98

98
ChapterForty-EightEzraI am exhausted as I
stumble back toward the packhouse. Kat and Mateo are arguing as I approach the
backyard before stepping out of the trees. The sky is starting to darken as
night approaches. And the bond is stressed. Mateo as usual is dealing with one of
Kat’s mood swings again. But how can I come home after what happened? If Maddox
got loose and lost control… However, I also can’t avoid them forever.“It’s pointless,
Mateo. I am not going to shift, I just want to go inside. Nothing we do works,
and I am sick of wasting my fucking time!” Kat yells at him.I sigh. Great, just
what I want to come home to.Both Mateo and Kat
hear me, and turn in my direction. Kat narrows her eyes at me, I have been
ignoring her. I expect her to be angry, and now I am about to bear it.“And where have you
been?” she demands, hands firmly planted on her hips.And she is angry,
not that I expect her to be anything else, she seems to be in a constant mood
these days. “Working,” I answer, striding over to them.Her eyes flash with
her anger, burning brighter, and she scoffs. “That’s it? That’s all you're
going to say? You have been gone for three days, Ezra, we have not heard a word
from you.”“Kat, I am not going
to argue with you, just drop it and let's go inside,” I growl softly, I am
fucking exhausted and not in the mood to deal with her tonight. The anger
radiates out of her, it bubbles within me too, and I try to ignore it, not
wanting to feed off the energy she is putting out. Her Alpha aura rushes out,
and out of the corner of my eye, I spot Mateo dropping, she is so enraged she
can’t even see she is hurting him as her anger narrows in on me.She can be angry
with me all she wants, that doesn’t mean she can take out her anger on him.
“Katya, enough!” I snap at her, glancing over at Mateo nervously as he is
forced to submit to her.“You’re right, it is
enough because I am done!” she screams, heading for the side of the house.“Where are you
going?” I demand, but she flips me off.“None of your
business,” she snarls, and Mateo gets to his feet, his entire body drenched in
sweat.“About time you came
home, you can fucking deal with her,” Mateo groans, stalking off inside the
house. Maddox tries to press beneath my skin and I force him back, I watch
Mateo limp inside before turning to find Kat gone. A growl tears out of me as I
search for her.I look toward the
driveway, jogging down it to try and find my infuriated mate, who has stormed
off to Goddess knows where.I try to mindlink
her only to be shoved out. Cursing under my breath in frustration before I
start trying to follow her scent.“If
you let me out, I will be able to find her,” Maddox points out, but I
ignore him, instead, using my senses. I try and pick up any sound or scent
before hearing her feet on the dirt road off the driveway.Catching up to her I
call out, but she ignores me, making me chase after her, I grab her arm. “Where
do you think you’re going? It’s nearly dark.” I jerk her to me, but when she
turns to face me, her normal gold eyes flicker black for a second before she
shoves me off, making me stumble backward.Her emotions are
dark and clouded by her anger as she stalks toward me before stopping like she
suddenly came back to her senses, she shakes her head like she is trying to
remember what she is doing before turning on her heel and storming off again.“Let
me out!” Maddox demands, wanting me to mark her, so it dissipates. Yet,
watching her, I am beginning to wonder if maybe getting her angry might be the
way to get her to shift. Maddox, reading my thoughts, growls at me. “Are you nuts? She bites us, she could kill us,” Maddox
points out, not liking the idea.I chase after her
again, only this time I grab her around her middle, tossing her thrashing body
over my shoulder. She knees me in the ribs and smacks my back with her fists,
screaming for me to put her down.When I don’t, she
sinks her teeth into my neck, trying to sedate me as I do her. Instead, I
chuckle at her annoyance when it doesn’t work. “Need your canine’s Love, your
blunt teeth won’t do anything.”“That’s not fair!”
she snarls, thumping my back with her tiny fists.“Gotta be able to
shift for that to work on me,'' I explain, when she flops back down on my
shoulder before she bites my back, I groan, her teeth sinking into me, making
me flinch. I growl at her before sinking my teeth into her thigh, and she
shrieks."Don’t bite,
and I won't bite you back!” I scold her as I get closer to the front door. I
place her on her feet, keeping a hold of her as I try to wrangle her into the
house. Mateo opens the door as I shove her in before she becomes manic and
turns on us.“What did you do to
her?” Mateo asks as she loses it again, her anger shoving her to the edge of
her insanity like a switch flicked.“Her
eyes, watch her eyes,” I order Mateo through the mindlink as she
thrashes before dropping her weight, I bend down to grab her, only for her to
slip out of her shirt as I grab it, Mateo tries grabbing her legs, and she
kicks him, sending him back into the hallway stand.“Don’t know about
her fucking eyes, but I’m pretty sure she just gave me a black one,” Mateo
retorts, rubbing his face before blinking rapidly when she growls deeply.
Something only shifted wolves can do, and I know I am right, the key to making
her shift is to get her furious and bloodthirsty.“She just growled,
like properly growled not her normal kitty cat growls” Mateo points out as I
try to hold her still, she is completely out of her mind, and I am half-tempted
to mark her just to get her to stop when she drops her weight again, this time
kicking me in the chest forcing me back out the door.She springs to her
feet, eyes darting around, except now they are onyx as she stalks toward me.
Mateo grabs her around the chest and her arms, pulling her back when she throws
her head back, headbutting him, making him let go. I rush toward her, only for
her to lunge at me at the same time.Damn, she is fast as
she tackles me, taking my legs out before she lands heavily on top, knocking
the wind out of me. Jumping to her feet, she runs out the door. Mateo shifts
quickly before darting off after her, Maddox presses beneath my skin, wanting to
be let out when I hear her skid across the gravel before coming to a stop. I
get up, limping toward her while Ares cuts off her path.Her eyes dart
around, searching for an escape, before realizing she isn’t going to get
anywhere with Ares or me blocking her. Every time she moves, Ares reacts by
pushing her back the other way and cutting her off. Her breathing is getting
heavier. Her chest heaves with each breath she takes, and I could feel her
anger growing.“Easy, Ares,” I
caution him, it is like trying to herd a savage animal, and right now, that is
what she is.Kat realizes she
isn’t going to escape either of us, so she decides to fight her way out.
Running straight toward me before punching me, I catch her wrist, jerking her
toward me.“Close, but not
close enough,” I tell her before shoving her away.“You
got a death wish?” Mateo asks, his voice flitting through my head.“Nope,
but I will make her shift,” I tell him as I block her kick to my side.She growls, becoming
angrier every time I block her. I grab her fist when she tries punching me
again and yank her forward, only for her to lift her knee, and it connects with
my stomach, making me double over before she uppercuts me.“Fuck!” I gasp, not
expecting it to hurt so much, I spit blood on the ground, my teeth biting into
my tongue before charging at her only for her to sidestep, her leg snakes out,
hitting behind my knee and making me stumble forward. Ares sits, his head cocked
to the side as he watches her get the better of me. “Get up,
she is kicking your damn ass, how embarrassing.” Maddox scolds.I get up from my
hands and feet, only for her to jump on my back, arms locking around my neck
and squeezing. I grab her by the arm and flip her over in a somersault onto her
back. She hits the dirt hard enough to make the air leave her lungs with an
oomph. Her canines slip from her gums and her black eyes glare at me from the
ground.I smirk, which only
serves to make her rage go up a notch, when she kicks me in the face. My lip
starts bleeding. “Yeah, kick his ass, babe.” Mateo
links us both, and I shoot him a glare.“Whose fucking side
are you on?” I snarl at him.“Oh, crap right.
Yours, kick her ass softly.” I shake my head, only just managing to move before
her other leg kicks back over her head to get me. I back away and let her get
to her feet, wiping my hand across my bleeding lip"Come on, you
have to do better than that to be my Luna," I taunt. It's a low blow, but
I am running out of ideas and need her to shift. I can’t very well have her
kicking my ass all night.Her eyes flash, and
her claws slip out from beneath her fingertips. She shudders at my words, a
deep low growl tears from her. She hates being judged and compared to others,
but I will do whatever it takes."Are you really
asking my pack to accept a Luna who can't even a shift? A wolf-less
Alpha?" I taunt, and her trembling gets worse.The rage comes off
her in waves, threatening to take me down with it. Ares has his nose on the
ground, ready to whimper and submit to make it stop."You know what?
Maybe I should give you back to Jackson. Your mom was right on one thing in her
life. You'll never be good enough for an Alpha."Ares whimpers,
feeling Kat falter at my cruel words. Her eyes flicker before she screams and
charges at me. Her Alpha aura rushes out, pouring out of her like a storm that
can't be contained. She crashes into me, and my head slams into the ground with
a thud. She growls down at me, teeth bared and at my throat as she snaps them
next to my face.I don't think she's
even aware she's shifted.“There's my Luna,” I
greet her as she glares down at me. Her paws are on either side of my head. I
lift my hands, running them through her fur along her sides before she looks
down at my hands, she looks up with recognition in her eyes before lifting her
paw and looking at it before she smacks me in the face with it before huffing
out a breath.She steps back, her
Alpha aura dropping, and I sit up to see her completely shifted. However, she
isn’t white like Kora, not white as snow but white with golden tones on the
ends of her fur. She shakes her fur out, and Ares sidles over to her, he licks
her face before nipping at her.“I shifted!” she
gasps, shocked when I notice she can talk like Kora could without the mindlink.
The sound of her voice makes her jump when she realizes that like Kora she can
speak in wolf form.