Chapter 249: Out of Control
Liam’s POV
I crashed hard into the far wall. The impact knocked the air straight out of my lungs, making my vision go blurry for a split second.
Suddenly, the entire room went dead silent. Nobody moved. Nobody breathed.
I slowly lifted my head, rubbing my sore chest, and stared toward the bed. Scarlett was sitting upright now, but something was wrong. Very wrong. Her entire body was trembling violently, and the blankets around her had begun floating slightly above the mattress as invisible waves of heat and power rolled off her in every direction.
Her eyes were glowing. They weren’t gold, blue, or silver. They were red. A deep, terrifying red.
Inside my head, my wolf instantly retreated into the darkest corner of my mind. It wasn’t just from fear; it was pure survival instinct. Every creature in nature knew when it was standing before something ancient and deadly. Right now, every single hair on my body stood on end.
"Scarlett?" Leonard whispered, his voice shaking.
She didn’t answer. Her chest rose and fell rapidly, and the heavy scent of wild, burning magic filled the air.
Crack.
A picture frame hanging on the wall shattered into tiny pieces.
Crack.
The bedside lamp exploded, sending glass flying across the carpet.
Crack.
The glass windows began splintering, spiderweb lines spreading across the panes.
"Oh no..." Leo breathed. For the first time since I had entered the room, genuine fear appeared on his face.
Scarlett grabbed her head, her fingers digging into her hair. "Stop..."
Her voice sounded strange, almost distorted. It sounded like two different people were speaking at the exact same time.
"Scarlett," Leo said carefully, taking a slow step forward. "Look at me."
"I said, STOP!"
BOOM!
Another massive wave of power erupted from her body. The entire floor shook violently, and every single piece of heavy furniture in the room slid several feet backward, screeching against the floorboards. Leonard immediately moved toward the bed to protect her.
"Don’t!" Leo barked, his voice sharp. Leonard froze in his tracks. "Do not touch her."
The deadly warning in Leo’s voice made all of us stop. Scarlett suddenly snapped her head up. For one terrifying second, her glowing red eyes landed directly on me.
I felt the blood freeze in my veins. She wasn’t looking at me like her mate anymore. She wasn’t even looking at me like a person. She looked at me like a threat that needed to be destroyed. My wolf whimpered inside my mind.
The realization hit me like a physical punch. The Red Wolf was surfacing, and it didn’t know friend from enemy.
"Everybody get out," Leo commanded, his face pale.
"What?" Leonard snapped, glaring at him. "We can’t leave her!"
"NOW!" Leo roared.
Another loud crack exploded across the ceiling, and plaster dust rained down on us. Scarlett let out a sharp cry of pure agony and doubled over on the mattress. The heavy aura around her became suffocatingly thick, making it hard to even breathe.
Leo’s eyes went wide. "She’s shifting."
The room froze. My heart stopped dead in my chest. Scarlett had never shifted before. Not once. Not in front of any of us. And now, her first shift in front of us was happening completely out of control.
A low, guttural growl echoed from her throat—one that didn’t sound human at all. Then, the loud sound of her bones cracking filled the room.
Within seconds, the human on the bed was gone. In her place stood a massive, terrifyingly beautiful wolf. Fuck... she was huge. She was almost the exact same size as my own Alpha wolf. Her fur was a striking, dangerous crimson that seemed to glow in the dim light.
Before any of us could move, she leaped off the bed, crashed right through the splintered bedroom door, and sprinted down the hallway.
"Scarlett!" we screamed, rushing after her.
She didn’t respond to her name at all.
"Fuck!" I growled, letting my instincts take over. I stripped my clothes off in a blur and shifted into my wolf form. Behind me, Leo and Leonard did the exact same thing, our bones popping as our large Alphas surfaced. We raced down the stairs, our paws thudding heavily against the floor.
Down in the courtyard, the pack guards saw a massive red streak charging toward them. They panicked, stepping into her path to try and stop her.
No! Move! I screamed through the mind-link, howling in warning.
But it was too late. Scarlett didn’t even slow down. With a vicious snarl, she slammed into the warriors, flinging them easily through the air like ragdolls. She didn’t pause for a second. With one powerful, impossible leap, she cleared the high perimeter fence of the estate gate.
We sprinted out onto the main road, our claws digging into the asphalt as we tried to catch up. She was moving too fast, losing total control to the wild beast inside her. She veered off the road and crashed straight into the thick woods.
We followed her deep into the forest, branches scratching at our fur as we pushed through the dense trees. Finally, she skidded to a halt in a small clearing. She whipped around and let out a deafening, savage growl at the three of us.
Scarlett, please! Calm down! Leonard tried to mind-link her, stepping forward with his head lowered in a submissive gesture.
But she didn’t hear him. With a terrifying roar, she lunged. She hit Leonard with full force, flinging him violently across the clearing and slamming him hard into a thick oak tree. Leonard let out a painful howl as he hit the ground, but he didn’t fight back. He wouldn’t hurt her.
Leo and I froze, standing side-by-side, completely terrified of what she might do next. We had never felt so helpless.
Scar, stop! It’s us. It’s your mates, I pleaded through the mind-link, my wolf whining in distress.
Scarlett didn’t care. She threw her head back, letting out a wild, chilling howl that shook the leaves on the trees, before dropping low and baring her massive fangs at us. She was ready to tear us apart.