Page 24 of Cast in Shadow
Before I could make a move to silence her, a familiar cinnamon wolf leapt from the trees, crashing into Levi and slamming his weaker human form into the dirt. Bridget’s claws dug into his back, sending streams of blood spilling from the punctures as he screamed in pain, but she didn’t retract.
She didn’t bite at him or rake her deadly claws across his tender human flesh. Instead of making him squeal like a dying rabbit, she used his body as a dais as she growled her warning at me and the other wolves.
Okay, so, things probably didn’t look great from where she was standing, but surely she could see that I was trying to save the girl. Right?
Levi’s body started to shift beneath Bridget’s paws, until she dug her claws in deeper, kneading his back like an angry kitten. Alpha power sparked from every reddish-brown hair on her body, feeding down her legs and into his back. She didn’t just have him pinned with her weight or the pain, she was actually holding him down with her magic.
It was a magnificent sight.
Levi bellowed in frustration, thrashing beneath her. The more he fought, the more of that golden energy pulsed from her paws, injecting deep into his muscles. Directing that kind of power in such a precise way took an impressive amount of control, for any magical being. All the while, her copper eyes were focused on me and my hold on her granddaughter.
I let the flame in my hand snuff out, but kept my grip on thegirl, pulling her ear close. “Listen carefully. I’m here to help. I just had to put on a little show for that worthless alpha until the cavalry arrived.” Of course, I didn’t expect the cavalry to show up in the form of her grandmother. That complicated things a bit. “If we don’t play this right in the next few seconds, things are going to get a whole lot worse before they get better.”
10
The girl followed my orders, but it was close there for a few breaths. She held up her hands, showing her grandmother that she wasn’t hurt. Well, beyond the malnourishment, bruises, and emotional damage thanks to her pack.
Bridget kept her claws anchored in Levi’s back. When two of his wolves—probably the beta and an enforcer, judging by the burnt orange tint to their magic—got too close, the warning in her low growl made them both tuck their tails between their legs and cower where they stood.
Her dead husband had been a fool to try to collar her in any way. If she’d been given the support she’d needed, with the right guidance and room to grow, the Clark Ridge wolves would have been untouchable under her power.
Too bad all it took was a few closed-minded assholes to weaken a once great pack.
I dropped my hands and took one step back from Naomi, giving myself just enough distance to still be able to grab her if she decided to run.
“Nana?” Her voice was so much smaller than the brilliantgold magic pulsing from her, just a few shades lighter than her grandmother’s. It said something about both of them, but especially the older woman. For all the hardship she’d endured, and all the loneliness, she hadn’t let it consume her.
Bridget’s wolf let out a clipped bark but didn’t move an inch.
Naomi glanced over at me. “What now?”
I checked our surroundings, gauging the energy coming off the other wolves. Some of them would have to pay for what happened to my team. Their screams still rang in my ears, and I had to shove my anger down as deep as it would go. Now wasn’t the time.
Getting the girl to safety was the priority.
“She’s worked up. See if you can talk her into letting Levi go,” I said, putting a little softness in my voice for encouragement.
Her eyes narrowed, darting between the man on the ground and the wolf on his back. It didn’t take a genius to track what she was thinking.
“Don’t you dare,” I said through clenched teeth. “Do not tell your last living relative to kill that man, because she’ll do it, for you, and you’ll both regret it.” I edged closer, keeping my hands where Bridget could see them. “Be better than him. Call her off.”
A wounded look flashed in her cool brown eyes, but when she turned back to face her grandmother, her voice carried a pleading note. “Nana, I want to go home. I don’t even know where that is right now, but I know I don’t want to go alone.”
Bridget dug her claws deeper into Levi’s flesh and lowered her black snout to the back of his head, puffing out a breath that made his short hair shudder.
“Levi, tell her you won’t try to stop them,” I said, throwing my own kind of command with my voice. It wasn’t the same as alpha influence, but it was enough to get the attention of everyone in the vicinity.
He moved beneath her, clawing at the dirt as he tried to pull himself up. “Naomi is mine,” he growled.
Bad move, asshole.
He reared up hard enough to knock Bridget off his back, but the idiot didn’t stand a chance against her unless his pack got involved. Most of them were backing away, making it clear they wanted no part in a battle between alphas, but there were enough left with their teeth bared to be a concern.
And what if Bridget did kill him cleanly? Would the pack accept her as their new alpha? I seriously doubted it. They were too broken for that.
Rather than let the woman or her granddaughter take on the responsibility of killing Levi, I used his moment of freedom to close the distance between us and take him down. It was a simple thing. Just a pulse of my power, raw and uncut, and he hit the ground like a sack of stones.
Growls and snarls filled the air all around me, making every inch of my skin tingle. “He’s not dead, yet. But I assure you, I will finish the job if you don’t back off right now.”
