“What are you doing?” I jumped up from the ledge and rushed over to him as he tapped the screen. Panic gripped at my throat, and my heart jumped in my chest.

“Calling Aidan. He …”

“No, please don’t call him,” I said, a little desperately, cutting him off. “Trevor, please.”

He cut me an apologetic look and raised his hands helplessly. “He told me to call him when you started to shift, Jade. I don’t have a choice. I can’t ignore a direct order from him. He’ll throw me out of the pack.”

Right then, I caught a scent. It was a scent that I knew, one that I would have recognized anywhere, and one that made sparks race over my skin, and birds take flight in my stomach. I looked back out the window and my breath caught in my throat. “He’s already here,” I whispered, locking eyes with the black wolf.

CHAPTER 22

~ JADE ~

He howled to me. The sound wrapped around me, and warmth pooled in my stomach. My heart fluttered for a second and then drummed fast in my chest. I was transfixed, unable to look away from his midnight black coat. Behind him stood at least fifteen other wolves, all a mix of browns and grays and whites, and they joined in his song.

The black wolf looked up through my window. His golden eyes searched my face, and then he tilted his head back, and let out another skin tingling howl.

“It’s time, Jade,” Dominic said, and he placed a hand on my shoulder. I jumped. I hadn’t heard him come in, but darn it, I was glad he was here. “You need to pick.”

“Pick what?” I asked, and my voice shook. I looked up at him and my eyes burned with the threat of impending tears. Everything was falling into place and falling apart at the same time. I was becoming what I hated most, but by becoming that, I was also getting back what I wanted most: Dominic.

He smiled a crooked smile and took my hand, pulling me up from my seat. “He’s giving you the choice to pick the pack. Aidan brought them for you.”

“I … I don’t understand,” I stammered and snuck another quick look at the black wolf.

Dominic reached out and tucked some loose hair behind my ears. “Every wolf has a choice. Pack or solo. It’s simple. You can walk away from us or you can join us.”

I glanced back out the window. My skin was crawling and my face was starting to feel … wrong. Different. I could feel the coarse hair poking out along my arms and the pressure on my bones. The wolves continued to sing below me, and the sound of them called to me. It was as if they were calling to me and only me. Asking me to join them. Waiting for me to sing with them. And every fiber in my body wanted exactly that. To be a part of them. I wanted to throw up, and laugh, and scream, and cry.

“Um, Jade …” Marcy’s voice was shrill, and as I looked over at her, she scurried back on the bed. “You have a muzzle.”

~ AIDAN ~

Maybe I was wrong about Jade. Maybe she wasn’t ready. But the truth was, whether she was ready or not, I couldn’t wait any longer. She was vulnerable until she shifted, and I couldn’t worry about her not being able to defend herself.

I had rounded up as many pack members as I could, hoping that with this many wolves present, her inner-wolf would respond to them. But having them here meant leaving very few watching the perimeter of Dog Mountain.

I tilted my head back and let another long howl out. I waited, listening to my pack calling her, for what felt like forever. I was about ready to give up, but then I heard it. The click of a door. The soft drop of clothes onto the ground. A gasp. A moan. A grunt. The pat of paws on cement.

And then I was flying through the air, and crashing onto the ground.

She stood over me. Her fur was black as pitch and her eyes, a brilliant gold. She grinned, a toothy grin, and hopped a little, ready to play.

The pack was silent, and the tension was thick. Her scent was powerful, sharp. I rolled back up to my paws, and shook the grass from my coat. My scent ramped up a notch, and a chorus of whimpers filled the air. But Jade … she didn’t back down. I straightened, and I let a warning growl rumble from my chest. My lips curled up and my eyes widened.

She cocked her head to the side as if she didn’t understand, and I growled again. I needed her to fall in line. She had to choose to follow me. She had to choose the pack. I wished I could speak to her. I wished she would grasp it. But she nudged me again, nipping playfully at my side.

~ JADE ~

I thought Aidan was trying to tell me something, but I couldn’t focus on it. His scent was wonderful. Powerful. Perfect. And all I wanted to do was run and play and rub against him. I had so much energy. Too much energy. It was soaring through me and I couldn’t stand still.

He seemed … annoyed, and I wished he would stop growling at me. The tension that rolled off the other wolves was suffocating and he was only making it worse. Each time he growled, they would whimper and shrink further away from us.

And I didn’t want them to go.

I nosed his side, and he snapped at me. He growled again, louder, longer, and my insides shivered at the sound.

I stood a bit straighter and pushed my ears forward. I growled and snapped back at him. I want to play. Why wasn’t he getting it? It was so frustrating.

Aidan shivered. I could see it move along his fur. It was amazing. Tantalizing heat surged through me. He growled again and I growled back.

Aidan took a step closer to me, his canines bared, and he snarled. His scent changed then. It became stronger and something in me trembled. He barked and followed it by another growl that made my knees shake. A voice in my head screamed at me to stay standing, but my knees started to buckle, and with each second, it was harder to hold his stare. I felt my head dropping inch by slow inch.

Something tore into my skin. I yelped, and tried to jump away. My flesh ripped. It felt as if a bunch of little and very sharp knives were stabbing into my hip over and over. The silence was painfully loud, all the growling and howling stopped. The knives bit into my flesh again, and a snarl exploded from me.

The copper scent of blood drifted up my snout. I pivoted on my hind legs, my right side burned, and I came face to face with a dirty-gray wolf. Her lips were curled back and blood — my blood — covered her teeth and dripped from her muzzle.

Sounds of a scuffle rang out from behind me, but I didn’t take my eyes off of the wolf in front of me. She crouched down, snarling and snapping at me. I tried to mimic her movements, but my backend hurt so badly. I could feel the warm trickle of blood run down my leg, and matting my fur.

She lunged at me, tackling me to the ground. I landed on my back with a breathtaking thud, and her teeth came at me, aiming for my neck. I kicked out, my back paws planted in her stomach, and I kicked her off of me before her teeth could sink into my neck, and I pushed back up on all fours.

I could barely put weight on my injured leg. I didn’t understand what was happening. Dominic had said they had come to welcome me. Why wasn’t he helping me? And where was Aidan? The gray wolf was circling around me, and she looked as if she was ready to jump on me again.

What’s happening? a voice in my head shrieked. Why were they letting her do this to me?

I snarled at her, and for a split second she froze and her eyes widened. But then she growled and came at me again.

I stood my ground for two reasons. One: Dominic told me not to back down from them. And two: I couldn’t run even if I wanted to. I stretched my body, standing as straight and as firmly on the ground as I could, preparing for the impact. I growled, a menacing, and slightly freaked out, sound.

The gray wolf was barreling toward me with her canines exposed, and my heart was jumping around like a rabbit in my chest. Her teeth sank into my right shoulder and she wrestled me to the ground.

Dirt and grass burned against my side as we slid and rolled over each other. I bit out blindly, desperately, and I instantly tasted the salty sweat in her fur and the iron taste of her blood. The blood seeped into my mouth and I latched on tighter. I growled and yanked and flung her onto her back.

She made a whimpering sound, and I sprung up, and towered over her. Rage and fear and something that I really didn’t want to understand fed through my veins. I felt my lips curl, the cool air brushed against my gums, and the world seemed to stand still, vanishing away and leaving only the gray wolf cowering at my feet.

It scared the hell out of me, but at that moment, I wanted to kill her. I wanted to rip her apart and roll in her blood. It was as if the animal that I had turned into was taking over, and all I could think about was the taste of her blood. I felt a growl rumble around me. Her shoulder was gushing blood, a large chunk of skin was gone from where I had bitten her, and her meaty muscles were exposed. It would have been so easy to kill her. I could see it all. My teeth in her neck, tearing out her throat. The taste of her blood. The rush of victory.

The growl came again, followed by a soft whimper, and then a cold nose pressed against me. I swiveled, baring my teeth and snapping out. A rusty brown wolf dropped to its belly and then rolled onto its back and licked my chin. Standing right behind that wolf was the midnight black alpha.

I snarled at him furiously, and he snarled back. For half a second I thought about lunging at him. I was so mad, so hurt … but instead, I shook off the thought, turned, and limped away from him and the pack.

CHAPTER 23

~ AIDAN ~

“What the hell did you do to her?” Marcy screamed. She ran at me, her fist balled, and she punched me over and over in the chest. And I let her. She was crying. Her shoulders convulsed as gasping sobs fell from her, and she continued to punch me.

Trevor rushed over, ready to pull her off, but I shook my head. I hardly felt her weak hits, and I figured she probably had a right to be mad. So I just stood there until she was done. Playing the tough alpha seriously wasn’t easy. It’s not as if Marcy knew I had no choice but to let Jade fight it out. I hadn’t expected the attack to happen, not on her first shift, but the females had a right to fight her, and I couldn’t do much to stop it.

It took a full sixty-four seconds for her tears to win out, and Marcy crumpled against my chest crying uncontrollably. “Mac, I didn’t do anything to her,” I said softly.