As he stood to his full height, he turned to face Ashlee. With a growl in his throat, he refrained from grabbing his sister-in-law by the shirt. “She’d better not get hurt.”
“Brother, did you just threaten my mate?”
Tristan sounded like he wanted to kill and even though Az’s wolf went nuts at the fact that he’d all but threatened the Alpha’s mate, Az really didn’t care.
“Oh hush, Tristan.” Ashlee’s voice rang out. “You remember what it was like before we mated. I thought you were going to kill Rex in the back of my father’s SUV. Let’s get started and save the posturing for later.”
Az moved into his spot next to Tristan. Normally Cullen stood on Tristan’s right side but he’d quietly given the spot to Az without comment. He liked that about Cullen. The man might have been the boogeyman of his youth but he knew when to shut up and not utter a sound.
Ashley turned around and said something to Leah that he couldn’t hear. For a second, he considered contacting her telepathically to ask her what it was. The thought quickly swept from his mind as Ash raised her arms to the sky, threw her head back and spoke to the heavens.
“Guardians of the western sky, your daughters who you sent here to serve you salute you. We beseech thee—hear us.”
A shiver ran down Az’s spine. This was the magic he hated. How did they know they weren’t all about to blow up? Next to him, Tristan made a noise in the back of his throat as he watched Ashlee. His older brother looked proud.
Summer spoke next. She raised her arm and threw her head back. Cullen’s mate had once been a singer and she knew how to project. The silent woods surrounding them rang out with her voice. “Guardians of the eastern sky, your daughters who you sent here to serve you salute you. We beseech thee—hear us.”
When it was Faith’s turn she raised only one arm to the sky. His other sister-in-law was extraordinarily powerful. She’d once held the essence of a fire demon inside her.
Shifters sometimes whispered that the universe seemed to move when she talked.
“Guardians of the northern sky, your daughters who you sent here to serve you salute you. We beseech thee—hear us.”
Jana was small in stature but strong of will as she immediately lent her voice to the ritual. “Guardians of the southern sky, your daughters who you sent here to serve you salute you. We beseech thee—hear us.”
Around them the wind picked up. Az couldn’t pull his gaze from Leah although he didn’t dare speak to her. There were too many unknowns. What if his contact with her altered the ritual and something happened? He clenched his fists at his side wishing they’d hurry.
Ashlee moved forward. “As you have brought us the wind, we know you are with us.” She raised her hand to point to Tristan. “Our Alpha would call his pack. Call to them, our chosen one.”
Next to him, Tristan took a small step forward. “Come to me, my wolves. Answer my summons.”
Az’s ears rang. His Alpha had called to him and he would obey. A howl started in his throat. Around him, he heard the calls of all their pack mates answering their Alpha.
What was happening to Leah? He couldn’t look as the warm white light demanded his total surrender. Closing his eyes, he let it take him—there was no other choice.
As his body reshaped into its wolf form he let out a howl to Tristan, the moon, and any gods that were listening to keep his mate safe.
Chapter Five
Leah screamed as the first wave of white light hit her. Az had called it warm; it didn’t feel that way to her. No, the word she wanted to use was scalding. Her body burned as she thrashed and rolled on the ground. They were killing her. This whole thing had been an elaborate hoax to cause her pain. It was the only explanation.
Az’s face appeared before her eyes. She knew it wasn’t really him, she’d watched him howl and shift when this horror had begun. It was just a vision of him, a memory from earlier. What had he told her? Some people resisted the light and it hurt them more.
Was that what she was doing?
Her vision swam back to the present and she tried to breathe deeply even though she wanted to throw up. First her left paw began to reshape, followed immediately by the right one. The toes elongated, moved, where there was once fur human skin appeared before her eyes and oh how it burned as it happened. Nothing could be more agony than this.
She fell down on her face. Lifting her head she realized she was in her human form.
The wolves around her still howled to Tristan’s command. Even the four women who were leading the ceremony had shifted.
Brace yourself. Here we go again. A female voice she’d never heard before spoke in her head.
Before she questioned who it was, her body convulsed again. Oh hell. The wolf body was coming back.
It won’t hurt as much this time. That voice again.
Her change came faster brought on by the white light. Leah knew she wasn’t calling the white light to come so it must still be part of the ceremony Tristan had invoked when he’d called the pack to him.
He’s our Alpha. He calls and we come.
Still in the thralls of misery, she realized whom she heard. It was her wolf. Az had said he had one and now that she had one she supposed it was official—she was an actual wolf shifter. The whys and hows of this were going to have to be worked out later. For right now, all she could focus on was that her wolf—and what freaky concept that was—
had been correct. It didn’t hurt quite as much. That wasn’t to say it wasn’t uncomfortable.
By all things holy, it truly was. However, this time around, it was manageable, like going to the dentist, she knew it was going to hurt but she was going to live through the pain.
Grimacing as a wave of uncomfortable sensation floated up her arm, she tried to make a mental note that she had, at some point, gone to the dentist and knew what that experience was like.
As she stared in wonder, fur covered her body. It was the same colors as earlier, brown and white, except now it seemed so much more vibrant. The white looked less like dirty snow and more like the first flakes that fell on a cold winter’s night before they’d had a chance to be sullied by the ground. The brown was different too. She’d thought her fur had resembled the color of mud. This version looked more like chestnuts. All in all, for a wolf, it was a prettier presentation.
That’s because this is what I actually look like and not the idiotic facsimile those vile and disgusting people forced on us.
Leah was confused. You were with me then?
Her wolf laughed, a dainty little sound like those women from movies about Victorian England, it was more like a twittering than a full on laugh. Oh darling, I’ve always been with you and if we’d been raised as we should have been, then you would have known me much earlier.
Leah’s wolf form began to shift again. She groaned and her wolf assured her that it was the last switch. This time, although she was exhausted from the overall experience, she found she could endure and if she breathed through the light then it didn’t hurt at all.
Someday you might actually enjoy it.
That she was going to have to wait to see. As she regained her human figure, strong arms pulled her into a tight embrace. She opened one eye to see Az’s concerned expression above her.
“Tristan,” Az called behind her. “She’s burning up. Did that happen to you?”
“No.” There was movement behind her. “Gods only know what Dad did to her with all of his messing around. She shouldn’t have fever. Let’s bring her back to the house.”