Page 76

No.

I don’t think. I just move.

I launch myself between them a heartbeat before the gun goes off.

The crack of the shot punches the air apart. A blossom of fire blooms in my side. The impact slams into me like a freight train.

I hit the ground hard. My body jerks involuntarily. Pain detonates in my chest, worse than anything I’ve ever felt. Worse than claws, worse than broken ribs.

Worse than the thought of not seeing her face again.

It’s paralyzing. I can’t move, can’t breathe. Nor can I tell if it’s because the bullet has struck my spine or punctured a lung. I can’t differentiate anything right now. All I feel is pain, pain, pain.

Alina screams.

Her hands are on me, warm with my blood and shaking with panic. I try to shift back into my human form, if only to tell her I’m okay, but that would be a lie. I can’t shift right now. I can’t do anything.

Blood pools beneath me.

Around us, the Greenbriars roar into action. I hear Cal’s voice barking orders, hear the growl of six wolves converging on the Blackburn Beta who pulled the trigger.

But Alina doesn’t even let them get there. She pounces first, shifting in midair, razor-sharp teeth poised for his throat before he can even register the glorious avenging angel descending upon him.

When Alina’s teeth clamp onto his throat, I watch from my useless position on the floor as she bites down mercilessly and blood sprays in all directions. The fight is over in seconds, his screams cut short.

Samson’s body is just feet away from mine. His eyes are open and glassy.

Dead.

At least I accomplished that. At least…

Alina shifts back again, noticeably wincing at the effort required to go back and forth so quickly, then rushes to my side and leans over me. Her face is inches from mine, her hands pressed to the wound, trying to stop the bleeding, and whispering my name like it’s a lifeline.

I am in awe of her, even now as I feel myself fading. That final, vengeful blow was so beautiful, so vicious. She is a brilliant Luna.

“Rowan. Stay with me. Please, don’t you dare leave me. I love you. Do you hear me? I love you.”

Something inside me blossoms at her words, but everything else is fading fast.

Her voice echoes, hollow and distant. I try my best to hold on to it, but it slips through my fingers. The Mating bond loosens and sags, the glowing fibers fraying as Alina’s panicked cries turn into nothing more than white noise in the background of all this agony.

If this is the end, then at least she’s the last thing I see.

I can live with that. After all, I spent ten years thinking I’d never see her again at all. I’ll accept these crumbs with a smile on my face.

Chapter 27

Alina

I don’t feel the mud beneath my knees or the blood soaking into my palms.

I don’t even care that I just killed someone. In fact, I’d do it again in a heartbeat. I know now that I am capable of fighting not only for myself, but for the man that I love with every atom and molecule that forms my beating heart. The gunman’s blood is all over my mouth and trickling down my throat, but I don’t even taste it. In this moment, all I care about is Rowan.

His wolf body lies in the dirt, massive and unmoving, his fur matted and dark with blood. So much blood. His chest rises in shallow, stuttering gasps, each one a rattling sound that I swear is killing me just as slowly as it is stealing the life from him.

“No,” I whisper. My voice is shredded, raw. “No, no, no. Rowan, please—”

My hands shake as I press down on the wound, trying to stop the bleeding, trying to do something, anything, but it’s too deep. The bullet tore through him, and I can’t fix it.