Page 88 of In the Mouth of the Wolf

Next, I grabbed Marlowe’s. It was nearly identical aside from a fourth layer on top. It was pearly and iridescent, appearing as dense as mercury yet moving as lightly as oil.

I took a deep breath, finally examining Elias’s.

It was smaller, but sitting like a hat on top of his plasma was a layer of this fourth substance, the same color and density as was in Marlowe’s.

Bingo.

I isolated the substance and began preparing it for protein analysis with the mass spectrometer. I wouldn’t get the results for another day. Once I’d prepared the samples, I took another drop and placed it under the microscope.

What I saw took my breath away. I could hardly describe what I was seeing, it was as though someone had managed to liquify moonlight. The drop glowed with its own incandescent light, pure and ethereal. Tilting the slide caused the substance to move in a way that defied the laws of gravity, floating like jellyfish underwater instead of a liquid on a flat plane.

“Luminis…” I whispered.

That was what I would call it.

The results wouldn’t be available until tomorrow, and it was getting late. I took the remaining Luminis and put it in another vial to show the pack when I got home. I couldn’t wait to share my discovery with Marlowe.

The roads were blissfully empty, although that wasn’t surprising for a Sunday night. I turned on a random playlist Nolan shared with me a couple years ago, mostly music from the 60s. He certainly loved his classics.

A smile grew on my face, thinking of Marlowe when “California Dreamin’” by The Mamas & The Papas started. I sang along quietly, drumming my fingers on the steering wheel when a pair of glowing eyes got my attention. A wolf, dark as night, stood in the middle of the road. My heart pounded as I hit the brakes hard to avoid it, but the icy roads caused me to go into a spin and I careened into a ditch, everything going black.

My head and chest were killing me, and blood dripped down my face. I opened my eyes and tried to take stock of the accident. My ribs were cracked, and I likely had a concussion. My vision was doubling, and I shut my eyes tight.

I needed to call an ambulance.

I took a deep breath, steeling myself as I reached to where I thought my phone might be in the center console. Pain rippled through my torso, and I clenched my teeth as I blindly felt my way, following the auxiliary cord it had been attached to.

I noticed the movement outside in my periphery.

That’s right. The wolf.

What the hell was a wolf doing here?

It ran up to my window, and then, in a quick contortion of hairy limbs, rose into a large male, fully nude. He gripped the handle to the door and ripped it clean off, then lowered his face until it was level with mine.

I couldn’t focus on what he looked like, my vision blurry and my mind too fuzzy. All I could pick up was his alpha scent – almond and cherry.

“I’m coming for her,” he said. “Your pack can do nothing to stop it.”

I blinked, willing my consciousness to stay with me. “Why?”

“You do not need to know, it will not save you. It will not keep her from him.”

Adrenaline and anger from the threat against Marlowe sharpened my senses, and I growled, leaning my head back and trying to get a better look at the shifter’s face. I could make out long hair, blonde, a beard, and pale skin covered in tattoos. “‘Him?’ Who’s ‘him?’ She belongs with us.”

“No,” he replied. “She has always belonged to him. It’s only a matter of time until they can be together.”

He transformed back into a wolf, running off into the night.

I passed out once more.

42

MARLOWE

Elias was sent to the grocery store to make up for us eating everything Nolan had bought while under wolf influence, so it was just Cam, Nolan, and me who headed into the basement to watch the Packers game.

Despite no one in my family ever being that big of a pro-football fan, I knew better than to try to get between a cheesehead and his team, and dutifully sat down between my two alphas as they glued their eyes to the screen and discussed plays and statistics.

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