He slammed into my gut with the force of a tank, and I flew backward, crashing into the spectators, catching my fall. I cried out from the agony that emptied my lungs of oxygen.
Wilder stumbled and hit the ground, tripping over with me. I gasped for air, tangled with him and those bystanders we’d crashed into. Something sharp scraped and tore into my arm so fast and painfully, I cried out and flinched back.
But everything happened too fast after that. One moment, I lost my footing, and the next, Wilder flew back toward Daxon, who came at him with the full force of a tornado.
I scrambled back to my feet while those around me growled their anger, and someone even shoved me in the back. But I didn’t care about them. Frustration and anger poured through me at how powerless I was to do anything about…well, anything.
I glanced down to my arm to where the red rolled down my hand and over my fingers, blood dripping to the floor. A great gash had torn my skin from Wilder’s accidental attack. But with it, something inside me shifted, something I’d never felt before.
A sudden boom of snarls rocked the room, and I wrenched my head up to see Daxon throwing Wilder down to the ground. The crowd cheered, thrusting their fists into the air.
A fiery anger rose through me, overwhelming and destructive. I glanced around, lower members of the two packs who were not near the fight looked scared for their lives.
The click of nails hitting the floorboards rang as the pair kept fighting. These two were relentless.
I was pushed and shoved as people continued to clamor around me. “Fuck off,” someone threw at me.
I stumbled backward and into someone else who nudged me aside.
Fire erupted within me, unfamiliar and overwhelming. I felt ready to rip someone apart.
Darkness took me over, stealing all the light inside me. In its place, a silence permeated in my head. The kind that shook me, that had me sensing my wolf like never before.
A brush of fur. A growl. A fury unlike anything I’ve ever felt. The wound on my arm stabbed deep, making me wince. When the two alphas rolled right past me, I screamed my fury.
“Stop!” The room seemed to tremble beneath me with how hard I breathed and trembled, with a scorching heat licking the back of my neck.
My insides clenched tight as so many feelings punched me in the gut, leaving me ragged. When someone knocked me aside, I snapped my head up, my teeth gnashing, lips pulled back at them.
The edges of my visions feathered, and I had no idea what was happening to me. The room spun, and I gripped the back of a chair for balance. I’d worked myself up so much, it felt like I’d lost control.
Something new lingered in the air. I tasted it on the back of my throat, bitter and metallic.
I burned up, my breaths sawing in and out of my chest, my injured arm stinging horrendously. While in my chest, fury bubbled to the point where I wanted to rip my own skin off to unleash my wolf, to tear into someone, to feel the warm trickle of blood on my throat.
Something was happening to me.
A sudden, excruciating jab to the side had me crying out, and I turned to see someone had tossed a chair at me. Around me, everyone else in the town hall had now turned on each other, throwing chairs and punches alike. The battle grew fierce, and the air was tainted with so much hatred, I had to get out before I was the one who did something crazy. On cue, my lips curled as if something else controlled me.
Even Carrie was fighting, except the scene around me was very wrong. She didn’t seem the kind to take on someone half her age, but her growls and wolf eyes promised death.
“Carrie,” I called to her. “Don’t do this. You need to get out of here. Everyone needs to fucking stop this.”
But the louder my voice grew, the more they growled and attacked each other, as if my words encouraged them. Which was ridiculous.
I pushed myself away from the chaos, my steps blurring, and my insides were being ripped into different directions. I wanted to cry for Eve’s loss, stand up for myself against these wolves, and knock some damn sense into Daxon and Wilder.
Bursting outside, the cool air washed over me like I’d awakened from a dream, the fog clearing from my head.
Stumbling on the front steps, I looked back inside to where disorder reigned. This was madness, and if this was how the packs in this town settled anything, they were doing a great job of destroying themselves with the hatred they carried for one another.
A deep vibration jolted up my injured arm, a cruel jarring pain that had me wincing. I stared at my arm, at the blood dripping over my fingers. I needed to find a doctor, I was pretty sure I could see my bone.
Except as I watched the wound, it seemed to be getting smaller.
I frantically wiped the blood from my forearm, certain I was imagining things.
I watched in bewilderment as the injury closed up before my eyes, the skin knitting back together.
“Shit. How is this happening?”
Then it was gone. I kept running my hand over the skin that no longer hurt, that felt smooth to the touch. My heart thundered, pushing dread into my veins. I’d only ever healed like a human. This was…well, this was definitely new.
A shadow fell over me, and I lifted my head to find Daxon standing before me. He only wore his jeans stained with blood, while his chest was marred with cuts and bruises, his face not faring any better. More blood smeared his skin, and yet he just stared at my healed arm.
I swallowed hard, lowering my arm instantly.
“How did you heal so fast? Not even I can do that,” he asked.
I was shaking my head as my stomach squeezed. “I-I don’t know.” I backed away from him, hating the way he stared at me like suddenly he saw a different part of me…one that might be hiding abilities capable of killing another shifter.
He reached out and grabbed my hand, then ran a finger tenderly over my skin where the wound had been moments earlier. A tingle buzzed from his touch and ran through my body, leaving me breathless. When I watched the way he studied my arm, I remembered the times we’d spent together, him taking me out to dinner for Creole food, sharing his cake with me, his kisses completely stealing me away. Then he’d showed me his true colors when I tried to leave this place. A part of me worried his golden exterior held something a lot darker than I first thought, and now I wasn’t so sure about things between us.
“Rune,” he began, almost sounding concerned. “I’ve never seen anyone heal this fast. What are you?”
Tears stung my eyes, and my chest felt like it might be cleaving in half. I’d been different my whole life, but to have him ask that question was like prying open my chest and tearing me apart.
My mind raced, searching for an explanation, for anything to tell him, but nothing came out. Instead, my thoughts spun with dread because I didn’t need another complication. I knew who I was. I was nothing. I didn’t know how to process any other reality.
I pulled my arm from Daxon’s grip, but his hand constricted, holding me by his side. “Don’t be afraid of it.” His words were gentle, yet my mind drowned in confusion.
“I need to go,” I finally said and drew free from his grip.
“Rune,” he said, stepping after me as I recoiled.
“No, please no. Just leave me alone.” I jerked from his reach and then ran all the way back to the inn, terrified of what was going on with me.