Sophia sat on the living room couch, eyes perpetually glazed over as she connected with her pack mates via their mindlink. I paced back and forth, physically unable to sit still while my friends fought against the two trespassing hybrids. A mated pair, apparently. I couldn't fathom how two werewolves could find themselves in such a position-- betraying the natural order of the world by becoming a vampire-werewolf hybrid...

"Dylan just reached the fight," Sophia murmured, and my heartbeat quickened. If Dylan just arrived, Nolan would reach the fight in a matter of minutes. "Ginny and Tyler are injured, but Dylan relieved them just in time."

I swallowed, suddenly frozen in place, waiting for the next update to leave Sophia's lips. Apparently, Ginny and Tyler had been the ones to discover the hybrids while on patrol, so they had been fighting the creatures for several minutes before help arrived. Sophia frowned.

"What's happening?" I demanded, hands nervously clenching and unclenching into fists.

"The hybrids..." Sophia's frown deepened, "They fight well."

That wasn't what I wanted to hear. I wanted to hear that Dylan had already snapped the neck of one of the hybrids, and the other would fall soon after. And yet, I shouldn't have been surprised. These creatures-- these abominations-- were a combination of two powerful creatures. Of course they were difficult to kill...

"Nolan made it," Sophia visibly flinched. "He and Raegan took care of the male."

Took care of the male? I wondered what that could have meant. Judging by the lusty smirk that now painted itself across Sophia's lips, I guessed that the massacre hadn't been pretty. Nonetheless, I let out a long breath and wiped the sweat of my palms on my shorts. Nolan, Dylan, and Raegan were the best fighters I'd ever seen... If anyone could kill this last hybrid, they could.

Sophia's dark, perfectly-manicured brows furrowed as she deciphered the flashes of battle that appeared through her mindlink. "The female is stronger..."

"How much stronger?" I pressed. Stronger than who?

Sophia ignored my question, eyes widening at whatever appeared in her mind, "No!"

My heart stopped beating all together, and dread seeped into my veins like poison. I couldn't breathe, completely paralyzed by fear. Seconds felt like hours as I waited for Sophia to continue, reading her every expression. Blood pounded in my ears, and I detected the strangest pulsing in my neck, beneath the surface of my bandage. What is happening?

My fingers subconsciously reached up to touch the spot just above my clavicle: Dominic's mark. As soon as my digits made contact with the scar, my own vision slipped away until I no longer stood in the living room of the pack house.

Suddenly, I was running through darkness, dodging branches and tree-trunks before they even appeared in my vision. And yet... I had no control over these actions. I could only watch. I am seeing someone else's thoughts...

The sound of a battle echoed in my ears, faint as a phantom whisper in the back of my mind. Seconds later, I burst through a thicket of undergrowth and into a wooded clearing. Four massive werewolves circled around a single creature: the female hybrid.

She was unlike anything I'd ever seen. Upon first glance, the hybrid looked like an abnormally tall human, with long limbs like a spider's legs and a woman's face, but the similarities ended there. A thin layer of dark hair covered the hybrid's grey skin, and her eyes flashed an ominous shade of red as she turned to face every one of her enemies. Despite her gangly appearance, she moved with surprising grace and stealth.

She appeared to be stuck midway through her transition into her wolf, undoubtedly an effect of forsaking her true nature to become a vampire. The sight terrified me.

One of the wolves, a peppered grey with broad shoulders and abnormally white teeth, nipped at the hybrid's heels. Dylan. The hybrid spun to snarl at the Black Lupis Delta, offering the largest wolf in the clearing, a dark-colored Alpha, a chance to attack. Nolan launched toward the creature, sinking his teeth into the female's shoulder and dragging her to the floor.

A blood-curdling scream, half-human and half-animal, left the hybrid's lips as she fought to keep her footing. She stood a chance so long as she remained on her feet, and she grappled with every ounce of strength. Gnarly claws raked down Nolan's neck in fury, and she snapped her jaws in an effort to sink a pair of vampire fangs into my mate's fur, but he remained just out of reach.

What are you doing? I screamed at Nolan, even though he couldn't possibly hear me. Kill her!

But he didn't. In fact, he didn't even attempt to land a fatal blow. The impossibly large male only sank his teeth deeper into the hybrid's left shoulder, until tar-colored blood spilled from the wound and stained his jowls.

Another wolf, Raegan, joined his Alpha's attack, sinking his teeth into the female's calf muscle. She screamed at the fresh wave of pain, and, if I didn't know any better, I might have pitied the creature.

While the Black Lupis warriors gauged a careful attack against the hybrid, the wolf whose mind I infiltrated stalked in a circle around the fight. His body remained low to the ground, a beast ready to launch into the fight if necessary. Massive black paws navigated the forest floor with exquisite ease, and I knew that I saw the world through Dominic's eyes.

The thought exhilarated and disgusted me at the same time. Some primal gene, deep within my instincts, felt joy that I could finally connect with another wolf again. My mind had gone silent for so long after leaving the Golden Walkers, and my dormant wolf must have been under the impression that I had a pack again. But I knew better.

This connection to Dominic was false-- the result of a forced mark. The result of the worst night of my life, and I hated that he would plague my life with this mark forever. A fresh wave of anger resurfaced, and I ripped myself out of the mindlink, cleaving our connection in two.

My consciousness spiraled back into the Black Lupis pack house living room, and I felt a surge of nausea threatening to rise in my throat at the disorienting nature of a mindlink. At least I had power over my own mind. After blinking a few times, my vision cleared and I realized that Sophia stood directly in front of me.

She waved her hand in front of my eyes, "Charlie? Are you alright?"

"Yes," I rasped, suddenly unable to catch my breath.

Sophia narrowed her eyes, unconvinced, "What just happened?"

"Nothing," I lied. "Panic attack, or something."

For a second, I thought that Nolan's half-sister might argue, but she let out a small hmph and changed the subject, "They are on their way back."

"What happened?" I wanted to hear it from Sophia, not yet willing to rely upon the visions I'd received from Dominic.

"They've taken the hybrid as a hostage."

"They are bringing it here?" My stomach turned to lead. "Why?" I didn't want that creature anywhere near this pack house. I didn't want it anywhere near my pack!

I didn't wait for Sophia to reply. A fierce desire to protect the innocents of the Black Lupis Pack had me marching out to the front of the pack house, where Nolan, Dylan, and Raegan would arrive in a matter of minutes. I planned on intercepting the males before they could bring the female hybrid into the heart of my home... My home.

I realized that the Black Lupis Pack was my home. Somewhere amid the crazy whirlwind of events since arriving in this new territory, I'd come to love it. And I would protect it with my life.

I wanted the hybrid dead.

The males arrived ten minutes later, with the body of an unconscious hybrid dragging behind them. The lights from the packhouse illuminated the clearing, and I realized that Dylan and Raegan each had their jaws clamped down on a leg of the female's body, dragging her through the twigs and grass in tandem. As they neared, I noticed black blood oozing from puncture marks in the hybrid's legs, catching the light like slick oil.

Thankfully, they seemed to have left Dominic in the forest, so I mustered my confidence and strode out to meet them. "Is she dead?" I demanded when we were within earshot.

Nolan's wolf shook his massive head, and I ignored the way his tail wagged as I drew nearer. I couldn't be distracted, even though I desperately wanted to throw my arms around his wolf's mighty shoulders.

"Don't take a step closer," I warned, and, to my surprise, the three males paused. Nolan's head cocked to the side, and I continued, "Look, we don't know if she can escape from our holding cells... It's not safe to bring her into our home. Why would you risk it?"

The three males exchanged glances with one another, as if considering my words. This would be a helluva lot easier if I could mindlink with you, I inwardly nagged, but that was a battle for another day. At the moment, I had a more pressing battle to win.

Dylan's grey and black peppered wolf grunted, and Nolan huffed in response before turning back to face me. He arched his back, as if stretching out the muscles that rippled along his spine, and, in one fluid movement, shifted back into his bare human form.

It happened so quickly that I hardly had time to avert my eyes from everything that his naked body had to offer. But, Moon Goddess, it was so hard to ignore... Every inch of the male begged to be stared at-- studied.

Every sharp edge of finely trained muscle. The fine, dark hair that swirled on his broad chest, disappearing down his abdomen just to reappear beneath his navel, like a beacon to guide my eyes further downward. The slope of the v-shaped muscles at his hips, and then...

This is not the time! I screamed at myself, even while heat pooled deep in my abdomen. For half of a second, the liquid warmth frightened me. It reminded me of the night of my Heat, of the terrifying loss of control...

And yet, at the same time, this felt entirely different. I had complete control over myself, over my actions. I did not feel any pain or fear of the unknown. Truthfully, it felt insatiably wonderful, and I craved relief. I craved the relief that only Nolan could offer.

At any other moment, I might have grinned at my revelation. But I couldn't afford to lose more focus, namely due to the unconscious, dangerous hybrid that had collected a vast array of dirt and twigs in her hair.

Nolan, either oblivious to my adamant want or chivalrous enough to ignore it, kept his blue eyes directly on mine, "We know it's risky bringing the hybrid here, Charlie, but you don't understand."

Even in the dim light, I noticed something like anticipation dancing in Nolan's crystalline orbs. He continued: "The hybrid is our key to infiltrating the Golden Walkers Pack."