CHAPTER 25

Russel finally shook off the last remnants of the wolf, casting it off himself like a dog shaking off water. All those primal, instinctual urges to run through the forest and kill anything he came across were the hardest things to get rid of and were stubbornly refusing to be pushed away. In the end, he managed it but a part of him felt a longing to be free again. It was addictive, that state of being. So alluring and so easy. It would be simple to throw away all the burdens his humanity saddled him with and just give in to the wolf. But he didn’t. He’d seen firsthand what happened when a werewolf goes down that road. It wasn’t pretty. The carnage they left in their wake still haunted him at night. The worst part was not being able to do a damn thing to stop it. It’s the biggest reason why he never went over to the wolf 100% like he just did. Already, he could feel those cloying tendrils of addiction sinking into his mind, urging him to let go again. It was Lola, standing there braz