Page 40 of Pack Rage (The Splintered Bond #4)

Chapter 39

You Have to Die

FLOR

T he moon was still sickly, the ring filled with screams of pain and fear, and the scent of sweat, blood, and silver.

I wasn’t winning the fight with Elina, but I wasn’t losing either, when everything changed. I was bleeding from a good number of cuts and nicks, most of them closing up as fast as my wolf could heal me, but some of them stinging like silver, slicking my limbs with blood. I’d blocked out everything but the fight, until invisible teeth tore at my shoulder, at the same place where Brand’s mating bite lay.

It was agony like nothing I’d ever known, and I cried out for my mate as I fell. I reached for him down the bond, but he slammed it shut faster than I could dive into his soul and send—well, I wasn’t sure if I could send healing power, or anything. I didn’t know how to do all that fancy bond magic stuff he and Grigor seemed to think was easy as pie.

But I sure as fuck was going to try. I battered at the wall between us, howling for him, my eyes searching for him, and not finding, because he’d fallen.

And then Glen cried out for his mother… and a wave of terror washed over me as I saw her, Margarette, just for an instant, through Glen’s eyes.Saw her fling herself between him and a killing blow, saw her take the blade through her own abdomen, and felt his shock and pain.

My knife fell to the ground, and the now-familiar behrserker haze dropped over my eyes, my wolf foam-lipped, my mind welcoming the madness. If I was going to save my mates, I needed to embrace that side of me that was wild, feral.

Time seemed to stop, as it had before. But this time, I wasn’t alone in the frozen moment. Elina was there with me, her arms already around me: one hand holding my hair, and the other wrapped around my neck, pulling my head back. Her small silver blade pricked the base of my throat as the haze subsided, leaving me dizzy, my head pounding, like I’d hyperventilated.

“So much rage. I can feel it swirling in you like a hurricane. I almost don’t want to do this,” she muttered, her breath warm on my ear tag, the blade just nicking the soft skin where my pulse throbbed. She inhaled like she’d sprayed her favorite perfume, humming at the aroma of my blood in the cold air. “You’re such a rare thing, Florida Witch Wills. I’m tempted to keep you alive. The pups you could bring into this world, the spells their deaths alone could power!”

“You’d kill babies? ” I choked out the words, trying not to accidentally slit my own throat on the blade. But if it meant saving myself from a lifetime of giving her babies to torture, I’d knew I’d do it.

“I’ve done worse.” She leaned down and licked my temple, tasting my blood and humming like she’d just had her favorite flavor of ice cream. Bile rose in my throat. “And I will again, when I have your death inside me. You’re so powerful, little fool. Such a waste.”

“You won’t win,” I promised.

“You’re still hoping for a miracle? You’ve lost. You’ve all lost.” She sounded truly confused, her hand tightening around my hair.

I didn’t blame her. I had no weapons left but hope. Hope, and… Grigor. Grigor, help. Help us.

I might have imagined it, but I heard a soft, breathless reply. I’m coming.

I closed my eyes, and on the back of my eyelids, glimpsed a shadow wolf almost flying, its four dark feet a blur. If you’re gonna get here for the party, you’d better hurry. I’m afraid they’re about to turn the lights off and lock the doors. I waited a second, then thought, I want you to know, I love you, Grigor Dimitrivich. Even if you killed half the shifters in the whole world, I’d still love you. Does that make me evil?

No, beloved. It makes you perfect. Hold on…

He went silent, and I opened my heart, all my bonds, or tried to, and sent the same words to all of the males I loved. I love you. I love you all.

Elina gave a disgusted grunt. “You’re reaching for them, aren’t you? Which one? Luke, or Glen? That idiot son of mine? I’m almost certain your Mountain mate is dead, or will be soon. Whoever it is, say goodbye.” Elina’s blade sank in, and I froze. “You know, if you weren’t bonded to those four fools, you could’ve lived to see how I’m going to change this world. How it’ll be with a witch who deserves to rule it in control.”

I had to be dreaming it, but I could have sworn I heard Del’s dry laugh. Keep ‘em talking, girlie. Time can be a weapon. Ego can be, too. A swirl of dust rose up from the ground, and I knew something had changed. But Elina didn’t know it yet.

“Rule?” I managed to rasp. “You’ll be an Alpha?”

“Nothing so limited.”

“A queen, then. Queen of all the shifters. What are you planning? What are you going to change when you rule the world?” Keep talking, keep talking. She yanked my hair harder, and I looked up at the suddenly cloudless moon, praying as hard as I ever had in my life. The full moon glowed down on me brighter than it ever had. I could feel its beams landing on me, cooling my injuries, healing me. A breeze kissed my cold cheeks.

“...you have to die,” Elina finished at last.

But I wasn’t listening anymore. I was doing everything I could to contain my emotions, and failing.

“What… Why are you laughing?” The blade cut deeper at my throat, but I let it, knowing hope had arrived.

“You said…” I wheezed as the moon seemed to pulse in the sky. “You said,” I tried again, a hysterical giggle creeping out with the words. “Four. Four mates.” I moved my gaze from the moon to her face and let my wolf peek out at her. “You left one out.”

Her thin eyebrows rose high, then higher as a shadow flew across the crowded ring and landed right behind her.

“Boo.”