Ethan's POV
I stepped in front of Mama when the mean lady pointed the bright knife at me.
"No," I said in my biggest boy voice. "You can't hurt my mama."
The lady with the pretty blonde hair laughed, but it wasn't a nice laugh. It was the kind of laugh that made my belly hurt.
"Oh, sweetie," she said in a fake-sweet voice. "I'm not going to hurt your mama. I'm going to hurt you first. That way, she'll do exactly what I tell her to do."
The angry dog inside my chest woke up and started growling. But this time, it felt different. Bigger. Stronger. Like it was growing up really fast.
"Ethan, get behind me," Daddy said. I liked calling him Daddy now that I knew he was really my daddy and not the scary man who smelled like pine trees and anger.
But I didn't move. Something inside me was telling me that running away was the wrong thing to do.
"The boy has spirit," one of the wolf-men behind the mean lady said. "It'll be fun to break it."
That's when the angry dog inside me got really, really mad.
My hands started feeling hot and tingling, like when I broke Tommy's toy truck at school. But this time, the hot feeling spread all over my body. My eyes started doing the gold flashy thing, but stronger than ever before.
"Ethan," Mama said worriedly. "Remember what we practiced. Deep breaths."
But I didn't want to take big breaths. I wanted the mean people to go away and leave my family alone.
"I said NO," I repeated, and this time my voice sounded different. Deeper. Like Daddy's voice, but also like something else. Something bigger and more powerful.
The mean lady's smile vanished. "What did you just—"
She didn't get to finish her words because something amazing happened.
A wave of power rolled out of me like unseen water. It hit all the bad wolf-men at the same time, and they dropped to their knees like someone had pushed them down.
But they didn't just kneel. They put their heads on the floor and whimpered like scared puppies.
"Submit," I said, even though I didn't know where the word came from. "Submit to your Alpha."
"Impossible," the mean lady whispered, but even she took a step backward.
The old man named Marcus was looking at me with his mouth open. "That's not possible. No child has ever shown True Alpha Command."
"True Alpha what?" I asked, but my voice still sounded too deep for a little boy.
"It's a power that only appears in the most dominant Alphas," Daddy explained, and I could hear amazement in his voice. "Most Alphas can give simple orders. But True Alpha Command can control anyone, no matter how strong they are."
I looked at the wolf-men still kneeling on the floor. They were big and scary-looking, but they were all shaking now. They couldn't get up even though I could see them trying really hard.
"I did that?" I asked.
"You did that," Mama said softly. "But Ethan, you need to let them go now. Holding that much power isn't good for your body."
I tried to let go, but I didn't know how. The power felt like holding onto a big balloon that wanted to float away. If I let go wrong, it might explode.
"I don't know how," I admitted, and my voice cracked a little. I was getting scared of myself.
That's when Daddy knelt down next to me and put his hand on my shoulder.
"Feel my power," he said softly. "Let it guide yours."
I closed my eyes and tried to feel what he meant. There was something warm and strong coming from Daddy's hand. It felt like safety and love and security all mixed together.
Slowly, I let the angry dog inside me go to sleep. The hot feeling in my hands went away, and my voice went back to normal.
The wolf-men on the floor gasped and sat up, looking confused and scared.
"There," Daddy said proudly. "Perfect control for someone so young."
But the mean lady named Victoria was looking at me with a different face now. Not angry or mean, but hungry. Like I was a cookie she wanted to eat.
"A four-year-old with True Alpha Command," she said slowly. "Do you have any idea how valuable that is?"
"He's not for sale," Mama said strongly, moving closer to me.
"Oh, I'm not planning to buy him," Victoria said with that scary smile again. "I'm going to own him. Once I use the soul magic to bind him to me, he'll use that amazing power to help me control every werewolf in North America."
She held up the bright green knife again. "And the best part? He'll think it was his own idea."
"Over my dead body," Daddy growled, and I could feel his power getting ready to fight.
"That can be arranged," Victoria said.
But before anyone could move, something weird happened to me again.
The world went all shiny and slow, like I was looking through water. I could see everyone in the room, but I could also see something else. Glowing lines linking all the werewolves to each other. Some lines were bright and happy, like the one between Mama and Daddy. Others were dark and twisted, like the ones linking Victoria to her wolf-men.
And I could see something else that made my belly feel sick.
There were more lines coming into the room. Lots more. Red lines that smelled like blood and anger and hunger.
"More bad wolves are coming," I said, and my voice sounded strange and far away. "Lots of them. Maybe twenty or thirty."
Everyone looked at me with surprise.
"How do you know that?" Marcus asked.
"I can see the pack lines," I said, not really knowing what I meant. "The links between wolves. And there are more coming. They'll be here in maybe five minutes."
Victoria's smile got even scary. "Perfect time. My reinforcements have come."
"Reinforcements?" Daddy asked.
"Did you really think eight wolves would be enough to take down a Luna Prime and a True Alpha?" Victoria laughed. "I brought fifty rogues with me. All of them bound to my will with soul power."
She pointed the green knife at me again. "And now I'm going to add the most powerful little Alpha in the world to my collection."
But as she stepped closer, something else happened that nobody expected.
The scary man from before - the one who smelled like pine trees - suddenly grabbed Victoria from behind.
"I may be crazy," Dominic said, his voice rough and tired. "But I'm not going to let you hurt my... his son."
Victoria spun around and stabbed him with the green knife.
Dominic screamed and fell to the floor, green light spreading through his body like poison.
"Dominic!" Mama cried, even though he had been the bad guy before.
"The soul blade," Marcus gasped. "She's stealing his soul."
I watched in fear as Dominic's eyes went from gold to the same sickly green as the knife. When he stood back up, he moved like a doll on strings.
"Much better," Victoria said, patting Dominic's face like he was a pet. "Now I have a proper Alpha to help me control the others."
She turned back to me with the bloody knife.
"Your turn, little prince."
But as she raised the blade, I heard something that made everyone in the room freeze.
Howling. Lots and lots of screaming, coming from all around our building.
Victoria smiled. "My army has arrived."
Through the broken windows, I could see shapes moving in the darkness. Red eyes sparkling like evil stars. Dozens of them, maybe more.
"Fifty soul-bound rogues," Victoria said proudly. "All totally loyal to me. All willing to die to catch one little boy."
That's when I realized something that made my blood turn cold.
The pack lines I could see weren't just showing me wolves that were coming.
They were showing me dogs that were already here.
We were completely trapped.