Page 44 of Taken By The Wolves (Blackwood Forest #2)

REED

Everything is red.

Red behind my eyelids. Heat in my mouth. Red pounding through my skull like a war drum.

I don’t know if it’s blood or rage, but it’s everywhere.

Something wet pulses at my neck. It hurts to breathe. My body’s limp, barely responsive, like I’m trapped in someone else’s skin. I want to move, to shift, to fight, but the connection between will and body is severed.

And yet… I hear them.

Growls, low and deep. Snarls like thunder rolling over the earth. The scent of them slaps me, rousing the little strength I have.

REED.

My brothers howl my name together.

They’re here.

They came.

Through the haze, Gregory’s weight is torn away. His jaws ripped from my throat with my brother’s fury.

I want to tell them I’m alive. I want to lift my head, dig my claws into the dirt, and rise, tearing Gregory apart with them. But I can’t. I’m buried under the weight of blood loss and darkness, slipping in and out, barely tethered to consciousness.

The sounds of battle echo around me: grunts of impact, flesh rending, the clash of bone and claw. Nixon’s wolf voice booms through the link we all share, calling commands, refusing to let Gregory win.

I try to reach out, mentally and physically, but it’s like shouting underwater. The only thing I manage is a twitch of my fingers against the earth.

Gregory can’t win.

If he takes Ahya… Scarlet…

No. No, no. He won’t. Not while Nixon lives. Not while Finn breathes. Not while Robert fights beside them.

Their fury, their pain, the depthless well of love that drives them holds me there and keeps my soul from slipping too far.

Ahya.

Scarlet.

Reed. Fight, baby. Fight. I can’t live without you. I need you. Please, Reed. Fight. Her voice echoes through my mind.

They are everything. And even if my body fails, I know my brothers will not. They will end this.

Because if they don’t, the world we’ve built will fall with me.

And I am not ready to leave everything I love behind.