Vesik 04 - This Broken World Read Online Free

she become the monster we all fought against? My breath came slowly. I fought the stinging in my eyes. This was not a time to show weakness. This was a time to show the domination of the River Pack. Oh, and we had done that. The Spaniard was cowering at the edge of the woods. Terror was written across his face, even as Vicky let her soulswords evaporate into the ether.
    Carter was staring at Caroline, a small smile etched onto his face. His entire body rippled and blazed with the power I channeled through the focus.
    Caroline’s hand was over her mouth. It took me a moment to realize she was crying, whispering Carter’s name over and over.
    “There is nothing left to discuss,” Carter said. He spoke quietly, but his words were carried across the ley lines as though the flood of power was a quiet wind. As if he was whispering into each of our ears. “This war will change the world.”
    The Ghost Pack shifted, the flood of ley line energy spiking through my focus until the ground burned beneath it. I wrapped my hand around the hilt and held the scorching blade to the heavens. Carter howled, and the Ghost Pack joined him. It shook the ground, even before the River Pack added their voices to the chorus. Caroline shifted and joined the calamity, her body expanding into a hulking form covered in pale brown fur. Three more, then ten, then twenty. Hugh met my gaze. A sadness hung on his face before he shifted, his howl carving a swath through the echoing howls in the field of werewolves.
    Vicky laughed. She threw her leg over Happy’s back and flashed me a huge grin. I returned the grin. But all I could think was, You won’t become the Destroyer. I won’t let that happen.

CHAPTER FOUR
     
    I t was a good thing everyone was parked close to Howell Island. Shreds of clothing were scattered around the woods where the mass werewolf shift had occurred. As they slowly shifted back and began to leave the area, mountains of fur piled up along the ground. By the end of the night, it looked like someone had shaved a hundred wolves and left the fur behind.
    Caroline, mostly naked, had her arms wrapped around Carter. I wanted to know how they knew each other, wanted to know the story behind her reaction to his appearance.
    Hugh laid a hand on my shoulder. “Thank you, brother.”
    I met his deep brown eyes and nodded. “Much better to have a tenuous ally than an ancient enemy.”
    He laughed in slow, quiet pulses. “I would not argue that.” He squeezed my shoulder again and walked toward the entrance to the wolves’ underground lair.
    Vicky was at the bottom of the stairs that led into the lair, a huge smile stretched across her face. “How’d I do?”
    “Better than I could have asked, little one.” Hugh ruffled her hair as he reached the bottom and stepped into the large circle lined with dark leather couches.
    “Hey kiddo—” I started to say.
    She bounced on her heels once and then jumped onto me. She giggled and hung from my neck before letting go and landing lightly on her feet. “Happy said you’d be here.”
    “Well, he’s pretty smart,” I said. I hugged her back. “For a bear.”
    The bear trundled out of the kitchen area behind us and chuffed at me.
    Vicky let out a high-pitched giggle that made me smile.
    “That could have been worse,” Hugh said as I sank into the leather couch across the low, circular coffee table.
    “You understate things as badly as Carter,” Alan said, walking out of the kitchen.
    I hopped up and traded grips with the mountain of a man. His dark skin vanished beneath the camouflage suit he was wearing. Alan had been a sniper in Vietnam. I didn’t know how old he was, but he looked like he was in his mid-thirties. If I had to guess, he was much, much older.
    “It’s good to see you, Damian.” His smile was as warm as his deep voice, and belied the hard edges of his face and his close-cropped Mohawk. He tossed me a bottle of water, which I bobbled and caught before he cracked open