Page 88 of Pack Rage
Fuck.I ran as fast as I could, sending a burst of awareness through the bond, shouting, “Behind! Look back!” I hoped she’d understand. I ran as if she might not.
She didn’t turn, too busy fighting Mother, and I knew I wouldn’t reach her in time, but then Father tripped on a bowling ball. It sent him skidding across the ground a few feet before he jumped up.
It wasn’t a bowling ball, but the small, midnight black wolf had flung itself at Father’s legs in a move no warrior had ever been taught. There was no dignity to the attack, no style. It was… I found myself grinning. It was a trashy Southern move, and when another one of the skinny boys from that pack leaped at Father before he could kick out at the black wolf, yelling something that sounded like, “Yeehaw, motherfucker! You’re about to find out what a whole can of whoop-ass tastes like,” I knew it was one of Flor’s.
“Father!” I yelled as he lunged with his blade at the dirty-faced boy. “If you want to fight a child, start with your own.” I thought for a moment, then added, “You ratfucking chickenshitter son of a rattlesnake bastard.” I raised an eyebrow at the boy, who wiggled his hand in a so-so gesture.
“We’ll work on it,” he promised, then ran off with the black wolf, using their small size, speed, and utter fearlessness to trip as many of our enemies as they could.
Father’s disgust was etched in every feature of his sharp face as I approached. Revulsion, indignation, and disbelief at what was happening.
“Did you truly believe you could force every wolf in North America to roll over for you?” I asked, wondering at his ego. “Did you believe there would never come a day of reckoning, that an Alpha as weak and craven as you would ever hold power over so many better, stronger shifters?”
“Don’t talk to me about strength,” he spat, circling around, watching my hands. I held no weapons, but he and I both knew I didn’t need them. “You were weak when you were born, and stayed weak, even with?—”
“Even with Mother’s blood in me?” I narrowed my eyes. “Her magic? You think she had that much power?”
“I know she did. Does.” He shifted his knife to his other hand, then back, in a move he’d taught me when I was six. I didn’t bother watching the blade, just his eyes.
“But she wasn’t strong. She stole that power. Did you know she drained it out of me, since I was little? Did you know she drained me and Tana both, eating our magic?” He flinched. “Did she eat yours, too, Father?” His cheek twitched. “By the moon, you weren’t a weak Alpha when you met her, were you? You were stronger before; I would bet on it.”
“I’m not weak now,” he spat out, lunging. I spun to one side, ducking the sloppy swing easily, but when I inhaled, I could smell the lie in his words. His pack, the source of his strength, was being slaughtered around him. He himself had almost nothing left to fight with.
My gut churned at the thought of what she’d done, though I felt no pity for him. He’d planned the Long Hunt right beside her. He’d damaged his children, sold us off again and again. He’d destroyed our pack and its legacy.
“You know she feeds on pain, don’t you? Did she feed on your pain, over these past decades? The pain of your wolf, and hers? That’s how she grew fat with power. She stole it from her family. Just like you tried to steal what wasn’t yours from Bradley.” The absolute stark truth of my words hit him harder than any blade could, and he staggered. “You could’ve been a great Alpha. A decent father. A leader worth following, with a legacy that his pack would sing to the moon for generations. Instead, you’re a cautionary tale.”
Father sneered. “And what legacy willyouhave? If you kill me, you’ll be nothing—just Finnick McDonnell, who killed his own father.”
I smiled. “Wrong again. I have a legacy, but not as your son. I’m Finnick Dimitrivich, descendant of Grigor, and true mate to Florida Wills, which gives me more pride than any business dealor alliance ever would. And you’re the one who’ll be nothing.” I finally gathered myself to attack, pulling power from the moon as well as through my bonds, but he defended himself so slowly, so carelessly, I suspected he’d given up. Shame had a stench of its own, and I’d never smelled it on him, until now.
I struck out with my claws extended from human-shaped hands, knocking the knife away. It skittered across the ground, into the shadows that stretched from the pines over the edge of the ring. Many of the foreign shifters and visitors from the smaller packs had fled now, and watched from the trees, with a few Tenebris, Northern, and Mountain pack members guarding them from the occasional fleeing Eastern or Russian Enforcer.
I struck quickly, slicing his carotid artery with one swipe, and stabbing into his femoral artery with the next, giving him a far kinder and quicker death than he deserved. He looked small as I stood over him, small and weak and pathetic, though to my shock, he transformed as he died.
He gave a soft whimper, a whine that almost sounded grateful, as he laid his furry head down on the bloodsoaked earth. Not two seconds later, his Alpha power sank into me, welding itself to my limbs. I felt taller and stronger, though the bonds to the other members of Eastern were frayed and strained. Eaten, as if moths had been at them.
Not moths. Magic. My gut churned at the knowledge of what had happened not just to me, but to all of us. She’d been devouring our whole pack from within, for years.
I sighed and bowed to my father’s dead wolf, the part of him that I did pity, though not to him as my fallen Alpha. Then I strode across a battlefield that grew quieter by the second as my pack realized they had lost, leaving only the Russians as our adversaries. The Easterners moved away from me, parting as I approached, dropping their weapons when I snarled. Some of them tried to slink toward the shadows, but a few turned to fightthe Russians. I took careful note of the shifters who held onto their arms and stepped in beside me.
There weren’t many to remember.
Margarette and Sergeant were leading the charge against the remaining Russians, who still fought viciously, probably because they had everything to lose now that Ivan was dead. Perhaps they hoped my mother would whisk them away to safety if she won, or escaped.
But Flor wasn’t going to let that happen. She fought like she was born for this night, for this battle. Her steps were sure and quick, her strikes vicious and clever. Her amber eyes glowed like yellow moons as she leaped and spun, every hour of her training obvious in her moves.
She was a fucking miracle, and my wolf’s mouth watered watching her, knowing she would be ours someday in every way. I stepped closer, keeping an eye out for any fools lurking in the shadows.
Most of the torches that had helped light the area of the shallow bowl had been knocked over or extinguished, and now all that lit the figures of the two women was the moon.Mother’s hair was half-torn from her usual tight bun, dragging over one swelling eye, her clothing in tatters. She held her head up, but her usual haughty expression was nowhere to be seen. She was facing down her death, and knew it. That meant she had never been more dangerous. She had nothing to lose.
I nodded to a Mountain shifter who was standing on one side of the loose ring around the two, his gaze on everything but the fight, hands resting on the hilts of two long, wicked daggers in his belt sheath. I was shocked when he bowed to me. “Alpha, if you would like to watch your mate’s battle, I will guard your back,” he said, straightening, still keeping watch on the shadows.
I blinked, recognizing him. This was the warrior who had been Brand’s father’s Head Enforcer, or the Mountain equivalent. “Dean, thank you. Where is Brand?”
“He’s with…” He swallowed hard. “The little, ah, the newest mate. They’re making sure the girls and the Southern rogues, the ones they call the Tenebris boys, are healing.”
“Grigor.” I relaxed. I knew Brand had been injured to the point of death, and Grigor had saved him, but I wasn’t clear on how it had happened. “There’s a full medical room in the west wing of the Mansion. Once we’re sure it’s safe here, I’ll take anyone who needs care inside. There was a lot of silver in this fight, and far too many young girls whose wolves can’t heal them yet.” He nodded, and I stepped past him, trusting him to guard my back while I guarded Flor’s.
