Samuel heard Esther's frantic command. His enormous wolf eyes instantly locked onto the dark blur that was Fortune closing in on her.
The primal rage surged. The fear of losing her, the anchor of his very soul, threatened to snap the thin thread of his human consciousness. The beast roared, the sound shaking the belfry, a raw, uncontrolled explosion of sound.
He scrambled down the tower, moving with terrifying speed, but he was losing the fight against the Change's full, annihilating force.
Esther reached the base of the tower and looked up at the terrifying, descending wolf. His eyes were redder now, the amber fading to the pure, savage gold of the uncontrollable beast. He was falling apart.
Fortune reached Esther first, grabbing her arm with a bone-crushing grip, pinning her. "Too late, wolf! The control is broken!"
Samuel landed with a ground-shaking thud, the sheer kinetic energy of the impact fracturing the stones beneath him. He was a force of nature, driven only by the terrifying imperative to destroy the threat to his mate.
But before he could strike, Esther looked at the huge, savage wolf. She saw the fear in the depths of his eyes—the soul struggling desperately against the monster.
She pulled the comms device from her ear and tossed it aside. She reached up and pulled the silver bloom pendant from her wrist, holding it tight.
"Samuel! Remember the truth! I am the Keeper, and I choose you!"
She thrust the silver pendant toward Fortune's pale face. Fortune hissed, recoiling from the silver. The distraction allowed Esther to break free.
She didn't run. She ran to the monster. She launched herself at the gigantic, snarling wolf, wrapping her arms around his powerful, fur-covered muzzle, pressing her body against his raw, radiating heat.
"I love you, Samuel! Come back! Control is not fighting the beast, it is accepting its love! You are free to be the wolf! Choose us!"
The sensation of her warmth, her human vulnerability, her powerful, unshakeable faith, slammed into the core of the raging beast. The silver on her neck was a conduit, but her love was the anchor.
The savagery fractured. The pure, annihilating golden light in Samuel's eyes dimmed, softening back to controlled amber. The enormous wolf shuddered, its rage arrested, replaced by the profound, powerful relief of a soul saved from annihilation.
Fortune watched, aghast. He had counted on the wolf's fear of his nature. He had failed to account for the Keeper's love for that nature.
He had lost.