Kade barely had time to raise his sword. The mourning Alpha hit him like a storm, his already considerable power fueled by grief. Kade’s blade met the first strike, ringing like a bell. The second came even harder. Roen was caught midway through shifting, not fully man or wolf. Roen’s claws raked across Kade’s chest, leaving claw marks across the armor. The claws skidded off the metal into Kade’s shoulder, cutting through leather and biting through skin.
Ash snarled inside of him, “Shift, Kade!”
“No,” Kade gritted out through clenched teeth. “Not yet.”
He pivoted, driving his boot into Roen’s ribs. The man staggered, then laughed. The sound was awful, grating and incomplete, like both the man and wolf were trying to speak with the same voice. “You fight like someone who has lost somet
