Page 141 of Broken Wolf Heart
Rocco slumps.
Dead.
Dutch shifts back, panting, blood soaking his arms, his chest, his face.
He doesn’t look down at the body.
He looks at Mia.
“You okay?” he asks, voice raw.
She nods once. “Yeah.”
“And you?” he asks Charlie.
Charlie nods, pulling Mia into a hug.
Dutch meets my eyes. My wolf howls its approval and sorrow. But the sound is cut short when I feel it.
Lexi’s fear slams into me like a sixth sense. I don’t need words to tell me it’s my father she’s afraid of. That he’s found her and he’s not going to let her go. Already running, I scream her name through the bond.
No answer.
Just a flicker of panic. Determination. Fear.
Hoping it’s enough, I send as much of my own strength down the bond as I can, and then I run like hell, hoping it’ll be enough to strengthen her until I get there.
At the stairwell, I race downward as the bond calls me toward her like a beacon. Pulsing with her presence. But I’m running out of fucking time, I can feel it. Behind me, Dutch and the others have shifted and are running now too.
We race onto the third floor, and I duck low beneath beams that dangle from crumbling ceilings. Smoke fills my lungs, my paws pounding over scorched tile. I don’t stop to think. Just move. Justfind her.
I hear them before I see them.
Snarls. Growls. The crash of breaking glass.
I round a corner—and see her.
Andy slumped in a pile of broken glass; shards embedded in her skin.
Lexi. Bleeding. Fighting.
And my father, his wolf coated in power and violence.
He’s changed. Warped by the serum. There’s a darkness in him now too. It radiates off him.
I don’t hesitate.
I leap.
With teeth and claws out, I hit him hard enough to crack bone. We roll, a tangle of fur, and land hard against the far wall. Plaster crumbles around us at the impact, but he doesn’t slow. His teeth gnash at my throat, missing by inches. His paws threaten to pin me. He’s strong—stronger than before. But he’s notbetter. He’s not stronger than the bond I have with my mate.
He slams me into the wall, his claws raking down my shoulder and splitting my flesh open.
Lexi screams.
I launch forward. My father feints right, but I see it coming and match it, my teeth ripping a chunk from his shoulder. Muscle and blood rip free, and he makes a sound of pain, his leg buckling when he tries to land on it.
I take the opening and lunge again, this time ripping a chunk from his flank. His legs give out, and he falls.
