radiating off them like heat waves. They didn’t want to be here. Didn’t want to be foot soldiers in a war they didn’t understand. A war that wasn’t theirs to fight.
“You don’t have to do this,” I told them calmly. “This is between me and Jacques. Tell me where he is, and I’ll find him. We’ll settle this the way it ought to have been settled from the start.”
The ringleader snorted. “Think you can’t take us?”
I ignored him, almost pleading with the others. “Look at him. Look atme. You don’t want to be this. You won’t come back from it. None of us do.”
One mutt shuffled back a step. He quickly found his place again when the mean one snarled in his direction. “Coward!”
I sighed, walking confidently into the open space between the bayou and what used to be my home. My arms flung wide, posture relaxed as I waited.
“Go ahead, then.”
None of them moved. They were sure this was some kind of trick.
“I don’t want to kill any of you.”
Even as I spoke, I could feel him rising inside me.
The beast.
My greatest nightmare. My greatest strength.
He had no problem shedding blood. Craved it, even.
The mean one finally stepped forward, taking a swing at me. My jaw cracked sideways. Blood pooled in my mouth.
I smiled at him, moonlight blazing in my eyes and reflecting on his ugly face. “I don’t want to kill you, but that doesn’t meanhewon’t.”
They descended on me then, drawn to the scent of blood. They weren’t controlled. Weren’t able to hold their beasts back when they heard the challenge in my voice.
Howls shattered the night like a battle cry.
I answered them, shaking the bayou with my own unearthly voice.
I didn’t want to fight. In the end, I had no choice. Had no more control than they did as fangs tore into my flesh.
I was strong, but the beast would always be stronger.
By the time I shifted, towering over the rest of them with the power and strength of the First of the First, it was too late. Thesoil was soaked with my blood. Stars dotted the horizon, false lights flashing in front of me.
They were going to win.
I was going to let them.
Maybe then we would be even. Jacques would leave my brothers to their peace, would move on with his miserable life.
I closed my eyes, lowering my arms. Fisting my clawed hands and taking every blow with a sudden sense of peace.
“When I’m done with you,” a garbled voice growled behind me, his arm locking around my throat, “I’m going to find that pretty little redhead your brother is hiding, and I’m going to make her scream.”