Samson lets out a mournful wheeze underneath me, and I hear the distant howls of his own pack as they sense their Alpha’s life force draining out of them.
And then Alina is beside us.
She doesn’t speak. She just lowers her face and meets my gaze, human to wolf. Eyes fierce and steady.
“Finish it, Rowan. Kill him.”
That’s all I need to hear.
I bare my teeth, and I tear.
His blood floods my mouth, hot and absolutely vile.
But I don’t let go until he stops moving. Until there’s nothing left of Samson Blackburn but ruin and silence.
I lift my head.
Alina is watching me. Her face is pale, streaked with dirt and blood, but her shoulders are square and her spine straight. She looks like a vengeful queen, ready to claim the bloody spoils of war. I can tell from the set of her shoulders and the ferocity in her eyes that she is ready to jump in and help me if I need it, but I can’t bear the thought of her having to brawl with this brute.
I twist my head to the side and do my best to hack up the bits of Samson’s flesh that have slid toward my throat. Alina lets out a breathless laugh that mingles with a less subtle sound of disgust.
This is the end of something, and the beginning of something else.
But outside, the war isn’t over yet. We aren’t done fighting. The Blackburns won’t just suffer the loss of their Alpha. They will lose everything tonight, whether they’re ready for it or not. Nobody gets to hurt the people I love without fatal repercussions. That is the Greenbriar legacy. That is why we are so mighty and revered, why our name is spoken with such respect even hundreds of miles beyond our borders.
Outside the shack, a particularly nasty snarl cuts through the din of the violent night. There’s a human shout, a lupine bark, and then a loud bang as another piece of the shack’s crumbling walls comes crashing down. In the space left behind stands a Blackburn in human form, chest heaving and stomach gouged so deep that he’s doing his best to hold himself together with one hand.
In the other hand, he holds a gun. The Blackburn takes one look at his fallen Alpha and lifts his teeth in a soundless growl. I rise onto my legs, but there’s a sharp twinge in my back paw and hind leg that suggests I’ve definitely broken something on my left side. With any luck, the newly healed Mating bond will help speed my healing, but first, I need to rally just enough to get rid of this final beast standing in the way of my family finding peace.
The Blackburn Beta aims the gun in the vague direction of my head, but his grave wound is causing his hand to shake, and if he fired it right now, chances are that I’d be able to dodge it.
He seems to realize that at the same time as me. He stumbles to the side, clutching at the remains of the building for support, and shifts the gun to point at Alina.
No.
No.
I don’t think. I just move.
I launch myself between them a heartbeat before the gun goes off.
The crack of the shot punches the air apart. A blossom of fire blooms in my side. The impact slams into me like a freight train.
I hit the ground hard. My body jerks involuntarily. Pain detonates in my chest, worse than anything I’ve ever felt. Worse than claws, worse than broken ribs.
Worse than the thought of not seeing her face again.
It’s paralyzing. I can’t move, can’t breathe. Nor can I tell if it’s because the bullet has struck my spine or punctured a lung. I can’t differentiate anything right now. All I feel is pain, pain, pain.
Alina screams.
Her hands are on me, warm with my blood and shaking with panic. I try to shift back into my human form, if only to tell her I’m okay, but that would be a lie. I can’t shift right now. I can’t do anything.
Blood pools beneath me.
Around us, the Greenbriars roar into action. I hear Cal’s voice barking orders, hear the growl of six wolves converging on the Blackburn Beta who pulled the trigger.
But Alina doesn’t even let them get there. She pounces first, shifting in midair, razor-sharp teeth poised for his throat before he can even register the glorious avenging angel descending upon him.
When Alina’s teeth clamp onto his throat, I watch from my useless position on the floor as she bites down mercilessly and blood sprays in all directions. The fight is over in seconds, his screams cut short.
Samson’s body is just feet away from mine. His eyes are open and glassy.
Dead.
At least I accomplished that. At least…
Alina shifts back again, noticeably wincing at the effort required to go back and forth so quickly, then rushes to my side and leans over me. Her face is inches from mine, her hands pressed to the wound, trying to stop the bleeding, and whispering my name like it’s a lifeline.
I am in awe of her, even now as I feel myself fading. That final, vengeful blow was so beautiful, so vicious. She is a brilliant Luna.
“Rowan. Stay with me. Please, don’t you dare leave me. I love you. Do you hear me? I love you.”
Something inside me blossoms at her words, but everything else is fading fast.
Her voice echoes, hollow and distant. I try my best to hold on to it, but it slips through my fingers. The Mating bond loosens and sags, the glowing fibers fraying as Alina’s panicked cries turn into nothing more than white noise in the background of all this agony.
If this is the end, then at least she’s the last thing I see.
I can live with that. After all, I spent ten years thinking I’d never see her again at all. I’ll accept these crumbs with a smile on my face.
Alina
I don’t feel the mud beneath my knees or the blood soaking into my palms.
I don’t even care that I just killed someone. In fact, I’d do it again in a heartbeat. I know now that I am capable of fighting not only for myself, but for the man that I love with every atom and molecule that forms my beating heart. The gunman’s blood is all over my mouth and trickling down my throat, but I don’t even taste it. In this moment, all I care about is Rowan.
His wolf body lies in the dirt, massive and unmoving, his fur matted and dark with blood. So much blood. His chest rises in shallow, stuttering gasps, each one a rattling sound that I swear is killing me just as slowly as it is stealing the life from him.
“No,” I whisper. My voice is shredded, raw. “No, no, no. Rowan, please-“
New Book: Back Home to Marry Off Myself
Loredana’s father left the family for his mistress, leaving them to fend for themselves abroad. When life was at its toughest, her father showed up with “good news” after 8 years of absence: To marry off Loredana to a paralyzed son of the wealthy Mendelsohn family.