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CHAPTER FORTY-TWO

ZURI

“Are you okay?” I asked Stone, crouching down behind him as he held his grandma.

“Derrit corrupted her,” Stone said. “He wanted me to kill her to hurt me.”

My body stiffened, and I scanned the forest for any sight of Derrit or anyone who might be suspicious. How’d Derrit get in to see Grandma Bee? I didn’t know her that much, but she seemed very strong from what Stone had told me.

“We shouldn’t be out in the open,” I said, stomach twisting. “Let’s go to the pack house.”

I wanted to make sure that Stone was okay, especially mentally, before storming off to war against Derrit for forcing him to do this. But Stone was an alpha, and alphas didn’t like to seem weak, so I was prepared to fight him in order to bring him home.

To ensure his sanity.

“I need to bury her first,” Stone said, picking her up.

“We shouldn’t right now,” I said. “Derrit is probably watching and waiting to get you alone, so he can do the same sick thing to you. Why don’t you let the pack doctors look at her to see if we can figure out a cure or a vaccine to stop this from happening in the future?”

“Zuri,” Stone growled, “she’s my grandma.”

“And I’m your mate,” I reasoned, lowering my voice. “I know he will break you if he finds you alone right now.” I placed my hand on top of his and stared up at him through soft eyes. “Please, let them look at her. Then, you can bury her the way you want. Okay?”

Though his canines were bared, as if he didn’t really want to release her, he let her go when Sina took her from his arms. She glanced at me, as if she knew what to do, and walked with Maxine to the pack doctor.

When they were gone, I glanced over at Olenna and the goddesses. They disappeared through the forest, too, leaving me alone with my mate and the deafening silence that followed.

Stone stared emptily at the woods surrounding us. “I’m going to kill him.”

“We’re going to kill him,” I said. “You’re not alone.”

After a couple of moments of silence, Stone shifted his gaze to me. “You’ve gotten so strong. So much stronger than I could ever be, Zuri.” Heavy tears welled in his eyes, but he pushed them back. “I love you.”

“I love you, too, and I want to protect you,” I murmured, thinking about what the other goddess—my sisters, as they’d called themselves—had told me not once, but twice now. That he wouldn’t be with me forever. “I want to protect you from everything.”

Increase his life span as much as I could.

I had only known him for a little bit, but I couldn’t imagine my life without him in it. He had made me so strong, and he had made me believe that I could do anything I wanted. And believing was the hardest part.

“Why are you saying it like that?” Stone asked.

“Like what?”

“Like there’s more that you’re not telling me.”

Fuck.

I blew out a low breath and shook my head. “I didn’t want to tell you because I don’t want you to worry or … honestly, even think the way that I am. But the other goddesses told me that … that we won’t … be together forever.”

He pushed some hair out of my face. “Fuck that, Zuri. We’re going to be mates forever, and nobody is going to change that. And if they try to, then I’ll kill them for it. Because you’ve been mine since the moment I laid my eyes upon you.”

After laying my hands on his chest, I frowned and whispered the words that I’d wished I never had to, the ones that broke me down so deep to the fucking bones, “Nobody, but death, will take me away from you.”

While I expected him to freak out like I was on the inside, he smirked at me.

“Little mate, not even death is going to take me away from you. I might not live as long as you do. I might not get to spend every last moment of your life with you. But I can give you a pup who will always have a part of me.” He leaned his forehead against mine and sucked my bottom lip between his teeth.

“You’re never going to be alone in this world. ”

Still, I refused to let that happen. I vowed to find a way to make him live forever. I vowed to find a way to make him immortal with me. To become as strong as a god in order for him to be with me every waking moment of my life.

“Listen to me,” I said, grabbing his chin. “I’m going to do whatever I can?—”

Suddenly, the world around me became quiet, and I couldn’t even hear myself talk anymore. I pressed my lips together and scanned the forest around me, nerves bubbling up in the pit of my stomach.

“Zuri,” Stone said through the mind link, voice so quiet, “what’s going on?”

I furrowed my brow and listened to branches snapping what must’ve been miles from here, birds flapping their wings quickly, as if to fly away from something, someone … or maybe a group of people.

“They’re coming,” I whispered.

Howls echoed through the forest, but when I turned back toward Stone, he didn’t seem like he had heard them. Cries for help from women, children, and men drifted through my ears from the south. I craned my head in the direction and pointed.

“They’re coming,” I said again, this time sure of it. I released Stone’s chin from my hand and followed the sounds of war and of battle, my body moving on its own. I couldn’t stop myself or think this through.

All my body, my wolf, and my mind wanted was to end this war right here and right now. It was as if this feeling was in my blood, this response in my veins. As if the power from the goddess before me was suddenly seeping through every crevice of me.

“Gather the pack,” I said to Stone. “We’re ending this now.”