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CHAPTER THIRTY

ZURI

“I already told you that I’m not going anywhere without you,” I cried.

I stood up in front of my mate, vowing to protect him, no matter what. I had never seen someone fight with so much vigor, so much strength and intelligence, and still get defeated by a man who used other people’s bodies to do his dirty work.

And while I had always feared Derrit and never stood up for myself before in front of him—or any of my family—tonight was different. I refused to watch this man kill my mate and do nothing about it.

“I’ll kill you for hurting my mate,” I snarled at James. “I’ll kill you for good, Derrit!”

James, who was really Derrit, smirked at me. “I love women who put up a fight, baby. Come at me.” Derrit stepped forward, his eyes blazing so many different mesmerizing colors. “Women like you taste better.”

Stone stood to his feet, one hand pressed against his throat, and stumbled up to me. He grabbed my arm harshly and pushed me behind him, fire blazing from his fingertips and burning me. “I’m not going to tell you again. Run!”

Before I could push him out of the way, Derrit used his magic to control the trees, creating branches from his fingers and shooting one that must’ve been six inches thick through the air and into Stone’s abdomen.

Pain shot through my body, and I screamed out in agony for him. I wanted to comfort him, but my wolf wouldn’t let me. Instead, I lunged in Derrit’s direction, one thought racing through my head.

Kill Derrit. Kill Derrit. Kill Derrit.

Derrit formed another thick, sharp branch and shot it at me. It pierced straight through the center of my chest, breaking my sternum. I grabbed the branch in my fist and yanked it from my flesh, then hurled it back at him.

“Stay away from my mate!” I screamed, my voice echoing through the forest.

The branch pierced his shoulder and set Derrit flying back against the nearest tree, pinning him to the trunk. Adrenaline rushed through my veins. I transformed into my wolf and sprinted at the man who had hurt my mate.

This might not truly be Derrit, but I needed to end his life.

My mate might die because of him.

Before I could reach his impaled body, he shot another branch in my direction, piercing my left thigh. I yanked that branch out of me and stabbed him directly in the chest. He grunted in pain, forming another branch.

A tree to my left shriveled up and crumbled to pieces near Stone. Derrit was using power from the trees, sucking out their magic and their life, just as he was doing to James right now. Which meant that I needed to get him out of there.

“Get out of his body!” I screamed, wrapping my hands around James’s throat. “Now!”

The harder I squeezed, the brighter the skin on his face seemed to glow. He didn’t deserve to live, but I refused to kill one of Stone’s most trusted men because of his shitty brother. James wouldn’t do this to me. To us.

Mesmerizing colors twisted in his eyes. He attempted to escape my grip, but I held him tighter and tighter and tighter, refusing to release him back into the world. Derrit wouldn’t leave this pack alone, and I didn’t care what I had to do to force him to stop.

“Get out!” I shrieked, shaking him back and forth. “Get out!”

A couple of moments passed, and the colors began fading from his eyes.

“Zuri,” James whispered. “Z-Zur-ri, it’s me.”

But I didn’t believe him.

“Zuri,” Stone called from behind me, coughing, “it’s James.”

I dropped my hands from James’s throat and glared at him, but he lifted his unharmed arm and pointed behind me at my mate.

“G-go help him. He’s going to … die if you don’t do something.”

After twisting my head, I locked my gaze on my mate to see him on the ground with blood pooling out of his wounds. He held his hand to his chest, blood gushing between his fingers. I ran over to him and grabbed the piece of wood.

My body moved as if I had done this before, as if I knew exactly what I had to do to keep my mate alive. I didn’t know what was going on because pulling a piece of anything from someone’s body without proper medical equipment was against everything that I had learned.

But I yanked it from his chest and placed my hands against it.

Like James’s face had, Stone’s skin glowed as I touched him.

“We need pack doctors!” I shouted to the other members. “Someone!”

“We’ll find someone,” Sina said, disappearing with Maxine into the forest.

I hadn’t seen or heard them prior to this very moment, but as I looked around, I spotted more warriors than were in Stone’s pack. Four wolves to my left, beat up and bruised. Xorgor to my right, standing with Carve. They had come.

Stone coughed again and grabbed his chest, the blood thick between his fingers. “Zuri.”

“We’re going to get you help. Hold on.”

“Look me in the eyes, Zuri.”

“Stone, this can wait. You’re bleeding out. We need to get you to?—”

He grabbed my chin and forced me to look into his eyes. And in the reflection of his black pupils, I saw mine glowing a bright white against his darker ones, blazing as brightly as the Moon Goddess’s eyes always did in my dreams.

“I told you,” he whispered, his wound healing on its own now, “you are stronger than you realize.”