Page 35

I’m halfway through town, following the faint trail of Kira’s scent, which is now mingled with mine, when I see the smoke.

Her scent floats down main street, weak enough that anyone else not mated to her wouldn’t smell it. But I do, and it shows me where she’s gone. Shows me that the path she took leads straight to the plume of black smoke rising in the distance.

I run faster than I ever have before. Fast enough that my paws sting, the hot, gritty pavement and friction of my speed compounding to burn along my paw pads. But I don’t care, I ignore the feeling.

Everything in my body focused on Kira and if she’s okay.

I see her, standing atop the burning building, her mouth open in a scream that, at first, I can’t hear. Then it clicks into place, the sound finally reaching my ears, “Dorian, watch out !”

I dodge to the left, but not fast enough. The wolf coming at me gets his jaws around my front left leg, making me crash to the ground, blood spattering against the dirt. I feel his teeth snap through the tendon, and a slicing pain arcs up my leg, all the way to the joint.

Fuck .

Ignoring the pain, I get back to my feet, breathing hard, limping, and taking in the brown wolf circling me. He’s slightly bigger than me, and strong with the might of the Alpha leader, like I am. I catch sight of the glinting Amanzite hanging at his neck.

He snarls, saliva dripping from his mouth, his eyes glinting black. His coat is a dull brown, rather than the ashy gray the Grayhides are known for.

Jerrod.

Somewhere near the building, a car swings around, the tires crunching against the gravel and kicking up a plume of dirt. I think for a moment that it might strike me, but it turns to the side, leaving the lot. There’s a wet popping sound, and I turn to see a truck against the building, the rubber molten and melting from the heat of the building.

In his wolf form, all Jerrod can do is snarl at me. I know his type, assume he’d want to give some big speech right now, but instead he just growls, his muscles tensing, and I know he’s planning to launch at me.

There’s a loud crack, and Kira lets out a quick scream.

I’ve been trained for combat from birth. I should know better than to look at her, to start running in her direction, to take my eyes off my enemy for even a second.

But it’s Kira. I can’t think, can’t focus on Jerrod when I know she might be engulfed by the growing, creeping flames any second.

Jerrod gets me around the waist, dragging me to the ground, his paws scrambling for purchase against me as we tumble together, maws open, each trying to go for the neck of the other. There’s a brief moment where he pins me down, and I see victory flash in his eyes.

Something rears up inside me. In an instant, I remember the day my grandfather was killed the day I took over as alpha leader. How Jerrod’s leadership of the Grayhides has affected every aspect of my life.

Kira will never be safe as long as Jerrod is alive.

With a roar, I push back against him, launching him off my body and sending him sliding back through the dirt. Kira screams again and my entire body pulls toward her, instincts blazing inside me to turn and get her down, but I have to kill Jerrod.

I have to.

By the time I pounce on him, he’s already back on his feet, and the impact sends us both sprawling to the ground again. We roll and buck, snapping, my jaw just an inch from his neck. He twists around, knocking me off balance and getting me on my back, and I manage to dodge his open mouth just in time, protecting my neck.

It’s hard to breathe, my sides aching from the impact, my front left leg still dripping blood onto the ground, unusable, the pain excruciating when I try to put any weight on it.

Kira screams again, and this time, I can’t stop myself—I turn to look. She’s standing next to what looks like some sort of exhaust pipe atop the building, but she can’t hold on to it. Her shirt is pulled up over her face, and the flames are licking at her feet.

I’m no fireman, but I know the look of a collapsing building when I see one. And if that building goes down, it’s going to swallow Kira up in the blaze.

Jerrod is older than I, more experienced. But he’s not fighting to save his mate.

Rallying all the power I have left in my body, I push back against him. Thinking about all the time I’ve already lost with Kira, and all the time I intend to get back. When this is over, I’m telling everyone in the pack that I’ve found our luna. I’m going to make this all up to her a million times, again and again.

At the exact moment I throw Jerrod off of me, there’s a low rumble, vibrations through the earth. Jerrod is distracted, glancing up, and I take it as an opportunity to pounce on him. We tumble to the dirt again, and this time I get my teeth around his neck.

He twists, forcing pressure onto my left leg, and I let out a cry of pain at the shock of it, releasing him. We hit the ground together, my head bouncing off the dirt just in time to see a massive engine veering into the lot, sirens blaring, a cloud of dust following in its wake.

A fire truck.

The doors on the truck open, and guys come stumbling out. Through the smoke and the cloud of dirt, I can make out a familiar head of gray hair, a slight old woman swinging out from the front seat. A moment later, a purple Jeep trails after the engine.

I know that Jeep, and I know the woman hopping out of the driver’s seat, calling Kira’s name.

Jerrod stumbles back, but I turn and catch him just in time, snapping my jaw around his leg in the same way he did to me, feeling the force of it snap through his tendons, crack the slight, delicate bones. I keep clamping down, ignoring the bright, metallic taste of his blood in my mouth. He yelps, paws clawing against the ground for purchase he doesn’t get, his leg jerking as he tries to get away from me.

“ Dorian!”

It’s Kira, her voice a cry of fear, and I turn to see her on the edge of the building, which is tilting, a loud, creaking groan an indication that some important support is about to go. The men from the truck are trying to set up one of those trampolines to catch her, but it’s taking too long.

Jerrod whimpers in pain, still trying to kick away from me. With this hold on him, I could fully break his leg, continue the attack, get to his neck. But that will take time, I don’t have.

I only have a second to decide, and I do—letting him go, turning, running in her direction instead. I make it to the edge of the building just as the final support cracks.

In my wolf form, I can’t speak, can’t tell her what I want her to do, but it must be obvious, because Kira is already in the middle of doing it, backing up, running, leaping from the edge of the building.

For a moment, she’s suspended in midair, the sun bright behind her head, creating a silhouette, and I know that if I make it through, this is a moment I will never forget.