Page 131 of Broken Wolf Heart
Grey’s been notably silent since we left the house. There’s worry lining his brow. I know he thinks he’s risking me bydoing this, but maybe that’s what I appreciate about it. He’s letting me protect him just as much as he’s protecting me.
Finally, after everything, he’s making me feel like his equal partner. Like he considers me capable of fighting alongside him instead of hiding in the background while he fights for me.
It’s all I’ve ever wanted.
I hope to hell this works.
Mia, Dutch, Razor, and Crow stand in a wide circle around us. The hex blade rests on a worn metal table between Grey and me. Apparently, it was stashed in a gym bag in the janitor’s closet this entire time. The same bag Grey once showed me and told me to run away with if anything ever happened to him. I guess a hex blade would have gotten me through the wards—and anything else that stood in my way. I just hope it’s strong enough to get through to my wolf. And to kill that dark creature inside him that keeps taking him over.
Outside, the wind whines through broken siding, but in here, it’s calm.
Calm. And terrifying.
I take a steadying breath and look up at Grey. He stares down at the blade between us as if it’s a snake ready to strike.
“We don’t have a witch to guide us,” I say, voice shakier than I mean for it to be. “How do we know what to do?”
He meets my gaze, eyes dark but clear. “We didn’t have one last time either. We just need each other and the blade.”
My chest tightens as Mia adds, “And blood.”
He nods. “That too.”
I glance around the circle—Mia watching with open worry, Razor nodding once when I meet his gaze, Dutch and Crow still and unreadable. These people have followed Grey through thick and thin. And now they do the same for me.
Grey picks up the blade. Even in the dim light, it gleams. Some of my worry must show on my face because he sets it down again.
“We don’t have to do this,” he says. “If you’re not sure?—”
“I’m sure,” I interrupt, stepping forward.
Because I am. Terrified, yes. But sure.
We’re out of time. And this—this is the only thing that’s ever made sense. Him. Me. Together. If we’re going to stop Vincenzo, it’s not going to be through sheer force. It has to be through balance. Through unity. Through power shared. Through love and trust freely given.
Grey draws the blade across his palm first, no hesitation. Blood wells and spills over his hand.
Then he hands me the hex blade.
It’s heavier than I expect. The jewels encrusted in the hilt sparkle, even in the dimness. There’s a buzz beneath my skin as I hold it.
Magic.
The blade is sharp despite its age and disuse.
My hand doesn’t shake when I draw it across my own skin.
Grey holds his hand out for mine. We press our bleeding palms together.
I feel it immediately.
A tug. A pull.
Not pain. Not even magic.
Justconnection, pure and deep. It’s so much bigger than what I felt that night we claimed one another in the woods. Colors and scents and emotions whirl inside me, burrowing into the deepest places. Hidden parts of me that I only ever felt awaken the day I found my wolf. And now, those places belong to Grey just as much as they belong to me.
My wolf rises, opening, letting that connection pour into her. She surges with it—an energy all its own. And I know she’s found strength from it already.
