HUCK

My wolf had total control, and he wasn't giving it up.

I should have been horrified by the sight of my people, reduced to what they could carry, trekking up the mountain to fight a war with no weapons. But I wasn't horrified. There wasn't room for horror or regret or sanity. All I had was rage. I'd tried reaching Brooke for the past hour with no success, and she wasn't strong enough to block me out. She was unconscious. She could be hurt. She could be dying at this very moment.

My teeth clenched, and I picked up the pace, trudging through the terrain, biting back the urge to scream. Each bit of resistance goaded me; tree limbs, dense brush, and loose earth could go to hell.

"Huck?" Jewel called behind me.

I grunted.

"Do you smell that?"

"I don't smell anything," I said tightly. Why did she have to talk? I didn't want to talk. I wanted to move. We had so much shit to do, and we hadn't even made it to the low town yet. It wasn't much farther now, but the closer we got, the longer it seemed to take.

"Huck!" she snapped. "Slow down! I smell something."

I sucked a hard breath in through my nose. "There's nothing. Stop wasting time." My voice echoed from somewhere older than my existence, and a miracle occurred.

Jewel listened.

I glanced back to find her glaring at me, her lips pressed into a firm, straight line. Flora said an alpha command couldn't be ignored, but I hadn't realized she meant it so literally. Jewel had to listen, and I couldn't even find it in myself to smile about it.

Instead, I pressed forward, and we didn't take long to reach the first trailers wedged between the trees. Low wolves drifted forward like moths to a light. They stepped out onto porches and appeared from the woods. I recognized at least a dozen from the bar, and most of them looked like it hadn't been long since they left it. They staggered forward, using the trees for support.

I ground my teeth. We were so fucked. "I am the blood of the first," I said. "I am assuming my rightful place. You have one hour to gather whatever basics you can carry. All weapons should be brought to me."

Murmurs spread through the crowd; fear permeated the air. None moved to do as told, though I hadn't commanded them...yet.

"Where are we going?" a child asked. He couldn't have been much older than Briar, and he met my gaze with a fearlessness reserved only for the innocent.

"Someplace better."

"Which is?" a man called.

Whatever he saw in my face made him avert his eyes. My wolf wasn't in the mood to convince him. I was taking back what was mine. I was alpha. Anyone who followed Titan was a rogue. "North."

"Good luck," another man spoke. "There's a blockade that says you won't make it into mid town."

My eye twitched. "A blockade?"

"Sentinels began setting it up hours ago. No one can pass it, not even for work. I tried. They've got some of the biggest guns I've ever seen." He took us in, shaking his head slowly. "Nobody here has any weapons. You want us to march to slaughter."

"Let me worry about the guns. You just get your shit together. We leave in forty-five minutes."

* * *

At the end of June, when the sun was at its hottest, and the flowers had begun to die, hundreds of wolves headed north to do the same.

"Huck?" Jewel said. "Can't you smell that?"

Not this shit again. "I said I—" I paused, catching a hint of what she was talking about.

Blood. Not just any blood, but someone I knew. I sniffed again, trying to place the scent, but it was too faint. I shifted course, following the aroma. As the scent grew stronger, so did my recollection. No. It couldn't be. If he was here, then who was guarding Brooke?

Bear's massive brown wolf lay slumped against a tree, fur soaked in blood, and unconscious.

"Bear!" one of the low wolves shouted.

Jewel took off like a racehorse and dropped to her knees beside him. "He's been shot!"

I dropped my pack and rummaged inside, pulling out the same blade Brooke had used to close my wounds not so long ago. I hadn't been as bad as this, though. His skin was pale; his breathing was weak.

One of the low wolves brought Jewel a flask. She cleaned the wound, then took the knife, but her hand shook like a leaf in a thunderstorm. "I-I can't—"

"Here—" I took it back and set to work, prying the bullet from his flesh. There was only one, but he hadn't gotten nearly as lucky as I had. He was dying. I swallowed, continuing to work despite the pointlessness. He had to live. I needed him to wake his big ass up and tell me what the fuck happened. Where was Brooke? Had she been injured too?

I reached through the bond, mentally clinging to the faint pulse just out of reach. She was alive, but so was Bear. What if she were somewhere, bleeding out, needing me? Alone. Totally unprotected.

I pressed a towel over the hole as Jewel heated the blade, then I seared it closed and got up to pace like prey caught in a corner. We needed to move, but he wasn't going anywhere, and neither were we until I took care of that blockade. "We'll make camp here for tonight. Keep alert in case Titan sends sentinels out looking for us."

"Where are you going?" Jewel asked as she finished wrapping a bandage around Bear's middle.

"To see how big the guns are."

"Be careful," she said.

I let my cloak fall to the ground, then I shifted and ran until my lungs hurt and my heart threatened to beat out of my chest. Then I reached the edge of mid town and stopped within the tree line, staring out at the hard dose of reality before me. Massive guns formed a barricade as far as the eye could see. Sentinels manned each one, more congregated just behind them. They'd set up camp. They'd completely cut us off.

Unsure of where I was headed, I turned and walked back the way I had come. Silent. There was no way to make it past, not without death. A lot of death. And I wasn't in the right mind to prevent it. Perhaps at first, maybe even for a while, but if I couldn't figure this out, I'd sacrifice them. In the end, if I had to choose, I'd choose her, and how many would die before I made it through? One, two, a hundred? Would it be Briar or Flora or Jewel? Would it be all of them?

Would it even matter?

My steps slowed as exhaustion took hold of my muscles. I'd been running all day, and I had gotten nowhere. The sun set. The moon rose to witness my failure. Some choice for alpha. I didn't deserve the title. I deserved nothing. Not Brooke. Not my wolf.

I shifted back into human form and slumped down onto a patch of grass, gripping my head in my hands. Then I did something I hadn't done since I was a boy—the only thing I could think to do. I drew down the moon.

"Goddess above, moon so high, army of stars in an endless sky, shine your light on my darkest night, help me see the way."

Nothing happened, and it didn't comfort the way it had as a child. I didn't need a fairy tale to believe in. I didn't need a stationary moon I could pretend was guiding me. If there was a goddess who wanted impossible things, she better help, because I didn't have an answer for this one, and Brooke was...

I ground my teeth, stood, and focused all my attention on the half-moon peeking through the branches above my head. "Goddess above, moon so high, army of stars in an endless sky—" My voice boomed, echoing the tone she'd gifted my bloodline, commanding her to obey. "Shine your light on my darkest night, help me see the way!"

Silence fell, more complete in the aftermath of my shouting, and the seconds ticked by like hours. "You know what I think?" I growled. "I think maybe you're just a big ass, hunk of rock, and I'm a dead man wasting—"

A stiff wind whooshed through the trees, sending me flying backward. My back slammed into a tree, knocking the air from my lungs. I wheezed, eyes widening as she appeared to me. A wolf composed of moonlight, wispy edges in constant motion. Goosebumps rose across every inch of my skin. She was real. She was here. She didn't look happy. "I—"

She howled, and the sound flooded around me until I was drowning. I covered my ears and curled in on myself, feeling as if my body were about to implode. "I'm sorry!" I roared.

Quiet. Stillness. Sweet relief. I peeked up at her.

She was turned toward the trees, looking at me over her shoulder. Follow me. I heard her as clearly as if she'd spoken aloud, and before I could respond, she sprinted forward, disappearing into the forest.

I scrambled to my knees, shifted, and raced after her. But she was so fast, it was impossible to catch up. Just when I'd think she was gone, a wisp of light would flicker ahead, beckoning me in the right direction. We were headed toward mid town, back to the line. Did she expect me to cross now? Would she use magic to get me through? My pace increased, eager at the prospect.

But then I rounded a bend and skidded to a stop.

The moonlit wolf stood twenty feet away, waiting for me to arrive. A hulking object divided the distance between us. She motioned to it with her snout.

I cautiously stepped forward, shifting back as I realized what I was looking at. It was one of the massive guns they had blocking the way to mid town. Only this one had an exploded barrel. A heavy chain stretched across the ground away from it, a large hook attached to its end. It was likely a tether they'd used to keep it from sliding down the mountain. Had they simply let it loose after it malfunctioned?

"A broken gun?" I asked, but when I lifted my head, she was gone. I spun in a circle and strained my eyes, willing a wisp to appear. But it didn't. "That's it?" I shouted. "This is all you've got for me?"

No response. It was as if she'd never been. With a growl, I hoisted the chain over my shoulder and began the long, grueling task of dragging the gun back to camp. I'd drawn down the moon, and she'd miraculously answered. But, as usual, I still needed to figure out what the hell she was trying to say.