Page 13

EMME

“ W hat the fuck are you doing, Emmeline?”

Nice opening line, asshole. It was almost a relief to have this version of Finley back, as I’d been softening toward his furry side.

“What the fuck does it look like I’m doing?” I shot back. “Keeping an eye out while you slept. Just like I said I would.”

Finley pushed himself up, his powerful arm muscles drawing my gaze briefly before I looked away. His packaging was pretty, but inside he was broken and abrasive. Regrettably, it was hard to miss that he was as stacked as the other alphas. Less defined, with more of the big boy bulk.

Stupid appealing fucker.

It was also hard not to look for his tattoos, as I’d been intrigued to know what the artist himself had chosen for his own skin, but…

No! Finley was a prick, and I was done with his shit.

My wolf didn’t even stir to fight me on that statement, which at least distracted me from the naked alpha.

If I didn’t get her back soon, I would be in real danger of ending up like my mom anyway.

The day my mom stopped feeling her beast’s energy within her, she took one of the ropes from Blaine’s collection— he liked to tie me and her down, for different reasons, thank the goddess—and hung herself from the streetlight out the front of our apartment.

I’d found her.

Along with the note she left to explain how she was too empty to go on living. I’d run the same day, leaving with that final memory of her and a newfound fear that I would end up the same way.

“—you can’t just disappear. We’re under fucking attack.”

Finley’s shouts broke through my trauma, and I groaned, rubbing at my temples. “Could you just shut up for a few minutes. I might not have a father, but I don’t need you to step in and take the role.”

His chest shook as he grumbled. “Did you just tell me to shut up? Do you need a reminder that I rescued you, Ice Queen. How about a little gratitude?”

I pushed to my feet, refusing to have this argument sitting down. “While I’m grateful that you tracked me down, and you’re going to have to explain how you managed that, I’m not grateful enough to continue to be your fucking punching bag .”

His eyes blazed into me, but I was on a roll, as everything I wanted to say to him for weeks poured out.

“Listen up, Finley Thornton. I’ve told you this before and I’m about to repeat it again: don’t take your past traumas and bad attitude out on me.

I don’t deserve it, and I will not accept it any longer. ”

In one graceful leap, he was on his feet, towering over me. “You don’t deserve it?”

As he stepped closer, I caught a glimpse of a line of text near his hip, and another on his ribcage, but I couldn’t make out the words. “I don’t deserve it,” I confirmed with force, and his eyes darkened.

There might have only been a couple of feet of physical distance between us, but our emotions were a million miles apart.

“You could have been my salvation,” Finley choked out, a note of sorrow underlining his anger.

“Instead, you broke me just as badly as the other shifters in my life who were supposed to love me.”

That direct hit burned deep in my chest, and I reacted defensively.

“You will never find salvation until you can get over your own shit,” I said, a red haze tingeing my mind.

“I know you’re a victim, but you can’t play that role forever.

You can’t use that trauma forever to excuse away your own shitty behavior. ”

I sucked in a deep breath and tried to lower my voice as we were still being hunted by a dragon.

“I have my own trauma, Finley. I have my own tragic past and shattered heart. I have my own scars that will forever mark and change me. I’m no one’s salvation.

I’m barely surviving as it is, let alone capable of taking responsibility for another shifter.

You have to deal with your trauma. You have to find strength in yourself before you look for it in someone else. ”

This speech wasn’t just for him either.

My new plan moving forward was to make myself stronger so I could stop relying on alphas to fight my battles. They could help, of course, but I wanted to save myself on occasion too.

“You never took responsibility for your rejection,” he said with a scoff, crossing his arms over his chest, redefining how broad and thick his shoulders were.

His jabs were as sharp as always, and my laughter was brittle. “The irony of what you just said is next-level.”

When he smirked, that red hovering on the edge of my vision turned molten, and I knew whatever was about to come out of his mouth next would tip me right over the edge.

“My actions have been completely justified. You needed to understand the consequences of your actions, and the rest of our pack are too pussy whipped to do more than accept your treatment of them. Fuck, you’ve all but stolen Kellan from me and the team. ”

The angrier Finley got, the more irrational his attacks became, like a toddler lashing out in confusion and pain. But he wasn’t a toddler, and I wasn’t taking it any longer.

“Hey, Finley…” I said, my lips curving into a smile.

His eyes narrowed at my sudden change of tone. “What?”

I grabbed both of his shoulders, and as he went to lower his arms toward me, I slammed my knee right into his balls. Our faces were close enough that I saw his eyes widen, and a flash of pain creased the corners of his lips. When I stepped away, he crumpled to the ground, gasping for air.

I crouched until I was closer. “How’s that for a consequence of your action?”

He replied with a gasping grunt, and despite the tendrils of guilt I felt at causing him pain, I wasn’t sorry I’d hit him. “I won’t be your punching bag any longer,” I murmured, my voice breaking. “I won’t be your anything any longer. We’re done.”

There was a fissuring in the air between us, and a second later my wolf rose strongly. At first, I thought it was in response to my fight with Finley, but then I felt them out there.

Kellan and Hunter.

They’re here.

Finley groaned from the ground. “Pack is here,” he huffed out. “Not sure I can walk though.”

Tempted to kick him again—in the side this time, I wasn’t a monster—I stared down at him.

“I’m walking out of here now. I don’t care if you follow or not.

I don’t have time or energy for you any longer, and if you EVER speak to me that way again, I will cut your balls off and feed them to my wolf.

She’ll gobble them right up, and neither of us will lose a wink of sleep over it. I. Am. Done.”

I repeated it with force, and Finley’s features, already blanched from the nut shot, went starkly white. His eyes were wide and shimmering in unspent emotions, and I got the sense he was pleading with me not to go. Which I flat-out ignored.

Spinning on one foot, I strode through the mouth of the cave without a single glance behind me.

Finley had gone too far this time, and while he might not have deserved what happened to him in the past, he absolutely deserved my knee in his balls.

When the bright morning light hit my face, I picked up the pace and ignored the frosty bite of the crisp air.

Righteous anger was fueling my blood, so I’d be fine.

In the harsh light of day, the forest looked even more desolate, and I hurried through it, ignoring the new attack against my bare feet.

It could be worse; I could be Finley who was bare-ass naked. I doubted he’d risk shifting back to his bear and getting stuck, especially since I wouldn’t be helping him again.

Next time, he was on his own.

With the tugging of my mates growing stronger in my chest, my wolf’s presence came back in heavy waves.

The ground trembled as I moved, and when a crash shook the sky above, I picked up the pace until I sprinted.

The chill of the air faded under an assault of fire from above, and I was fairly sure I knew what I’d find in the skies when I stepped out from the trees.

It took every scrap of my scattered focus not to trip over the gnarled roots and exposed brush, and even when my hair caught on branches, I didn’t stop. Another crash had me stumbling, as near deafening roars shattered the air around us.

My face was hot, and I had no doubts it was tinged pink from the unnatural heat. Every breath I drew in scorched my lungs, and I was afraid that by the time I found my pack, it’d be too late to stop what was happening out there.

This was one for the history books. The first of its kind.

An honest to goddess dragon battle, and I had no idea how I was going to stop them from killing each other—and the rest of us in the process.