Several high pitched screams filled the night as glass shattered out of the windows. The witches quickly jumped out as the building became engulfed in flames.
Vanessa laughed, seemingly unperturbed by the house burning behind her. “Look, Sprinkles came back.”
The blonde one nudged her. “And he brought a new little bitch.”
“You calling her a bitch?” I stepped toward them. “What happened to those guys, huh? You got tired of playing with them?”
“They were useless to us so we disposed of them.” Jerry sneered. “Much like the way Hunter will discard of your girl when he’s done with her. Humans are no better than trash.”
Images of the dead bodies flew through my mind, and I lost control. Within seconds I shifted, and I lunged for Jerry, tackling her to the ground. Everything was in shades of black and red as I tore mindlessly with my teeth.
I heard a loud wolf howl, and then became aware of Marni calling my name. “Gage. Stop. She’s dead.”
I looked down at the unrecognizable mess that had once been Jerry. My stomach turned. Had I really done that?
“Gage. It’s okay. She deserved it. You did nothing wrong.”
I shifted back to my human form and stared at the body and the burning house.
Marni touched my arm. “We’ve got to go. I heard Hunter.”
“Where are the other witches?”
“They ran off after seeing you transform and tear Jerry to shreds.”
“You let them run away?” I spun on Marni.
“They are nothing without Jerry. They’re like kids.”
“They kidnapped me without Jerry. They almost killed Mary Anne.”
“We can talk about this later, but we have to go.” She looked me straight in the eye.
I nodded, overwhelmed with shock, anger, and confusion. Had I just killed someone? Marni was right, Jerry deserved it, but the crazy lack of control scared me.
“You’re a Dire. Your thoughts and decisions aren’t human, especially when you get emotional. It’s over now. Let’s go.”
I listened, but she was wrong. It wasn’t over. Even if I couldn’t remember exactly what happened when I lunged for Jerry, I’d remember what she looked like after. Was I human at all anymore?
Another howl carried through the woods and Marni and I ran back. It was time to face the music.
***
“What the hell were you thinking?” Hunter roared as we entered the clearing.
“I was thinking about all of the other innocent people they were going to hurt if I did nothing.”
“You should have come to me. You don’t realize the trouble you’ve caused us all.”
“It’s not all his fault. I did it too,” Marni jumped in. It was still weird how we could all talk in wolf form.
“Ignore her. Blame me.” I wasn’t letting her take the rap. It was all my idea, and I wasn’t going to let her get in trouble for it.
“We’re going to have to move again. We can’t even wait until dawn.”
“Who’s with Mary Anne?” A horrible thought hit me. What if the witches that escaped got to her? I picked up the pace.
“She’s got both Chet and Semi. I would never leave her unprotected.”
“Good.” The only upside of Hunter’s obsession with Mary Anne was that he’d do what it took to keep her safe.
“And the witches aren’t going there anyway. They are going to need time to regroup after that.”
“Then why do we need to leave so soon?”
“Because that fire is going to be noticed by both humans and paranormals. Because the witches aren’t hiding us anymore. We can’t be here when the investigation starts. We’ve lost our cover. Do you need more reasons than that?”
“No.” I didn’t regret my decision. Even if the surviving witches started hurting people again, it wouldn’t be as easy. It was probably wishful thinking, but maybe without the influence of their leader, they’d take a different path.
“Pack and get ready. We are leaving within the half hour. I need to find the nomads.”
“I can do that, Hunter,” Marni said softy. She never spoke softly which meant she was trying to tread carefully with Hunter.
“Good. I’ll see to everything else.” He took off ahead of us.
“Is the rest of the punishment coming later?” I asked Marni.
“I think he understands why we did it. He agreed in his own way, so I think he’s letting this slide.”
“Can he really do that? Let his ‘inferiors’ as he calls us get away with disobeying him?”
“Did we technically disobey? He never told us not to burn down the house.”
“I guess that’s true. It was just implied.”