Page 114 of Never Tamed
And neither is she.
I release her hair abruptly enough to send her backward onto her tailbone.
“You’re not worth my time.”
The light stutters in her eyes.
“You're not man enough to kill me?” her voice trembles and breaks. “Come on, Torin. What are you waiting for?”
“I’m man enough to know when it’s beneath me to give you the end you want. I’d rather let the world deal with you. You brought it on yourself.”
Catarina spits out a laugh. “Karma?”
“No,me.”
Ren comes out of nowhere and stamps on Catarina's extended leg. The bone snaps, a clean break.
She screams once then tamps down on the sound, biting her lip bloody to keep it inside. Ren can do more damage, and she wants to, I feel it. But Catarina pulls herself away from us and drags her leg back. The killing blow is ready.
“Get out of here,” I tell her. “Get the fuck out of my sight. I never want to see you again.”
Something moves across Catarina's face. A light going out I hadn’t realized existed until it didn’t anymore.
And inside me, a fierce pride for Ren grows sharper and more vibrant.
I reach for her and loop our fingers together.
Her ego shot and her leg broken, Catarina wasn’t able to move well. But she limps past the trees, out of sight.
Ren strides ahead and pulls me with her. Dark hair fans out in her wake like a banner on a battlefield.
Any future I thought I had with Catarina is gone too. Poof. Right out of existence. My humanity, my civility, is about to follow suit.
We’re ending this now.
No matter what it takes.
My mate’s hand is firm in mine, dwarfed, but strong. She doesn’t need a weapon to be a sword. I see it, why the Moon Goddess chose her, why she gave this woman life all those years ago. It’s all led up to this moment.
Our time together feels so precious I can’t breathe. All of a sudden, it hits me with such potency it drives the air straight out of my lungs.
I drag Ren to my chest.
“What?”
Her gaze searches my face and for a split second, her fury softens, concern in its place. “Torin?”
I kiss her. Pouring everything into the touch, all those things I can’t say for some reason. My lips chase hers with desperation and urgency until she opens and I slide my tongue into her. She moans, melting into me, her hands curling in my shirt. We child each other with shared desperation, and I wonder if she’s as terrified of losing this fight as I am. Not my life. My life means nothing if my wolves are protected.
But her. Ren. This absolute goddamn gift I never thought I’d have and I definitely don’t deserve.
She breaks the kiss to nip my lower lip. “I’ll be fine,” she assures me. “I love you.”
I open my mouth to say the words back but they lodge behind my tongue. Then disappear entirely when another wave of Andras’s men come out of the snow. Ren pulls away—she has to, there’s no other choice—and sprints to the right until her entire form is swallowed by the whiteout.
Chapter 30
Ren
