Chapter 6

Lyra POV

My eyes widened. Shifters.

But they were so young. What were they doing out here by themselves? Unless they weren’t.

I crept backwards, ensuring no sound reached their ears. I kept my eyes on them as I inched, carefully placing my feet on the ground. Once out of eyesight, I turned and hurried away between the trees, swift and quiet. The further away I got, the less constricted my chest was.

Then the small one screamed.

Protect. My wolf emerged on full alert, forcing a shift on me.

I gritted my teeth against the change. Pain sliced through me as I fought against it, reminding me of my first shift. Giving in to it, accepting it, allowing it is what makes it not painful. But if any part of you tried to stop it, it felt like every bit of you was being torn apart by a grenade in slow motion, and you felt everything.

I dropped to my knees with a grunt, and a muffled cry wrenched from my throat with another push from my wolf.

Another scream in the distance.

My bones snapped as my body transformed, something I had rarely experienced because I never fought my wolf. My screams turned into a howl as my wolf finished the shift.

With a turn, I bounded back towards the lake, my instincts on override to save the children.

I ground to a halt at the water’s edge, scanning the forest until—there! Movement. I dashed around the lake, the pounding of the little boys’ feet and fearful gulps of breath driving me faster.

When I caught up to them, they crouched together against a fallen log. The younger one shook in the older’s arms. Blood drenched the right arm of the older boy, and the tang of it hit my nose.

I growled, leaping through the air and over the log, landing in front of them with a turn.

That’s when I saw the vampire.

His blood-red eyes roved over me. A tilt of his blue lips showed a red fang, a startling contrast against the milky white of his skin.

Red, white, and blue—God bless America.

He swiped at me, and I growled back, every inch of me as threatening as I could get. What the hell was a vampire doing out here? And even though he was hidden within the shadows of the trees, it should be impossible for him to be out during the day. Confusion and rage warred within me.

Blood coated his mouth, matching the wound on the older boy. Their bites weren’t fatal to us, but shifters were a favorite snack of theirs. Apparently, we were a delicacy, so it wasn’t unheard of for them to attack us. But their Queen usually kept them in check, decapitating any vampire who took an unwilling victim.

Not this one.

He pulled at the lapel of his suit. Yes, his fucking suit in the middle of the wilderness. Seriously, who was this guy?

His eyes lit up like I was a piece of candy. In a blur of movement, faster than I’ve ever seen any vampire move, he raced behind me.

A wail rang out, and I spun.

In his clutches, the youngest boy hung by his throat. His tiny hands scrabbled at the hold while his feet kicked uselessly in the air.

The older boy was frozen staring at them in abject horror, completely frozen in place, tear tracks on his dirty cheeks.

I gave a warning growl, bunching my haunches.

The vampire side-eyed me. “I’ll deal with you in a second. I like to savor my dessert.” His voice, usually melodic to humans, were forks scraping against a plate for me. He opened his mouth, and I pounced.

I knew better than to go for his upper body. He could’ve easily turned and used the little boy as a shield before I could stop my bite. Instead, my jaws snapped around his thigh, and the satisfying crack of bone reverberated through my body.

The vampire hollered, dropping the boy to the ground.

The youngest was smart enough to backpedal away from us towards his brother, and both of them quickly hid behind the trunk.

The vampire lashed out and grabbed the nape of my neck, his claws lengthening until they pierced through my pelt. I tightened my teeth into his flesh, but when he ripped away at my neck, I gave an involuntary yip, which released my hold.

His muscles bulged in his arms as he flung me by the scrap of my neck.

I flew through the air, twisting in time to avoid smashing my head against a tree trunk, but my spine made brutal contact. I collapsed onto the ground with a huff, but I did not stay down for long. I sprung onto all fours, ignoring the painful twinge in my back.

He stood there, sole focus on me like the pups were no longer there, waiting for my move.

We both sprang at the same time. His speed was insurmountable, but my instincts drove me. The moment I realized his direction, I propelled myself a few feet in front of his blurred form.

We smashed together, which twisted my paw at an odd angle, but I took him to the ground. Successfully standing on his chest, I didn’t hesitate. I couldn’t with this freak of nature.

My jaws clamped around his throat, and I pulled.

His neck tore away, gushing blood all over my fur. He bared his fangs, and lunged for a bite of his own.

I dipped my head, so he missed his mark; but I did not. Pulling away, another chunk hung from my mouth, and I spit it to the side.

The vampire’s sharp fingers whipped out at lightning speed into my shoulder.

I yelped, burrowing my muzzle one last time into his neck. With a twist and a snap, I took his head clean off with a bellow of victory.

His hands dropped to his side, one red with my blood and the other dropping a golden flower. Creep. His body was ash before it even finished tumbling to the ground.

I shifted back in my human form and fell onto my hands and knees. Adrenaline raced through my veins as I took a moment to recover my breath. The metallic taste of the vampire’s blood in my mouth twisted my stomach.

Soft whimpers from the boys were the only thing that gave me enough energy to move. With shaking arms, I pushed off the ground into a sitting position.

The little boys didn’t even bat an eye at my nudity—something too common among shifters—and they ran right toward me.

My arms wrapped around them. “It’s okay, it’s all over now,” I cooed. Now, I just needed to figure out where they were from, and how to get them home without being spotted myself.

“Step away from the boys,” a deep voice growled from behind me, and I stopped breathing.

“Ronan!” the eldest cried out, and both of them wiggled out of my hold to race to the man.

To not expose myself completely, I only turned my head toward the newcomer. The man standing there was nothing short of a Polynesian god. Even fully clothed, his sculpted musculature was easy to see with the naked eye. His longer, wavy brown hair was pulled back, emphasizing a square jaw and sharp eyes.

His enormous hands landed on the little boys’ shoulders. “You’re safe now,” he said to them, his voice softening.

I scoffed. Yeah, thanks to me!

His head whipped up, and when those deep brown, almost black eyes hit mine, I nearly choked from the power that wafted over me.

Alpha.

But I didn’t look away. No. I straightened my back and narrowed my eyes at him.

Something like surprise flashed in his eyes, but it was gone before I could make anything of it.

“Who are you?” he demanded. When his eyes roved over my body with barely concealed curiosity, I flushed. It took everything in me not to shiver. The males in my pack had only been interested in one thing, and I would not give this one any similar chances.

My nostrils flared as I inhaled, and his scent rushed towards me. Pine, firewood, and . . . ocean? But the part that instantly raised my hackles and sent fear slithering into my heart was the indistinguishable smell of the Yellowstone pack, same as the cubs.

Shit.