Page 87 of Taken By The Wolves

They’re here.

They came.

Through the haze, Gregory’s weight is torn away. His jaws ripped from my throatwith 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.

44

SCARLET

I watch through the window as a battle rages outside. Wolf against wolf. Bear against bear. It wasn’t supposed to come so close. It’s a bad sign, and fear and frustration war inside me like a storm in a bottle.

Helplessness isn’t an emotion I’m used to grappling with, but I know my limits. I’m a human woman, and the beasts outside are fearsome and violent. If the cabin is breached, I will be unable to protect myself and Ahya.

“Come back from the window,” Cami says, voice calm but firm behind me.

“No.”

I need to know. If the battle is lost, I must prepare myself to fight or even be captured, because there’s no way I’m letting them take Ahya without me. Where she goes, I go. I’ll die before I lay her in Gregory’s arms.

My hand tightens around the child in my arms. She’s tense too, her body pressed against mine, ears perked, eyes unusually aware.

Movement flashes at the tree line, as a massive black wolf throws itself at one of our own. My heart seizes as I recognize Reed's familiar fur. He’s fighting two of them at once, blood already soaking the earth beneath him.

“No,” I whisper. My knees give out, and I sink to the floor in front of the window, my palm slamming to the glass like I could somehow stop the blood from spilling, stop the tearing of flesh.

He’s hurt.

Reed.

He doesn’t reply to my call, and tears spill hot and fast as I rock forward. I press Ahya to my chest and sob into her curls. It’s going to happen. They’re going to take her. Reed is bleeding into the ground, and Gregory’s monsters are pressing closer to the cabin.

Reed. Fight, baby. Fight. I can’t live without you. I need you. Please, Reed. Fight.