Page 89 of Taken By the Alpha Priest

The laser sight on Reyes’ chest wavers, the gunman in the watchtower struggling to track the chaos below. Time slows, every detail burning into my brain—the red dot jittering over his heart, the faint tremble of the rifle barrel, Reyes’ calm, unreadable face as he steps toward me.

I see it coming.

“Reyes—!” I scream, but it’s too late.

The gunshot shatters the air, deafening, final. Reyes stumbles, a sharp gasp escaping his lips as his body jerks backward. His knees hit the ground, and for a second, I think he might collapse entirely.

“No!” The word rips out of me, raw and agonized, as if the bullet tore through me instead. My chest seizes, my vision blurring with tears. It was an accident—I know it was an accident—but that doesn’t dull the white-hot fury or the bone-deep fear coursing through me.

And it gets worse…because then the prairie erupts with motion.

Wolves—sleek, massive, and lethal—burst from the grass, their forms dark and terrible against the red-hued light of the Curtain. They were following us. I thought the paranoia in the forest was my imagination, but now it’s clear: they’ve been trailing us the whole time, waiting for this moment.

A flash of white fur streaks toward Reyes, violet eyes shimmering in a snarling face. Another wolf follows, golden and fierce. I don’t know them in these forms, but I can sense them—feelthem. Elijah…

…and Frankie.

The wolves are closing in on Reyes, their snarls ripping through the stunned silence, and it dawns on me that Frankie might try to finish the job so she can take over the den. I lunge toward Reyes, feeling my nails get longer in preparation to strike, but Enid grabs my arm, her small frame deceptively strong as she pulls me back. Patrick takes my other arm, his grip like iron.

“Tilda, stop! It isn’t safe!” Enid cries, her voice cracking with fear.

“You can’t keep me here!” I scream, fighting against them, thrashing like a wild thing. “Let me go! Reyes?—!”

“It’s for your own good!” Patrick snaps, his face hard with conviction.

Elijah reaches Reyes first, powerful jaws locking onto his shoulder as he starts dragging him toward the trees. I strain to see where Reyes has been hit, but the shadows swallow him up, and all I can focus on is the ache tearing through my chest. I catch sight of a couple other wolves in the woods, watching with opalescent eyes, swirling into the blackness of the forest.

But the blonde wolf—Frankie—fixes her eyes on me, her body taut and poised like a coiled spring as she bares her teeth.

She’s not interested in hurting Reyes…she’s trying to save me.

“No,” I whisper, shaking my head. “Frankie, don’t?—”

But she moves anyway, stepping toward me, her eyes flicking between Patrick, Enid, and the gunmen in the tower. She’s coming for me, reckless and bold.

“Frankie,don’t!” I scream, my voice raw. “I’ll get out of this! Don’t put yourself in danger!”

She falters, one paw lifting hesitantly, and then the red laser sight lands on her chest.

She disappears into the grass like smoke, vanishing just before the rifle fires. My heart is a riot in my ribs, torn between relief and the crushing reality of what’s just happened.

I stop fighting.

I let Enid and Patrick drag me back toward the gates, my legs moving mechanically as my mind screams for me to turn back. The gate clangs shut behind us, the sound echoing like a death knell.

This is my home,I tell myself.They’ll hear me out.

But as the weight of the gates settles, and the voices of Homestead rise around me, I feel the sharp sting of doubt.

And the distant, haunting howl of wolves lingers in my ears long after the gate locks behind me.

30

REYES

My whole world is pain and absence.

The absence of something essential.

---