Hidden in Sheridan (Tainted Series: Book 1)

Moon: FULL MOON

Levi - The Alpha-Female had somehow gotten the upper hand on Mrs. Wolfe. I can feel Mr. Wolfe’s anxious heart beat beside me. Though physically he appeared completely collected.

“My Pack will stay. They will not move.” Mr. Wolfe orders and I feel something anchor my feet into the ground.

“That’s kind of you to include the misfits in your pack.” E.B. Wallace mocks.

“Just this one,” Mr. Wolfe motions to me. “The other one’s on her own.” My eyes fly to Ity, and my heart jumps into my throat. He was leaving her to fend for herself …

Ity’s eyebrows raise in surprise, “Thank you.”

In the time it takes me to blink, the branch in Trinity’s hand sweeps upward and catches Wolf-Rhydian in the muzzle. He stumbles back and shakes his head, regaining his bearings quickly, which is necessary, because Ity doesn’t pause before swinging at him again.

E.B. Wallace growls but Mr. Wolfe tightens his fists. “My pack has done nothing, Wallace and he is not yet part of yours.” Mr. Wolfe reminds his opponent.

To my surprise E.B. Wallace sighs in agreement.

Rhydian ducks low out of the way, then leaps for Trinity, shifting in mid-air back into human form. His hands reach out, grabbing for her red hoodie but she slips from his grasp while reaching for his pocket. Her fingers brushing past denim.

What she's after is in his left pocket. I'm about to shout the directions but a figure appears to my side. My claws reach out and sink into the arm of the charging Werewolf. My anchored hold interrupts his charge to assist Rhyidan. He turns to swipe at me. My left hand flies up and locks with his.

"Wallace!" Mr. Wolfe's shouts, he was single handedly holding back the second Werewolf creation. "Are you not their Alpha?"

"Rhydian!" Wallace growls back toward the struggle between Ity and Rhydian. Under the arms of the mountainous werewolf in front of me, I see Trinity brace the branch with both hands, slicing upward she almost catches Wolf-Rhydian below the jaw. He jumps back and shift into human form. His black sneakers dig into the ground where he pushes toward her again.

Her hand reaches out to grab the left pocket, but Rhydian’s speed is more than any of us had anticipated. He spins all the way around, his hand slips under her chin and his fingers wrap tightly around her neck. At full force he pushes her backward, slamming her into a tree. Stunned, Ity drops her branch. Her hands fly up to his wrist, nails ready to dig into his flesh and pull him away.

Instead she pauses. Her fingers slowly peel away from his skin until both her shaking hands brace against the tree behind her. Rhydian pushes her higher and higher until her toes are barely touching the ground.

My Werewolf stops pushing against me, Mr. Wolfe's as well. The creatures settled back but he remained in front of me. Watching me. Waiting for another go.

“My Werewolves, Rhydian!” The Alpha growled.

Panting heavily Rhydian swallowed, "Yes sir."

"Interesting though," Mr. Wolfe interjected. “How they felt Rhydian needed their help against a normal human.”

From the sliver of space I saw Trinity’s hands flex, as if she was fighting to keep them at her side.

"Perhaps I was too quick to judge." Wallace says, a spark of interests in his tone. "Bite her again, Rhydian."

'No!" Sterling's voice echoed clearly in my head shortly before he growls. His father's brow furrows as he struggles to keep his hold on his son. Sterling pushes on the balls of his feet fighting against his Alpha’s order.

“So she is in your pack,” E.B. Wallace nods darkly to the Alpha-Wolfe's struggle.

With his free hand Rhydian retrieves the stone from his left pocket and rotates it between his fingers. It was pretty unimpressive. A stone, bigger than a marble but not nearly as smooth. It appears clear like a crystal, until the moonlight flickers off it. Its sharp edges hold a green tint, not the cool blue of the moon. Yet in that instant I know something inside that crystal holds the power to change me.

Ity’s voice comes out a scratchy whisper, "I already have a family!”

Her feet kick and Rhydian steps back just enough for her arm to swipe up, hitting his arm forcing his release. Ity falls to the ground and rolls away from the tree. Stopping on her back in time for Rhydian to shift into wolf form and leap on top of her.

Teeth bared he aimed for her neck Ity’s hands shoot up, one on each side of his teeth, she grabs fur and holds his snapping jaws at bay.

Her eyes search around, and so do mine. The stone, where does it go? It had been in Rhydian’s hand but now it was gone. Just like all clothing, the stone had vanished with the shift. If she’s going to get it, we have to give him reason to shift back.

I start pushing against the anchors in my feet. I still can’t move, but I know my Alpha feels my defiance. Just as he feels Sterling’s. Mr. Wolfe’s feet shuffle in place. He too is getting impatient waiting to save his wife, but he is waiting for something I couldn't see.

A loud crack attracts everyone's attention behind the Brown-She wolf, Hank slipped out of the brush. With all his strength his tacked her away from Mrs. Wolfe

‘Go!’ Mr. Wolfe’s voice echos in my mind and my feet are freed. My momentum already primed, I launch forward and tackle the werewolf in front of me. Startled by my sudden power, he went down fast. I ball my claws into a fist and bright it down hard on the creatures temple. His eyes roll into the back of his head before he goes limp.

Wolf-Sterling ducked past the other Werewolf and grabbed Rhydian by the neck. The force throws them both tumbling across the ground into a tree. Sterling's head hitting the trunk.

Dazed, Rhydian rolls to his human feet. He reaches down to grab Sterling by the scruff when Trinity wraps her hoodie tightly around his neck.

I glance to the side and see Alpha vs Alpha, wolf vs wolf, and the second werewolf making run to help his Alpha, Rhydian. I charge to intercept him and managed to tackle him a few feet from Ity. But this wolf is more flexible, he twists to wrap his legs around my middle which keeps me pinned to the ground.

Rhydian as well twists managing to grab Ity by the arm. The two tumble to the side, but the marble falls from Rhydian’s hand. It glints in the moonlight as it bounces into the wet grass.

Still choking, Rhydian desperately reaches for it. He succeeds in snatching it from the ground but Ity also manages to grab his wrist. Lifting his arm, she wraps the hoodie sleeves tight around his body, pinning on arm to his side. She twists herself around positioning her body between him and stone in his fist and begins peeling back his fingers to get to the stone.

Rhydian calls out a warning but it’s too late. Her fingers connect with the stones surface.

An electrical pulse vibrates through her, straight into the ground. The werewolf and I collapse under the vibration, and I helplessly watch as focus slip from Ity’s eyes and her body freezes in a trance.

The entire pack feels the change in the atmosphere, but only I was able to move. I crawl to Ity’s statue, and press my hands to her ice cold face. Her hair is still soft and her wide eyes vibrant green, though out of focus. Rhydian frantically pulls on his arm, but it’s held fast in statue her grip.

He closes his eyes willing himself to faze. That too fails.

“Trinity, can you hear me? Trinity?” I call to her.

“She can’t hear you.” Rhydian growls. “They never can.”

‘What is it doing to her?’ Sterling asks to my mind, so I repeat it aloud.

Rhydian stops pulling. Out of breath he watches as the fight again erupts behind us. “It does the same thing to everyone. You see a scene from medieval times. A boy. And if he doesn’t drive you insane, he gives you power.”

“The power to change normal people into monsters?” I ask.

Rhydian shakes his head, his face twisted in actual fear. “That’s just me. The person I took it from had a completely different ability.”

“Was that person a wolf?” I ask. Rhydian shakes his head no. “So she can survive?”

“I doubt it,” Rhydian says giving his arm another useless pull.

“You said the bite kills the females, did you ever let one hold the stone?” Panting, Rhydian’s eyebrows pull together and his head shakes again.

‘We have an opening’ Sterling calls to me. ‘We have to go.’ He’s right. We need to get the van to safety. The cubs inside were in desperate need of medical attention but … Ity.

My hands cup her face and I whisper, “Come on Ity, wake up.”

The breath came first. A tear rolls down her cheek, then her eyes shift to meet mine. I smile but the opposite of joy rushes through my veins. My brow tightens and something inside my gut tells me do exactly what Ity commands.

“RUN!” She says.

As if ink dropped into water, the whites of her eyes disappear, filling with black as thick as tar. Her face pales so perfectly that the blue of her veins traces across her hands and neck. Then her mouth opens and I see two long canines extend toward her bottom lip.

I stumble back, falling to the ground as Ity’s throws her head back and bellows a growl that rivals an Alpha. Monstrous but not at all wolf.

Her hair streaks with white. Claws tip each finger, different from my own but just a fierce. With part of the stone in hand Ity twists and snaps Rhydian’s arm in half. Rhydian’s hold on the stone releases as he crumbles in agony to the ground.

The stone now belongs to her.

CHAPTER END