Page 84 of Pack Rage
My wolf had kept us alive for the mate we knew waited for us. He had kept my heart beating during the years when I’d killed indiscriminately, lost to pain and rage after Anya’s death. When I’d been able to listen, to hear him again in our shared soul, he’d assured me that another mate—a wolf mate—would come.
Wounded, I’d harvested power from the light and the darkness for centuries, hoarding it so that I could stay alive forhim, forher. Waiting for that promise to be kept. It had been worth the wait.
She was worth waiting an eternity for.
But now, eternity was the cost of living with her and my brothers. I would pay it gladly, to save the most honorable shifter I’d ever known.
“Take it,” I whispered to the moon, then bit deeper into my lip, the cut I’d made there already healing.Take it, and save him.
I didn’t remove my hand from his heart. Not when his fur began to shrink back, lying in place more or less, on his wolf form. I didn’t stop squeezing until I felt the heart resist my hand. Then, and only then, I withdrew from his chest cavity, still bleeding into him, pulling the shredded fur over the savaged torso. The moon spilled down on us both as I kneeled at his side, unsure if he was alive.
Dizzy from my own blood loss, I waited, hazily aware of a battle going on around me. Shouts of “Mountain!” and “Tenebris!” split the air. Guns rang out, and swords clashed. Wolves howled and barked, and shifters cursed, but I didn’t take my eyes off of Brand.
Not until he turned his own head to me and opened his eyes.Brother,his wolf spoke into my mind.
Brother,I replied, before I lay beside him, my hand on his side.
I felt… old. My muscles were sore, my heart aching like it had been torn out and reassembled. My arm trembled, and when an Enforcer raced toward us, I wasn’t sure I could rise to protect either one of us.
But I didn’t have to.
“Fight me, ya ratfuckin’ piece of cougar dung!” It was the boys from the forest, the one named Leroy and… Bo, I remembered. They had been the youngest of my queen’s hunters, and were the weakest of the Tenebris pack.
But they had the most valiant hearts. Together, they flung themselves at the Eastern Enforcer, Bo rolling himself like a bowling ball at the male’s legs. Not a second later, Leroy leaped on his shoulders, biting his ear and howling like a banshee.
The Enforcer wasn’t some young pup, though. In an instant, he’d thrown the one on his shoulders to the ground and had his sword raised, ready to strike.
I lifted a hand, hoping whatever magic I could muster would be enough, but the first boy stood, though he wasn’t a boy anymore. He was a midnight black wolf, skinny and lanky, with enormous paws and a shaggy head, his trousers still hanging in tatters around his furry middle.
Bo had shifted, though from the dazed expression in his deep brown eyes, and the unconscious shiver of his new, dark fur, I was almost certain it was his first time. To my surprise, he shook off the confusion and bared his teeth, leaping silently for the Enforcer’s hand and tearing it off with a giant crack. The sword fell to the ground, and the wolf rose to the male’s throat, ripping it out as cleanly as he had torn off the hand.
Leroy was up in a flash. “Bo! You’re a wolf! You got your wolf!” He danced around his friend, who yipped proudly, rubbing his bloodstained muzzle on his friend’s pants leg. They both turned to me as I rose on one shaky arm. “Your Unholiness, sir. Mr. Flower Arranger,” Leroy stammered, pushing Bo behind his legs. “We, ah, didn’t meant to stop you from, uh, havin’ your dinner, sir.”
Bo grabbed the severed hand and carried it over to me with a low whine, like he was presenting me with a choice cut.
“The hunt isn’t over,” I groaned as I rose. I meant for them to go and kill a few more Enforcers, but from the sheer panic in their faces, I knew they’d misunderstood.
“Sergeant, save us!” Leroy screamed and ran off, leaping around small groups of fighting shifters.
Fighting.Shit.My power had diminished, and that meant the witch might have gotten loose.Flor?I reached into my bond and saw her power shining red. She was in her wolf form, fighting Elina.
Well, if being thrown around the bloodsoaked ground could be called fighting. Luke had fought his way to her, and was watching the battle carefully, alert for bystanders who might shoot at her or attack once she’d beaten the witch. Not that any shifter would dare approach. He practically glowed with power, his father’s Alpha dominance combined with our strengthened bond sending any wolf he looked at to their knees.
Do you need help, littlebehrserk?I asked Flor anyway.
I’ve got this,Flor thought.Go check on Glen and…
Ah, yes.My heart sank. Glen’s parents. And Finnick was across the ring as well, his father still alive. “No rest for the wicked,” I murmured to Brand.
He chuffed and stood, his wolfish head at the same level as my chest. His fur was a patchwork quilt of thick silver scars almost the same color as his eyes… though his eyes had a slight red tint to them now.
Across the crowd, Glen cried out, and the pain in his voice echoed in our bond. I shoved as much power as I could spare toward him, feeling Brand do the same, and then we both ran to help.
Chapter 41
Taking His Place
GLEN
