Page 117 of Never Tamed
I killed Andras, the monster.
The forest falls eerily silent. The snarls and growls of battle fade, as if the earth itself recognizes the end. I lift my head, my muzzle slick with blood, and let out a mighty howl.
It’s over. We’ve won.
When I turn back to the battle nearby, I find that the fighting has thinned to almost nothing. Only a few of the Blood Moons are left, and Torin, Noble, and Mathis are picking them off one by one. I prowl forward, about to help them when my ears prick and my gut churns with dread.
My head swings east.
There it is.
A scent I know better than my own heartbeat.
Dax.
It’s faint, telling me he’s far away, but I definitely smell him, sharp and sweet, but wrong, too. It carries too much blood with it.
My chest seizes, and before I can think, I’m running.
Dax’s scent grows stronger, heavier with iron, and I follow it at full speed. Fear slashes down my spine, but I push harder, ignoring my wounds and the pain trying to slow me down.
Then I see him.
And my heart stops.
Dax lies crumpled in the snow on his back. Blood pools dark around him. His chest is a mess of gaping holes with claw marks jagged and deep enough to pierce organs. His eyes are closed, and he’s too still for my liking. Deathly still.
No. The word becomes a whimper from my wolf’s throat. My legs threaten to give out beneath me, but before I can hit the ground, I’m shifting.
Pain lances through me, bones cracking, fur receding, until I’m nothing but bare skin against the cold. The snow burns against my naked knees as I scramble to him.
“Dax,” I whisper, voice breaking as my hands reach for him. I touch his face. His cheek is so cold that it makes me gasp. Sorrow and anger swirl and clash within me, tangling into a strange thing I can’t control. “No, no, no. Don’t you dare. Don’t you fucking dare die on me.”
I press my ear to his chest. The silence echoing back nearly destroys me.
“Open your eyes, please. Please, Dax.” Tears blur my vision. Grabbing his face, I shake him lightly. “Look at me. Stay with me. I need you. Do you hear me? I need you.”
But his body stays limp.
“Gods,” I sob as I bend over him. “I can’t lose you. Not after everything.” My tears fall onto his gaping hole in the center of his chest, mixing with his blood. My throat feels raw but I scream at him anyway. It’s the only thing I can think to do. “Wake up! You stubborn, reckless bastard. Fight! You always fight! Fight for me!”
My sobs shake me so violently, I almost don’t hear the snow crunching behind me.
“Ren.” It’s Torin, and I hate the pain coating his tone.
I glance over my shoulder, and they’re all there—Torin, Mathis, and Noble—looking somber. They’ve shifted back into their human forms, bloodied, bruised, and bare in the snow like me, but alive.
Face ashen, Mathis comes forward first. He kneels beside me, and his hand brushes over his best friend and brother’s blood-slicked shoulder before pulling back.
“Ren…” His voice cracks as he looks up at me. “I’m sorry, but he’s gone, sweetheart.”
“No,” I say and shake my head. “This is Dax we’re talking about. He can’t be. He’s not.”
Dax has always been the strongest of us. The best fighter, the most ruthless… He’s the last person I would’ve guessed to not make it. The very last.
Torin crouches on my other side, his expression carved from stone. But his eyes… his eyes betray him. They’re full of sympathy and pity. His hand reaches for me, hesitates, then closes over mine. “Ren…”
“It was a risk we all understood and were willing to take, baby.” Noble drops heavily into the snow behind me. His face is streaked with red. “Dax knew—”
