After Carlaâs call, Wyatt had contacted the other Runners and a search of the city had been immediately set into action. Then Brody Carter had arrived on her doorstep with his heartbreaking news.
âMax is still alive,â the Bloodrunner had explained to her and Wyatt in gritty, clipped tones. âSophia Dawson showed up in Shadow Peak with him about a half hour ago. Theyâre trying to get the story out of her, but sheâs pretty hysterical. Seems sheâd called Max from a concert, scared that she and her girlfriends were being followed. Says Max told her he knew Reyes wouldnât let him into that part of town, so he slipped out a back entrance at the hospital, grabbed his car and met up with them. He talked Sophia into coming back home with him, but before they could make it back to his car, they were attacked. The only thing that saved their lives was an accident that happened up the street. When he heard the approaching sirens, the rogue fled and the girls were able to get Max in his car. Sophia panicked and drove him straight to her parentsâ house. They notified the Elders and he was taken into custody.â
Michaela had stood there feeling dead inside, a great roaring wave of pain ripping through her body, while Wyatt had talked with the scowling Runner. Then Brody had left as quickly as heâd come, leaving Wyatt to explain that Max would be kept in a holding cell in Shadow Peak, where he would be watched by guards until his first shift into a werewolf, which usually came the second night after an attack. Once the signs of impending change were noted, a Novitiates ceremony would be called.
Wyatt had driven her up to Bloodrunner Alley, a picturesque glade that sat several miles south of Shadow Peak on the mountain. The Alley held cabins where the Runners lived, and sheâd spent the rest of the night with Torrance and Mason.
The wait for nightfall during the long, torturous day had been a living hellâbut the call warning them that the ceremony would soon begin had finally come. Theyâd immediately set off for the clearing, which sat equidistant between Shadow Peak and the Alley.
And now it was time.
The muscles in her throat quivered, and Michaela wondered if she was about to lose the tea Torrance had forced into her before theyâd left. The fear threatened to overtake her, too huge and monstrous to evade, swallowing her like Jonah in his story of the whale. The kind of fear that covered your skin after a nightmare, sticky and cold and wet. She knew they could scent it. From the shadowed edges of the clearing, the Lycansâ glowing eyes burned like embers as they watched her through the moonlit darkness.
Theyâre waiting for you to show your weakness, but right now you have to be strong for Maxâs sake.
At the thought of her brother, a devastating sense of helplessness pierced through her, making her flinchâand it was at that moment that Michaela felt his gaze. Her breath caught, and without realizing it, she found herself searching the nightmarish scene for the man, the Bloodrunner, who sparked an uncomfortable awareness in her every time she saw him.
Brody. Her mouth formed the words, though she didnât make a sound.
He watched her from the corner of his eye, as if he didnât want her to know. But there was no way she could have missed him. All he had to do was enter a room, and her senses kicked into high alert, her equilibrium taking a spin that left her reeling, same as it had last night. He had the scarred body of a warrior, but in Michaelaâs opinion, he was one of the most magnificent men sheâd ever known. Not pretty, but so utterly hard and masculine that he all but bled testosterone. Everything about the rugged Bloodrunner screamed dark, intense intrigue, and despite her efforts, sheâd been unable to stop thinking about him. The effect was even worse when he was near, like being struck by lightning, her nerves left revving and raw. A total and complete meltdown. Not even Ross Holland had affected her like thatâand sheâd thought she loved her ex-boyfriendâ¦until the day heâd ripped her heart out.
Hah! Shows how much you know. When it comes to love, youâre as blind as a hawk beneath its hood.
Sad, but true.
Now Ross was nothing more than a first-class painâand one she couldnât get rid of. No matter how many different ways she explained it, he could not get it through his head that she never wanted to see him again.
It was strange, but with Brody near, she could barely recall what Ross even looked like. The Runner stood to her left, no more than a yard away from Mason, and her stare snagged on his powerful form, unable to look away. Though his muscular frame had been wrapped in a stylish tuxedo the first time sheâd met him at Torrance and Masonâs wedding, tonight he wore his standard dark jeans, black boots and black T-shirt. The soft cotton of the shirt molded itself to the broad width of his shoulders and that beautifully carved chest, his thighs rigid beneath the worn denim of his jeans. His auburn hair burned a deep, dark red before the flames of the fire, lying soft and thick on his shoulders. Against the darkness of his skin, his scars shone like silvery pale rivers of pain, echoing the mysteries of his past as they slashed across his face in three thin diagonal lines.
After the âI canât get out of here fast enoughâ way that heâd acted the night before, when heâd brought her and Wyatt the news of what had happened to Max, she hadnât thought heâd even show for the ceremony. But here he was. His normally brooding expression burned with a cold, calculating furyâa charged energy buzzing around him that suggested the rigid control he always held over himself could crack at any moment. Though the calmest, quietest of the Runners, he struggled to master, even hide, an underlying violence. But it was always there, lying in wait of its escape, and she experienced a flutter of relief in her belly that he was on their side.
Brody Carter was not a man you wanted for an enemy.
She ran her tongue over her bottom lip, aware that it quivered, and found herself fighting a physical urge to move closer to him, wanting to soothe that angry burn of pain he carried insideâwhen suddenly the restless movements of the pack ceased. Mason lifted his face, sniffing at the cool, brisk air. âThe Elders are almost here,â he announced in a quiet rasp.
Across the clearing, the eerie, demonic glow of torches could be seen drawing nearer, and Michaela stared unblinkingly at the shadow-thick edge of the forest.
The light grew brighter, burning against her eyes as she watched a dark-haired Lycan with distinctive golden eyes walk forward, bearing one of the torches, his lip curled in a belligerent sneer. Then the first Elder stepped from the shadows, into the clearing, his stature one of blunt, stocky strength; light brown hair shot with silver at his temples; deep-set eyes sharp beneath bushy silver brows.
âThatâs Graham Fuller,â Torrance whispered. âHeâs the Lead Elder and Masonâs fatherâs best friend.â Another figure stepped out of the trees, this one considerably younger than Fuller, his rich brown hair and dark eyes familiar. âYou know that one,â Torrance told her. âYou met Dylan at our wedding.â
Despite the fact that he was a member of the League, Dylan Riggs had always been a friend, as well as a supporter of the Bloodrunners. In fact, it had been Dylan who walked Torrance down the aisle at her wedding. Though his friendship with the Runners was strong, the past few weeks had put Dylan in a difficult position, as tension between the Bloodrunners and the pack increased.
More Elders entered the clearing, alternately taking their places on either side of Fuller, until the last one emerged. Michaela had yet to meet the notorious Lycan known for his purist views and hatred of humans and Bloodrunners alike, but she recognized him immediately from the description sheâd been given. Stefan Drake, the one whom the Runners believed was responsible for the growing number of rogue werewolves and other horrifying crimes, and the reason she and Max had remained under Bloodrunner protection, even after the death of Anthony Simmons, the rogue who had threatened Torranceâs life. Mason and the others