Chapter 49

Asteri burst through the trees like a shadow of fur in the sun, panting hard as she threw herself at the pack house ahead. She shifted when she hit the front steps and gasped to catch her breath. Just as she reached for the door, it was thrown open and she met Apollo’s wide golden eyes.

“Beasts,” she managed to say between gulps of air, “coming this way.” Another gasp. “Ambush.”

Apollo pursed his lips and gently grabbed her elbow to pull her inside, wrapping her exposed body in a gray blanket.

He guided her to a bench in the hall and motioned for her to wait. Amerie attempted to concentrate on slowing her breaths but she knew the beasts were approaching. There had to be nearly a hundred of them closing in. She finally calmed her breaths enough to focus on listening for who was in the house. Blaze and Kierian were giggling in a room up the stairs. Everett talked on the phone about the town riots, likely to his deputy that she’d met at the nature center. Knives thudded against a wooden