Page 34 of Never Submit (Bad Wolves #2)

I’ve always said that clothes make the man. Until today. Today, they’re about to unmake me. This tie is trying to strangle me.

With everything inside of me I resist the urge to rip the tuxedo jacket off my shoulders and shift. To tear away my humanity along with my clothing and escape.

Run. Run .

I force my focus on the glittering gold-and-diamond cufflinks, straightening my sleeves to keep them in place. Catarina will round the pews any moment now. Is it supposed to feel like I just got pummeled right in my aorta?

I shift my weight from one foot to the other. The crowd is restless and muttering among themselves. Ready to get this show on the road. And hell, I’m with them. The faster we get this over with, the better it will be for me. I’ll slide the ring home and be done with it. Get on with my life and back to the pack that needs me.

A large part of me really wants to blame Noble. His shitty attitude toward this wedding was contagious. But this has nothing to do with him and everything to do with me. He’s a damn fine beta, questioning me and my motives, forcing me to confront myself, to be a better leader for our pack.

Where is Noble now? Pissed at me. Not fulfilling his duties. My tie constricts tighter yet.

Behind me, the officiant clears his throat. The thrumming of my overactive heart is in time with my equally overactive imagination. Imagining all of the scenarios where the responsibility of lives doesn’t fall on my shoulders and I’m free to do anything I like.

Free to be with Ren, for instance.

The organ music swells. It’s time. Tension crawls up my spine and my shoulders bunch. Catarina rounds the corner, and I get my first glimpse of my bride. She’s wearing traditional white like she’s some kind of virginal offering ready to be sacrificed at the altar of peace. She’s not smiling, but it looks like she’s trying. Falling short and achieving a grimace instead.

She’s a vision in lace, though. Every hair on her head is curled to perfection, and the gown tailored to suit her slender form. The skirt is silk, draping to the floor, and it shifts when she walks, the two slits at the front of the dress showing off enticing glimpses of alabaster skin.

The rest of the pack rise from their seats in deference to her.

The two wolves Catarina chose to be a part of her bridal party, all a part of this old-fashioned and ridiculous circus, usher her onward, clutching two long-stemmed white roses with the thorns still attached.

She clutches a bouquet of white roses but there is nothing sweet in her eyes. No bloom there, only thorns. She catches my gaze and her eyebrows narrow at whatever she sees on my face.

She freezes me in place with her look.

No, this is wrong. The sight of her has me teetering, ready to black out. A strange ticking ramps up in my veins, and in a blink Catarina joins me on the dais with a frigid grin.

My mind fills with the image of Ren hanging off of my cock, those urges I wasn’t able to resist after all. I want to slam my head down on the altar behind the officiant and break it. I want to yell at Catarina to get back.

“You might try smiling,” she murmurs from the corner of her mouth. Too soft for anyone else to hear. “You're not going anywhere, Torin.”

A sudden ripple runs through the crowd. I jerk around to see what’s going on, only to have a flash of pain as Catarina’s nails bite into my chin. Forcing my gaze back to her, and this time her grin is more like a viper’s strike.

“What’s the matter?” she hisses. “Having second thoughts?”

Nothing but. I suck air in through my nostrils, but a smile refuses to come. There’s nothing except a deep and yawning terror that this is the wrong thing to do.

“Snap out of it, Torin. This is happening. You’re fine.”

I’m so fucking far from fine it’s not even funny. There’s a dark chasm opening beneath my feet that threatens to swallow me.

And then through the darkness, I recall a small shred of light. The first glimpse of the sun after years of nighttime and I almost shut it out entirely. I almost rejected the one good thing in my life that nothing can corrupt. Not even my own stupidity .

It’s my wedding day and yet Ren fills my mind to the point where it’s impossible to blot her out. I’ve told myself this is all about the Moonstone, the crystal that was absorbed through her skin and allows her to shift. I’ve deluded myself that I’m only after that one thing, when actually…

It’s always been about her.

And it’s too hard to keep myself or my feelings contained anymore.

Out of breath, panting, my heart racing painfully, the mating bond—the singular thing I’ve told myself doesn’t really exist outside of my fantasies—flares through me with such force I want to drop to my knees. The connection snaps into place and leaves me no choice but to acknowledge its presence, because it’s everything.

I haven’t wanted to go through with this wedding for a number of reasons, but this is one of them, the biggest one.

Slowly, too slowly, I surface through the devastating emotional bond connecting me to that not-so-human woman. The one I’ve been fighting against for so long it feels almost unnatural to accept it now. Except it’s there, undeniable, unmistakable.

Catarina is glaring at me. Hissing. “ Torin! ”

“I’m sorry,” I finally say, my voice coming out strangled and raspy. “I need more time. Can we pause for a few minutes?”

I have to think. I have to figure out how to get through this, how to salvage what I can with the Briar pack. I can’t breathe. I can’t think for the wrongness of this moment. Am I seriously going to back out of the wedding? Now?

Do I have a choice?

Catarina grabs my hand and squeezes so hard it’s painful. “Don’t be ridiculous. ”

There’s a sudden commotion from behind the closed doors to the sanctuary, and I glance in that direction. Several of Catarina’s deltas stand up, their wolves close and their scents marking the air.

The voices outside the doors are louder. A scuffle, a scramble, and unease twists my gut, a tingling on the back of my neck a warning. Something about the moment, about the way Catarina is looking at me like I’m not an alpha, nothing but a tool to use, pushes just the right kind of nerve inside me. “I want to speak to you. Alone,” I tell her in an undertone. “Now.”

I’ll think of the repercussions of this action later. Think about all the fucked-up bullshit and my own ego problems, as Noble says, when I have a moment of peace alone with my mate.

Not Catarina.

It’s never been her, not in any capacity. Not even what she brings to the table is worth it now.

“You’re out of time, Torin.” She utters the words with devastating clarity as the doors to the sanctuary burst open and Ren runs through.

Ren skids to a halt, seeing the Briar pack on their feet, and then me and Catarina ahead of her. Breathing heavily, her wild eyes meet mine. “It’s a trap!” she yells out. Mathis and Dax sprint in right behind her.

I drop Catarina’s hand and take a step in the opposite direction. “What’s going on?”

It’s the first time I’ve ever seen her smile and mean it. “What’s going on is that you brought the Moonstone right to us.” She laughs, a demented, wicked sound.

It’s the only warning I have before she launches herself at me, claws out. Aimed straight at my face and slashing from my temple to my jaw. Pain burns in the wake of those claws, and I yell as her legs wrap around my waist and she uses the momentum to take us both down to the ground.

She tears at me, digging grooves in my skin without remorse, and the surprise of her attack allows her to get a few good hits in. Blood drips on the marble floor beneath me as the rest of the world turns into chaos.

“It doesn’t matter what you do,” Catarina hisses. “He’s coming for you. And you’ll all die by his hand. With the Moonstone, there’s no limit to what he can achieve.”

She rears back and swipes her claws across my chest. Tearing my jacket to shreds.

Realization slams into me. She’s been working for Andras this entire time.

Fuck this.

With an alpha’s roar, I thrust her off of me. Catarina falls back, cracking the stone where she hits.

My wolf presses close, and I struggle to my feet, off balance and shaky. The sanctuary is a mass of half shifted bodies, tearing toward Mathis and Dax. And between them, Ren.

Not the Briar pack, as I thought.

Blood Moon.

My body doubles in weight, triples, pain radiating from the wounds on my chest.

This wedding isn’t a wedding at all. It’s was premeditated to draw Ren out of hiding. They want the Moonstone, and I’ve dropped it right into their hands.

Where is Noble? Where is Andras, for that matter?

The world around me slows. My gaze narrows on a flash of red, the hoodie lowered and her long dark hair streaming behind her.

Ren stares at me for a moment and when our eyes connect, I feel it. The fabric woven between us, which also includes Noble and Mathis. It’s a tapestry only accentuated and made stronger by my addition. The kind of joy and connection, the kind of security I’ve wanted to build my entire life.

The mate bond I rejected. I’m an idiot.

Every instinct is screaming at me to go to her. To get her out of here. Mathis should have known better than to let her come.

Catarina’s woozy laugh sounds from behind me. “It’s no use,” she slurs. “He’ll have her. He knew…he knew you couldn’t resist her. You're so weak, Torin.”

Disgusted, furious, my alpha springs to attention and takes control. Mathis does the same and steps in front of Ren to roar out a challenge to the closest members of the Blood Moon pack.

Then he shifts, standing on two legs until the ferocity of his wolf overpowers everything.

Dax is a flash of gold against a crimson background.

Where is my beta, with his clear eyes and his strength? He always shows up when I need him, the way he always has, and even though I’m a little amazed at his ability to let me hang myself by the rope in my own hands and not actually die, I’m grateful.

He’s a very effective beta.

And shared mate…to my mate.

Finally I understand, the path forward absolutely clear.

The world speeds back up, and Mathis launches himself in front of me a second before Catarina attacks again. He catches her by the wrists to fend her off, her features half-changed and her form caught somewhere between wolf and woman.

He kicks her in the stomach, but she’s only off balance for a moment.

“Get out of here!” he yells to me through a mouth of pointed teeth. “You’re worth nothing if they succeed and grab her, you fucking asshole.”

I peel off the suit jacket in record time and yank the tie off right along with it. “I’m not going anywhere.”

Act like a mate, or act like an alpha? That’s the question.

Why can’t I do both?

The change tears through me and the rest of my clothes are nothing but scraps by the time I’m done, my bones lengthening and my muscles shifting. In place of the man crouches a giant golden wolf and the two halves of me are united entirely in our goal.

Complete and utter destruction.

I leap off the dais and land on the back of the officiant, who is trying to sneak his way out. Whether to attack him or to escape with Ren, it doesn’t fucking matter. My wolf makes the decision, and I crunch his all-too-human head between my teeth. I bite down until brain matter and blood explode to the back of my throat. He’s nothing but a pile of meat, and I swallow. Shake my head. Go on to the next one.

Even with my breathing shaky and my nerves still reeling from the shock and the pain, I attack. Every member of the Briar pack has allied with the Blood Moons and they all turn against us. Two against one. The surprise was effective.

The Blood Moons have moved to bar the exit doors, though. They’re blocking every path out of this place. People are screaming. It’s hell on earth, and no matter how fast I am, no matter how many of them I take down, more take their place. An endless supply of bodies.

Something inside of me tweaks, tugs, tightens. All I see is carnage, with Ren in the center of it, and the doors blocked. No way out.

The woman I love will die if I don’t do something. Fast.

And I’m the one to blame.

THE END