Jackson’s sneer widened as he looked past the wall of guards, his eyes scanning the stone steps of the pack house until they locked onto me. “I heard rumors across the territory that Alpha Storm was softening up,” he taunted, his voice dripping with deliberate disrespect as he growled out my mate’s name. “But I didn’t believe it until now. The great Moon Shadow pack, reduced to taking in broken trash and letting a human run the territory. You’re pathetic, Kinkaid.”
Stormy took one slow, deliberate step down the stone stairs. The sheer weight of his Alpha aura slammed out across the gravel drive like a physical wave, making several of Jackson’s own men shift their boots uncomfortably.
“Put Rachael down, Jackson,” Stormy rumbled, his voice dropping into a lethal, chest-vibrating register that promised total annihilation. “And get your ass off my packlands right now. Or the only way you’re leaving this valley is in pieces.”
Jackson let out a loud, mocking laugh, his fingers tightening even harder around Rachael’s throat until her gasps turned into a choked whimper. “Oh, I’ll happily leave, Alpha,” he spat back. “Just as soon as that bitch human gives me back my daughter. She belongs to my pack.”
Against my chest, little Amara convulsed with a sudden, violent shudder. Her tiny fingers dug into the fabric of my shirt, her whole body trembling so hard her teeth were practically chattering. The absolute terror radiating off this sweet little girl didn’t just spark my magic—it set my entire soul on fire.
“Shh, I’ve got you, sweet girl,” I whispered fiercely into her hair, my voice steady and unyielding as iron. “Look at me. No one is taking you away from here. I promise you. You are safe.”
Hearing my voice seemed to push Jackson completely over the edge. He snapped his head toward me, his face twisting into a hideous, feral snarl. “Mind your own fucking business, you pathetic human bitch! Keep your mouth shut, or you’re going to learn exactly what happens to useless little mundanes who dare defy a true Alpha!”
And then, I laughed.
It wasn’t a nervous chuckle or a scream of fear. It was a loud, cold, mocking laugh that echoed sharply off the stone walls of the pack house.
The sound completely shattered the standoff. A dead silence fell over the courtyard. Jackson froze, his eyes widening in absolute fury, while behind me, Knight and the rest of the Moon Shadow guard exchanged stunned, startled glances. No human in their right mind laughed in the face of a snarling Alpha, but I wasn’t just a human from Ohio.
Down in the gravel, Rachael managed to lift her head slightly. Her bruised, tear-streaked face looked right at me, and through the sheer terror in her eyes, her lips silently mouthed two words: Thank you.
“You arrogant bitch,” Jackson roared.
In a fraction of a second, his thick, brutal fingers shifted. Long, razor-sharp black claws tore out of his fingertips, and with a savage, backhanded swipe, he ripped them directly across Rachael’s throat.
“No!” I shrieked.
“Guard, kill them!” Stormy bellowed, his voice a primal roar of absolute fury.
The courtyard erupted into utter chaos. The Moon Shadow guards lunged forward in a wave of dark fur and muscle, their bodies already shifting and expanding mid-air as they raced to save Rachael before she bled out on the gravel.
But before the first wolf could even complete the transformation, a strange, suffocating static snapped through the air.
With Amara held tightly against my hip with one arm, I thrust my free hand straight out toward Jackson. I didn’t think about it. I didn’t make another sound. I just let the white-hot rage in my chest explode outward.
A blinding, crackling streak of flaming violet light erupted from my palm. It tore through the evening twilight like a bolt of lightning, illuminating the entire courtyard in a brilliant, purple glow. The sheer force of the blast hit Jackson dead in the chest before he could even take a step.
The impact sounded like a thunderclap.
Jackson was violently launched off his feet, his massive body hurtling backward through the air like a rag doll before he slammed hard into the gravel thirty feet away, rolling over the sharp stones until he crashed into the front bumper of his own pack’s SUV.
His men gasped, freezing in absolute terror, their wolves instantly whining and submitting to the raw, ancient pressure suddenly crushing the yard.
Jackson groaned, coughing up blood as he painfully pushed himself up onto his hands and knees. He shook his head, staring back up at the pack house stairs in complete, stuttering shock.
I stood at the top of the steps, my posture rigid, my hand still raised. When I looked down at him, the entire courtyard drew a sharp, terrified breath… because my eyes weren’t hazel anymore. They were wide, glowing, and completely consumed by a fierce, crackling, flaming violet fire.