She was there too. The whispers back in the grocery store—all from my pack.

I froze a little, taken aback to note this was how I could help people. Would every person I met who was pack become a part of my little cluster?

The biggest difference between the pack and my mates were size and color. My men were larger presences in my soul, and oddly enough, I noticed they were at the bottom, closest to me. Almost as though…

They were keeping the hordes from me.

They were my barrier.

They kept the pack apart from me.

Relief whispered through me, even as I focused on Austin’s and Ethan’s spirits and tried to calm them down.

Of course, trying to calm someone down wasn’t as easy as it was in real life. Telling them to breathe or to think happy thoughts wasn’t going to work in this medium, so I did the equivalent of petting them.

Well, as much as I could when I wasn’t able to use my hands during this exercise.

This was a whole other ball of wax.

I hummed under my breath and jerked back into Eli’s hold when I felt how they responded to that.

Instantly, they calmed.

It was like I’d pushed a button or something.

Insane.

But brilliant.

A laugh escaped me, and that?

Had the power of a tidal wave.

The energy reacted to sound!

Oh man, I could handle that.

The laughter didn’t just affect Ethan and Austin, I felt it change Eli’s mood too. It even slipped into the other people in my care, mellowing them out.

My happiness or joy spread into them the second I focused on them.

Interesting!

I hummed again to soothe them, and when I opened my eyes, I saw Frank was staring at me with curiosity.

“Been a long time since I felt an omega as powerful as you,” he mused the second our gazes connected. “In fact, that was a mighty impressive show. I could feel you, even though I’m not in your pack.” He cut Eli a look. “She’ll need guarding.”

A snap came from behind me, and Frank’s lips twitched as the bitch slinked in, rumbling all the while, her shoulders hunched, head low, sporting a menacing glare. When she brushed up against me, her head butting my hand, I speared my fingers into the thick fur, and murmured, “I have my own guard.”

“I can see that.” He laughed a little. “Never seen a she-wolf taken with a transformed female before. Why, you do things differently up here in the North, don’t you?”

Eli cleared his throat. “Some things we do, sure. But other things, no.”

The curve of Frank’s mouth flatlined at that. “Yeah. I feel that. Well, I brought him here for you. A sacrifice, even though he’s hurt my family, but my omega confirmed he won’t leave your lady alone. Not until he’s seen through his task.”

“He almost killed her,” Ethan snarled, and I twisted around and saw that he was standing there, back in his half-shredded clothes, glowering at Cyrilo.

Austin stood in front of him, evidently trying to hold him back, and I could confirm that he needed to.

I had never, not in the time we’d been together, seen him so angry.

So uncontrolled.

It was almost a turn-on.

At the start of our relationship, things had been so unpassionate, so clinical, that I’d been concerned. I was getting all the passion now in spades.

Which made me a very happy bunny.

The thought had my lips twisting into a smile as I asked, “What will you do with him? Do you have jails?”

“For what he did, he won’t go to jail, sweetheart,” Austin replied, and a satisfied rumble escaped Ethan.

“You’ll kill him?” I inquired flatly, and even though I knew I should feel badly about that, I didn’t have it in me to do so.

I couldn’t feel anything other than relief to know that Cyrilo was going to die, not when he was the one who’d ripped my life out from under me.

Twice.

I sucked in a breath, and questioned, “Father’s dead, isn’t he?”

That had to be why Cyrilo had upset the apple cart the way he had.

Everything about this way of life was mahrime to our kind. Dogs and cats were pets we were forbidden from owning. We loved horses as a result, because, to my people, they were the noblest of breeds. First, Cyrilo would never have allowed himself to be transformed if father was alive. Second, father would never have accepted Cyrilo’s methods as justifiable.

Even that car crash wasn’t how the family did things.

A knife to the throat. A dagger to the heart. No guns. Nothing of that nature.

Nothing mechanical.

Only blunt force and the will to kill someone who had dishonored the line.

He’d made a mistake in transforming me. He’d just meant to slaughter me and thought to use his wolf to get away with murder.

A wolf attack was a lot different than homicide.

“You’re a hypocrite,” I rasped, my thoughts whirling as I tried to get myself under control.

My brother was dying soon, and I needed answers, answers he wasn’t going to give me.

His tight mouth and the way he stared blankly at the ground told me all these things.

I knew he wouldn’t give me the peace I needed.

I knew he wanted me to suffer, but he would suffer too.

Striding over to him, I waited for Eli to hold me back, but he didn’t.

“How did he manage to transform her, that’s what I’d like to know?” Frank muttered. “The bastard’s always been alpha-type, but not strong enough to best me.”

Of course, that pricked the fool’s pride. “I never showed you just how strong I am.”

“Makes sense,” Eli murmured. “Something in the line is powerful. Just look how it bred Sabina.”

I jerked my chin up at that, taking heart from his words.

To my men, I wasn’t a victim. I was strong.

I was powerful.

I was their omega, their mate.

Their equal.

Recognition slammed into me as I processed all that before I grabbed Cyrilo’s chin and forced him to look at me. “May Kali Sara heed my words. May she whisper them into God’s ear and beckon him to send you straight to the pits of hell for what you did to Joshua and Kian.” I lowered my face, closer to his, knowing he could attack, but I didn’t care. “May the evil in our family line die with you, may it rot in Satan’s arms with you—”

He snarled at me, his teeth snapping, but the touch was all I’d needed.

I could feel his energy.

It was different than the pack’s, different than my mates’.

This was familial.

Blood.

It was black in my being, and the second I closed my eyes, I didn’t have to touch it to know who it was.

And because I knew the energy was affected by sounds, I called on my she-wolf, and she responded.

As did the bitch at my side, who went straight for Cyrilo’s throat as I let out a snarl that any natural wolf would be proud of and let it echo in his head as the creature who was tied to me in ways we’d never understand, who was Mother blessed, took the threat away.

As he bled out on the floor, I kept my eyes closed, watching as the black ball of energy withered away and died.

Only when it was snuffed out did I open them, and I saw the carnage.

I didn’t have it in me to care though.