Page 82 of Pack Rage
He went silent, and I opened my heart, all my bonds, or tried to, and sent the same words to all of the males I loved.I love you. I love you all.
Elina gave a disgusted grunt. “You’re reaching for them, aren’t you? Which one? Luke, or Glen? That idiot son of mine? I’m almost certain your Mountain mate is dead, or will be soon. Whoever it is, say goodbye.” Elina’s blade sank in, and I froze. “You know, if you weren’t bonded to those four fools, you could’ve lived to see how I’m going to change this world. How it’ll be with a witch who deserves to rule it in control.”
I had to be dreaming it, but I could have sworn I heard Del’s dry laugh.Keep ‘em talking, girlie. Time can be a weapon. Ego can be, too.A swirl of dust rose up from the ground, and I knew something had changed. But Elina didn’t know it yet.
“Rule?” I managed to rasp. “You’ll be an Alpha?”
“Nothing so limited.”
“A queen, then. Queen of all the shifters. What are you planning? What are you going to change when you rule theworld?”Keep talking, keep talking.She yanked my hair harder, and I looked up at the suddenly cloudless moon, praying as hard as I ever had in my life. The full moon glowed down on me brighter than it ever had. I could feel its beams landing on me, cooling my injuries, healing me. A breeze kissed my cold cheeks.
“...you have to die,” Elina finished at last.
But I wasn’t listening anymore. I was doing everything I could to contain my emotions, and failing.
“What… Why are you laughing?” The blade cut deeper at my throat, but I let it, knowing hope had arrived.
“You said…” I wheezed as the moon seemed to pulse in the sky. “You said,” I tried again, a hysterical giggle creeping out with the words. “Four.Fourmates.” I moved my gaze from the moon to her face and let my wolf peek out at her. “You left one out.”
Her thin eyebrows rose high, then higher as a shadow flew across the crowded ring and landed right behind her.
“Boo.”
Chapter 40
Late to the Party
GRIGOR
I’d never run as fast as I did, returning to Eastern. At times, leaping over roadways and gullies, I was certain I flew.
“Help me to be what I should have been all along,” I whispered to the moon as I felt the blows my brothers were taking in that cursed ring. “Help me to be a protector. Give me the power to save her, save them, and I will devote my life to your children.”
I wasn’t certain if She heard my plea, but I knew that if we all lived through this night, I would spend the rest of my life trying to fulfill that promise. My feet bled, and I let the drops fall on the earth as a sacrifice to the moon. Tears streamed from my eyes in the cold wind, and I gave those away as well.
Maybe the moon accepted the gifts. All I knew was that as I ran, power began to flow into me directly from the full moon in a way I had never felt before. Clean, pure power, that seared my blackened soul as it healed me, and fueled me. I channeled every scrap of it into my race to save my mate, my brothers.
My pack.
In far less than an hour, I crossed into the Eastern packlands, drawing strength not only from the moon, but from tainted patches of land where evil deeds had been done, and left their stain on the earth. Healing the earth as I consumed the darkness.
An odd sensation began at my throat, like an echo of pain—someone else’s agony. Someone was shredding him. I knew it was Brand when I felt the powerful mind clamping down, cutting off the bonds, protecting us all from feeling the torture with him.
My gums burned as my teeth extended, rage filling me. No one touched my brother and lived. If he died…No.I refused to think of it.
Another few seconds,and I saw with my magical sight the powerful shielding spell Elina had created and triggered. It reflected the moonlight in a giant dome that arched above the trees and glittered against the sky. It was the reason I hadn’t been able to speak clearly to my bonded ones. I needed to tear it down.
Ahead, between me and the spell, however, there was an army. Hundreds of shifters, hiding just inside the tree line that stretched around the Mansion and Council ring. I prepared myself to cut a swath straight through them, obliterating any who stood in my way, beginning with the two who stepped out from the tree line. My arm was extended, claws out, red sparks already flying from my hands, as I realized my mistake.
“Leroy! Get down!” One of the shifters screamed the words and threw himself over the other, hiding him with his body, as I skidded to a stop and whipped my hand skyward, releasing the stored magic, almost too late.
In the next second, Sergeant was there, right behind them, his own claws out, his eyes burning. “Magician.”
I froze, my power making it hard to focus. “Alpha.”
“You’re hers.”
I was drawing a breath to answer when Flor whispered in my mind, her thought as soft as a butterfly’s wing as her anguish, and her love, managed to filter through the spell.If you’re gonna get here for the party, you’d better hurry. I’m afraid they’re about to turn the lights off and lock the doors.
