"How did you find us? What do you want from us?"
"I don't want anything from you two." He chuckled. "I could care less about you two mutts. I'm here for the girl. She's mine."
Liam's back began to pop. "Over my dead body," he said.
Thomas shook his head with a sigh. "Don't be stupid, Aiden. I've been tracking this chick since I turned her years ago. For a while she threw me though. Made me second guess that I actually bit her, but now I know that's not true. You can thank your brother for that." He grinned. "The boy got a little pack hungry. It was more than easy to slip one of my own in there, unfortunately for you all, my friend likes to talk." He pulled out another cigarette, lit it, and took a puff. "Your brother's so reliably easy to manipulate."
Aaron put Ty down. His chest heaved as his eyes burned wolf. "How dare you." He snarled, lunging forward.
"Aaron no!" Liam tried to grab him, but the older werewolf moved too fast. Thomas' arm shot up, snatching Aaron around the neck and smashed his head down into the toppled stones.
Ty screamed.
I wanted to do the same, but nothing came. I starred in horror as blood began to ooze down from Aaron's scalp.
Thomas moved in front of Aaron, lifting him up limply by the collar of his black tee shirt. Aaron groaned something unintelligible as the older werewolf leaned over his bloodied face. "You were always so reckless. You were never as good as your brother."
Aaron's eyes rolled open, locking on the older wolf. He hacked up a bunch of blood and spat it in Thomas' face. "Screw you."
A snarl ripped from the man's throat, and his teeth elongated. He pulled his lips back, his mouth opening wide. I couldn't watch, turning my head away, when I realized Liam wasn't beside me.
Oh, God. No.
"Don't touch him," Liam said.
I turned around in time to see Aaron fly backwards into the cold stonewall. He toppled to the ground along with crumbles of loose debris. Liam began to shift in midair, when Thomas' hand whipped out, catching his jaw just as it started to elongate. I felt the howling yelp from Liam all the way to my toes. His body violently reacted with a spastic shutter, the pain clear in his eyes.
"Stop it. You're hurting him!" I yelled.
Thomas gave me a look of death.
"He's mid shift. He can't go either way. Please," I said.
Liam's expression begged for me to 'run'. He tried to speak, but only a muffled whine came from his clamped half turned muzzle. His body violently shook.
The corner of the man's lips turned up, his sharp teeth glistening in the dim shaft. "Well, hello there, Charlotte. Remember me? It's been a while."
"Don't come near me," I said.
He threw Liam down by the muzzle, smashing his back into more of the fallen rocks. Liam's body jerked, and then went still.
I tried to scream, but I couldn't breathe. Sobs from Ty carried in the distance and my cheek itched as a tear slipped down.
"Liam?" I asked. My lower lip trembled. I tried to reach out to his fallen form, but I couldn't see.
Rustling and snarls came from around me and then everything went silent, everything except the sound of Thomas' boots coming towards me.
"Chain the others up," he said.
Someone kicked Byron's fallen body in the ribs. The entire pack had been taken out.
"Charlotte," Thomas said. Too fast for me to me to move, he grabbed my chin. "You are the cause for a lot of trouble. All these years I kept tabs on you, waiting for you to shift, to find out you are an abomination. It's nothing personal. You just can't be allowed to exist. No one's having that power over me and mine. It's too bad, really. We don't get many female wolves these days. Oh well. Maybe I'll just take your friend."
In my peripheral line of vision, I saw his other hand come up. I squeezed my eyes shut, readying for the strike.
"Don't. Don't! She can help you. We both will," Ty said.
What?
Had Ty lost it?
"What do you mean?" he asked with a growl. He hadn't struck me. Ty stood a few feet from us.
"Think of how invincible of an Alpha you'll be if you can control the shifts of all the other wolves," she said. "Don't kill her, please. She's the best friend I ever had. We'll go with you." Tears rolled down her cheeks. As she approached us, her hand slipped into her pocket. With a groan, gritting her teeth, she pulled out the charmed necklace she used to carry. Her hand sizzled and then she grabbed Thomas, slamming it into his chest.
He howled in pain, dropping me.
"Run, Charlotte!" She yelled, and I scrambled away from him.
"Wolvesbane," Thomas said through his teeth. "You bitch. I'll kill you both." He grabbed Ty by the front of her shirt, and heaved her into the neighboring wall. She slumped to the floor with a whimper. She tried to move, her bloodied hands grasping at the rubble.
My skin rippled.
Thomas moved towards Ty. Claws broke from his fingernails and I heard his back pop and snap.
"Ty!" I yelled.
Fire raged to the surface of my skin. My muscles trembled and shook, and I doubled over, groaning. Pain swept through every limb and my eyes shot wide. The tips of my fingers split and I screamed as a set of claws broke through. The room spun and then my vision changed. My back snapped and broke in several places and then my cries became unrecognizable. My paws landed on the mucky floor and the front of my skull cracked. The wolf's muzzle pushed through with a raging snarl. My clothes shredded as my wolf-self burst through the seams.
Disoriented, the room changed - my height and senses new and defined. I didn't even know how to move. Everything felt strange. I blinked, breathing in a quick sharp breath, the sound of it echoing in my now sensitized ears.
The room stank with rich salty iron and it appalled me to think that the source made my mouth water. A slight movement in the corner snapped my attention back, and my sharp vision zoomed in on the older man. I lowered my gaze, chest rumbling under my new silky gray coat. Slowly, I started towards him, my muscles limber and rubber-like. My lips rose over my sharp canines.
Thomas had stopped to watch me, chuckling. "Well look what we have here. Nice of you to finally join us."
I snarled.
"What? You think you can take me on, Pup? Didn't you just see what I did to your boyfriends? That was nothing, and they've been around a hell of a lot longer than you." He laughed and spat something on the ground. "I admire your spirit though. Those boys could have learned something from you."
He pointed a clawed finger at me with a twisted grin. "Just give me a second while I kill your friend. I'll be with you in a minute."
My chest burned with rage and as soon as he turned towards Ty I leapt at him. He countered my move, spinning around, and knocked me to the cold wet dirt with his arm. It hurt. It felt like I hit a brick wall, but the sensation cleared almost instantly.
"So you want to be difficult, huh?" he said. "Fine." His back popped as he crouched over. "Let's play difficult."
I crawled to my feet, shaking my body to bring the feeling back. With each step, Thomas' body cracked and twisted into more of his wolf form. His long tongue lapped over his extended teeth as he gave a wicked smile. I could feel my nostrils expand as my breathing became heavy.
A warm pressure grew behind my temples, begging to be released. I crouched low on my hind legs, stepping back as he gained on me - almost fully shifted. The pressure grew, swarming my temples. I relaxed, letting the warm tension free, my focus on Thomas.
Shift back.
The man groaned an agonizing howl.
I stopped my retreat, staring, as his body began to convulse. Sweat dripped from his brow. His wide, no longer golden hues, starred, horrified. "No. No." He clutched his chest, as if that would stop him from changing back to his human form. "You're an abomination." He growled, but as soon as he started, it turned into the normal vocal yell of a man. His claws retracted and his back slid and popped back into an erect position.