Page 35 of Never Tamed (Bad Wolves #3)

Torin

I t’s strange to watch the Blood Moons separate from snow and shadows. Andras’s wolves keep coming, wave after wave of them, as though they’re formed from the elements themselves.

He’s sent every fucking one of his living goons after us.

Exactly as we expect.

I can’t think about Dax and the others. If he dies, then so be it. He’ll go out doing what he loves.

Ren, though, has to be protected. She has to have her shot at Andras because as much as it kills me to admit it, she’s the only one who can do it.

Chosen. Special.

Pride flickers inside me as I lift my forearms to block the attack of the nearest Blood Moon.

They’re vile, more creature than wolf, twisted by their master’s hatred. Like a cockroach to stomp, I slam my palm against the man’s chest and send him flying back. The hit is strong enough to stop his heart but instead of watching him falter, I turn and face another one. Another.

Noble is a muted flash of copper several feet away. It might as well be miles. And the only way I see Ren is the distinctive bright red of her hoodie. It’s a landmark in a snowstorm.

Whatever happens, she has to reach Andras. Getting her to him safely was supposed to be our duty, but Dax’s lust for revenge took over.

The snow makes it difficult to maneuver and the slick ground sends me off balance. I swing for the dude’s head and miss, clipping him in the ear.

He’s saying something, screaming at me, and instead of chancing another missed aim, I headbutt him.

That, at least, is guaranteed to connect. And my skull is thick. I’ve been told it too many times to discount the claims now.

I’m rewarded when the guy’s nose breaks and he screeches, cupping his face.

My beta is here but not to protect me. My rival alpha is here as well. The three of us should be able to cause our fair share of damage, and form a chink in Andras’s defense.

Or so I hope.

It has to be this way.

Andras is somewhere in the storm, watching us, marking our movements. He hasn’t joined in the fight. But I feel him like a mist creeping through the tree trunks. He’ll strike when we’re weakest. The way he always does. And there’s no way to prepare for him.

Underhanded tactics are his bread and butter.

I lash out and land a punch on my opponent’s jaw, following it with a kick to the gut. The soft parts of him mold around my knee and I grab him by the shoulders, tossing him out of my way.

One after another, they fall, and I fight. Getting my hands dirty.

Ren is a whip of crimson against the blinding white. Under these conditions, it’s nearly impossible to make out the others. They are blurs against the snow. They are shadows in the dying light.

And our future depends on what we do here today.

I try to push it out of my mind but the realization is a constant and heavy companion. A burden to bear.

Then my pulse stumbles.

Something large lands on my back, fingers twinging around my neck and squeezing. Panic is bright and terrifying before her scent hits me, a pungent and frigid combination. I duck forward and send the body flying forward.

But Catarina lands on her feet the way she always does. She slowly straightens, cutting forward, and the chaos doesn’t touch her.

Her thin frame is clad in one of her usual suits, the legs of her trousers conforming to her muscled leg. The cut of the blazer stops at her elbows, leaving her forearms and wrist unencumbered by fabric.

The storm can’t touch her.

Her icy locks are pinned to the top of her head with such ruthless precision that even the howling wind can’t push them out of place.

“Hello, Torin.”

Somehow, her greeting cuts through the howling breeze.

I dip my head in acknowledgement. “Catarina.”

“It’s good to see you in such fine form. Good you’ve come here to die.”

“Ah, there you go again. Who says lawyers have no imagination?”

She rushes toward me and the rest of the fight takes a step beyond us. In my head, anyway. There is only me and her and this fucking snow.

I’m moving somewhere warm when this is all said and done, somewhere tropical.

We clash together and Catrina is stronger than I thought.

We’ve never fought before.

We never had a reason to.

My wolf presses for freedom. The seams of my body are barely strong enough to contain it but I’m not about to let this fucking bitch see me shift. She doesn’t deserve it even though the wolf would take her down in a heartbeat.

Catarina’s smile is fierce and as coolly beautiful as I once thought she was. The future I’d planned out, painstakingly, disappeared when I met my mate.

Catarina throws her head back and laughs. “Still such a bleeding heart sap, Torin. The worst part of it is that you didn't realize it. Even as you’re dripping blood all over the place.”

I growl and swipe at her. She ducks out of the way but the tips of my claws graze her thigh. Her wince is there and gone in a blink, disguised under venom.

“Where is he?” I growl.

Andras is a stink in the air, the black belching smoke after a forest fire. I’m not going to let him take us down. Not while there’s breath in my body.

Catarina clucks her tongue. “You’d like to know.”

My ex-fianceé is doing her level-headed best to kill me. I stare down at her, more powerful in status and height and muscle, but she only smiles and strikes.

It’s not the bite of claws or teeth grazing my ribs. It’s a blade. Her smile never flags.

She chuckles at my confusion and the second it takes me to gather my wits again; the bite of the knife is insidious. The pain doesn’t come immediately. Instead, it spreads, like venom though my system. But I’ve got enough presence of mine to send my fist out and smash it under Catarina’s jaw.

Her head snaps back, and she stumbles backward, gaining her feet way too soon for my taste. “Damn you, Torin.”

“Aw, sweetheart. I think that’s the nicest thing you've ever said to me.”

I refrain from reaching for the wound, the skin split and throbbing. We circle each other and she ducks against my next punch, her movements a blur.

I head for the throat, only to have another wolf slam me in the back. I duck his teeth and dodge as Catarina comes at me from the opposite side. Her dagger flashes against the gloomy sky, and I weave the wrong way. Her friend catches my ankle in his jaws and crunches down until I shout.

“Are you going to yield, darling?” she singsongs.

I am not breakable.

And I am not going down, not when my mate is out there fighting and holding her own. Not when our web of bonds strings tighter and tighter

If you don’t get your fucking ass up, dickhead, then I’m kicking you out of the harem, Mathis grunts in my head. I’ll have our girl all to myself.

It isn’t his tone or his threat that provides the impetus to move. It’s Ren, and her trust in me. She’s not breakable either. And she’s across the clearing counting on me.

I kick out and smack the dude in the face, slamming into him until his jaws release. There’s enough room for me to drag my leg free, and I roll before Catarina slices the knife down where I’d been.

Fucking bitch. Her disappointed growl is a slap in the face. I turn and grab the half-shifted man by the arm, wrenching it behind his back until it pops out of place. His face shifts back to human as he cries out, the ligaments stretching.

His bone breaks with a pop.

It's a macabre sound, and one I intimately enjoy in this case. Hopefully he’s agonized. Hopefully he’s realizing his mistake to fuck with me and mine.

But no, these people have the power of delusion on their side. They swallow down Andras and his bullshit claims of superiority and dive headfirst into the vindication of being a victim.

So I snap his goddamn neck.

It’s a favor to the world.

Catarina doesn’t see it that way. She launches herself at me with a screech like she is personally wronged for every dead soldier.

Too bad. She’ll have a lot more to lose before we’re done here.

And the bodies keep coming. So they keep piling up.

I’m out of breath when I move to meet her, my jaw clenched and my ankle and side both screeching in agony.

“Go fucking die!” she roars.

They all have to be put down. It’s the thought in my head as I face her head on.

Maybe I am pulling my punches a little. Maybe there is still a piece of me that’s what she says, a bleeding heart.

I can’t stand to hurt her. I wanted to build a future with her once, not out of love, but out of necessity.

I thought love would come, and I resigned myself to the fact that maybe it wouldn’t. I was okay with it.

I want her out of my way. But I don’t want her to die.

I grab her by both arms and squeeze until she yelps, her eyes bulging and the silver blade toppling.

“You chose wrong,” I tell her in an undertone.

She hears me even if the words are hardly audible.

The wind picks up and slaps us in the face with drops of ice and snow.

Still holding her wrists, I force her down, exerting enough pressure to buckle her knees.

And because the dagger is too damn close, I kick it away with my bad leg, only realizing it’s the bad one when agony fills the limb with fire.

“You betrayed your people, and your pack. You betrayed everyone who gave a crap about you.”

“What the hell do you know?” she spits out.

Killing her is the smart choice. The sane one. She’s the type of person who does not give up no matter what obstacle is put in her path. Revenge? She’ll live for it.

But there is something pathetic about her now. Something to pity instead of fear. Ah, shit.

She’s on her knees in front of me, her head tipped up and her eyes begging, pleading for mercy. And under normal circumstances, I’d refuse to grant it. I’m her judge and executioner today.

I grab her hair and yank until her lips thin with pain.

“Go on,” she grinds out. “Do it.”

She’d like it, wouldn’t she? Catarina might be a stranger in a lot of ways but she knows as well as I do there’s no coming out of this kind of situation in one piece.

There’s sacrifice required. Did she think she’d make it to the end game?

Did she really think she’d be able to see this plot through to the end and be crowned the winner?

It’s no use thinking about it but something in me stalls with my claws inches from her throat.

How easy it is to tear her throat out.

Easy, but maybe not the right thing. I thought I’d marry this woman. I thought we’d build a life together and it might not be what I wanted, but we’d make it work. We had to. It was a mutually beneficial decision, or so I thought. But I was never safe.

And neither is she.

I release her hair abruptly enough to send her backward onto her tailbone.

“You’re not worth my time.”

The light stutters in her eyes.

“You're not man enough to kill me?” her voice trembles and breaks. “Come on, Torin. What are you waiting for?”

“I’m man enough to know when it’s beneath me to give you the end you want. I’d rather let the world deal with you. You brought it on yourself.”

Catarina spits out a laugh. “Karma?”

“No, me .”

Ren comes out of nowhere and stamps on Catarina's extended leg. The bone snaps, a clean break.

She screams once then tamps down on the sound, biting her lip bloody to keep it inside. Ren can do more damage, and she wants to, I feel it. But Catarina pulls herself away from us and drags her leg back. The killing blow is ready.

“Get out of here,” I tell her. “Get the fuck out of my sight. I never want to see you again.”

Something moves across Catarina's face. A light going out I hadn’t realized existed until it didn’t anymore.

And inside me, a fierce pride for Ren grows sharper and more vibrant.

I reach for her and loop our fingers together.

Her ego shot and her leg broken, Catarina wasn’t able to move well. But she limps past the trees, out of sight.

Ren strides ahead and pulls me with her. Dark hair fans out in her wake like a banner on a battlefield.

Any future I thought I had with Catarina is gone too. Poof. Right out of existence. My humanity, my civility, is about to follow suit.

We’re ending this now.

No matter what it takes.

My mate’s hand is firm in mine, dwarfed, but strong. She doesn’t need a weapon to be a sword. I see it, why the Moon Goddess chose her, why she gave this woman life all those years ago. It’s all led up to this moment.

Our time together feels so precious I can’t breathe. All of a sudden, it hits me with such potency it drives the air straight out of my lungs.

I drag Ren to my chest.

“What?”

Her gaze searches my face and for a split second, her fury softens, concern in its place. “Torin?”

I kiss her. Pouring everything into the touch, all those things I can’t say for some reason.

My lips chase hers with desperation and urgency until she opens and I slide my tongue into her.

She moans, melting into me, her hands curling in my shirt.

We child each other with shared desperation, and I wonder if she’s as terrified of losing this fight as I am.

Not my life. My life means nothing if my wolves are protected.

But her. Ren. This absolute goddamn gift I never thought I’d have and I definitely don’t deserve.

She breaks the kiss to nip my lower lip. “I’ll be fine,” she assures me. “I love you.”

I open my mouth to say the words back but they lodge behind my tongue. Then disappear entirely when another wave of Andras’s men come out of the snow. Ren pulls away—she has to, there’s no other choice—and sprints to the right until her entire form is swallowed by the whiteout.