Chapter 194

Grace

Pain, a searing flash that ripped through the fog of primal fury, brought me crashing back to reality. My jaws clamped down on… metal? Stone? Something so hard, I swear my teeth chipped. The metallic and sparkling tang of blood and something else filled my mouth as I recoiled, a whimper escaping my throat. My head hurt. My teeth felt like they’d fall out.

Charles. My Charles. I saw him then, crouching before me, his eyes filled with concern and tension that I couldn’t place. Terror, raw and primal, flooded me. Where was I? How did I get here? How long had—

I tried to speak, but I couldn’t.

What was happening to me? Panic clawed at my throat, constricting my lungs. Wrong. Something was wrong. I couldn’t exactly say what it was. Something in the air. When had it started raining? Why was I outside? What had I been doing before? Hadn’t I just been in the office with Charles earlier? We were…

A call.

Tension.

Danger…

"Look at me, Grace," Charles' voice cut through my mounting hysteria, firm yet laced with an aching tenderness. But I couldn't. My gaze darted around, a frantic search for anything, anything to explain. I looked down and saw two larger-than-normal paws. Wolf paws. Why were there-- I wiggled my fingers, and the paws moved. I went still. I moved my tongue around in my mouth and realized my teeth were far too sharp. My heart lurched.

Shifted.

I had shifted. I… I couldn't shift back. I was trapped.

No. No. No. The longer I stayed, the less time I had. I was burning through my life. My odds were already so low to make it until Richard and Cecil were of age. How did I get out? I don’t even remember how I shifted back last time. I think I just passed out.

“Grace, it’s alright,” Charles whispered. “We’ll work on getting you back to your human form… after we find Cecil.”

I sucked in a breath, pushing through the fear. My mind felt empty. I could feel Cecil. She was near. I turned. The warehouse loomed near me. And somewhere within that darkness, my Cecil was whimpering, alone, and scared. A choked sob escaped my lips, tears blurring the world around me. The pain in my shoulder throbbed, but I pushed myself back onto my feet. My legs shook. Charles, bless him, didn't pull away. Instead, he lowered his head, nuzzling my muzzle with his cheek, and rumbled. His scent washed over me.

“It’s alright…”

Slowly, ever so slowly, the panic started to recede. My trembling subsided, my breath evening out. The wolf, though still present, retreated to the fringes of my mind. My trembling subsided, and the pain started to fade, too. Still. How did I switch back?

"They’ll probably be heading down soon, or at least out,” he said and drew back. “We need to get moving, okay?”

His voice rumbled against my cheek, each word a soothing balm on my frayed nerves.

"Stay close," Charles murmured, his breath tickling my fur. "We'll get Cecil back, Grace. Together."

I wanted to say I understood, but all I could do was nod. He nudged me gently back before turning back to face the warehouse. The air turned sparkling as he weaved a trail of light around him and started to carve at the barrier that had kept me from getting in earlier. The rain was just loud enough that I couldn’t hear it clearly. The warehouse doors started to creak and groan, twisting against Charles' spell. The magical barrier melted away like ice under the heat of a summer sun. Relief flooded me. No one was coming, it seemed. Maybe we had more time.

We darted into the darkness of the building. The cavernous space was filled with the echoes of our hurried steps and the musty scent of stale air. Concrete pillars stretched towards the unseen ceiling, looming like silent sentinels over a labyrinth of crates and rusted machinery. Charles cursed.

“It’s not just one building. It’s a complex. Fuck.”

I looked around and felt uneasy. I could tell he was right. Enforcers rushed forward and started to fan out. The connected buildings formed a twisted maze in the moonlight filtering through skylights high above. And somewhere within this concrete jungle was Cecil. I could feel her as if a tether connected us. It was a delicate thread, and it thrummed with frantic energy. Cecil wasn't hurt; I could feel that much, but she was afraid. The feeling twisted a knife in my already churning gut. Her terror fueled my own and yanked me forward, following my instinct toward her. She was in danger. I couldn’t stop until I had her in my arms, safe and sound.

Until I’d ripped the men who took her apart.

"Grace!" Charles' voice boomed behind me, laced with urgency. "Slow down! Stay under my shield!"

I should have. I wanted to, but I couldn’t get my body to slow or turn back. She was so close.

I’m coming, honey. Mommy’s coming.

Corners blurred, corridors stretched and twisted, the labyrinth a cruel game designed to keep me from my pup. My lungs burned, and my legs ached, but I wouldn't falter, not while Cecil trembled somewhere in the darkness. I saw light in the distance. Growing closer and closer. Was that where Cecil was? I ran into the light.

Then, around a bend, a harsh shout shattered the night. Gunshots. The footsteps grew louder, nearer, each thudding beat a drumbeat against my racing heart. Suddenly, I smelled multiple people and saw multiple people. The lights were too bright. It was like looking into the sun. Spots of white and shadows danced in my vision. My headache grew more painful.

"There they are!"

“What the hell?”

“Shoot! Shoot it before it kills us!”

More gunshots erupted, and the echoing thuds of running footsteps were punctuated by the metallic scream of bullets ricocheting off concrete walls. I roared even as I was shrieking inside. The world was spinning around me. Bone-deep terror filled me. The shadows danced. Figures emerged from hiding places, their faces contorted with grim purpose, weapons glinting in the light.

The world shifted and splintered. It was too loud, and there were too many smells. My head was pounding.

The bullet whipped past my cheek, a searing whisper of pain that only fueled the inferno rage already burning within me. I snarled a guttural sound that echoed through the room, shaking the air. Adrenaline surged through my veins, turning every nerve ending into a live wire. The red haze came down, and I leaped.

The gunfight that erupted became a whirling vision of movement and bullets. I saw Charles deflecting shots with shimmering barriers between him and the gunmen. The Enforcers fired back from behind their barriers sending his own crackling bolts of energy toward the attackers. My own instincts took over, fueled by the primal need to reach Cecil. Where was she? I could feel her nearby, but she wasn’t here. Who were these men? How had they taken her? Why had they taken her? Which one of them had been on the phone?

I ripped through whoever and whatever. was nearest., a vengeful blur, teeth bared, and claws extended. Whoever got in my way was met with a snarling fury that left them groaning on the floor, clutching broken limbs or bleeding. The metallic tang of blood filled the air, stirring something in me. A bloodlust that grew with every strike. The stench would have nauseated me any other time, but every time it splashed on the ground, the sound and scent made me feel closer and closer to victory.

One of them dropped the ground nearby as the gunfire stopped. Just as I closed in on the gunman, ready to bite his head off, a powerful hand yanked me back.

Charles, his eyes blazing with a mix of fear and desperation, wrestled me away from the carnage. I snarled at him, and I tried to get back to the guy.

“Grace!”

The red haze snapped, revealing the grim reality of my actions.

I looked down at the ground. My paws were wet with blood. My breath hitched as I realized what I had nearly done. All the Man, I just attacked were all writing on the ground. The horror of that realization, coupled with the sudden absence of my target, sent me reeling. My knees buckled, and I would have collapsed if not for Charles, holding me firm.

“It’s alright. It’s alright. Come on… Deep breaths.”

I shuddered nodding.

Then, the lights flickered and died, plunging the warehouse into an abyss of darkness, lightened only by the thing streams of moonlight coming in through the window. Panic clawed at my throat, the shadows suddenly felt full of unseen threats.

"Grace," a voice boomed through the darkness, smooth and silken, eerily similar to the voice that had haunted my dreams. "So glad you’ve made it.”

I swallowed. I knew that voice.

It was Alpha Shadow.