Page 23

Ivy

I stood at the window, eyes locked on the empty driveway.

A deep unease grew in my gut, worsening by the minute.

Rieka paced, restless.

Her unease fed mine, the bond between us thrumming with warning.

Briggs and I were mending, but we weren’t whole.

Still, faint flickers of his emotions bled through our fractured link.

Pain?

My breath hitched.

Was he hurt?

My wolf pressed hard against my mind, a sharp yelp vibrating through me.

Something was wrong.

"Ivy?" Colten's voice cut through the haze of my thoughts. "You look like you’re about to jump out of your skin."

I turned away from the window. "Something isn’t right. Maybe we should go—”

“No. You’re not stepping foot outside this cabin.”

My arms crossed. “Something in me is screaming that something terrible is about to happen. It’s not a normal twinge of worry.”

I didn’t know how to explain it exactly.

He ran a hand through his blond hair. "It's probably just the incomplete mating bond.

It can make your emotions go haywire, especially in the beginning.

"

His eyes darted over to Emery who was talking quietly with my brother. “Or so I’ve been told.”

"No, it's more than that." I shook my head."Rieka senses it too.”

"Ivy, listen to me. Of course you’re feeling strongly right now. But Briggs knows what he’s doing. He knows not to trust Phelps."

I wanted to let his reassurance soothe the dread that coiled in my stomach. But the feeling persisted.

Colten sighed, resting a hand on my shoulder. “I get it. I want to be there too. But Briggs gave me an order—keep you safe. So we wait. That’s our job right now.”

I forced a nod, though nothing in me agreed.

Excusing myself, I went to the bathroom. After washing my hands, I splashed some water on my face and took several deep cleansing breaths.

The sound of raised voices caught my attention. I hurried down the hall, stopping to listen before entering the room.

"You're not listening, Colten! Those assholes have no honor, no respect for anything. We can’t just sit here and do nothing. You know they’ve plotted something. You know it."

“And I also know that you have been scheming and plotting your personal revenge for what they did to you. Don’t think I haven’t been doing the same. And, when the time comes, I will be the one to take action. Not you.”

“Are you fucking kidding me with that bullshit?!” she yelled.

“Lila, calm down.”

The air crackled with tension between the siblings like they were about to throw down. My money was on Lila.

I stepped forward to intervene when a hand caught my arm, pulling me backwards. Emery, eyes sharp, voice low. “I know you’re not okay. What do you need?”

“I need to not be trapped inside this cabin.”

“Okay, so we get out of here. Then what? Go after your mate?”

“Yes.”

“Really?”

“Really. Something’s off, Em. I told Colten but he’s adamant I stay put.”

Emery's eyes glinted with determination. “Come on.”

She tugged me into the workout room, which had a door that led out to the side of the cabin.

“My car is right there,” she pointed through the window. “Jim is taking a leak by the treeline. So if you’re sure, we have to make a run for it now.”

“I’m sure.”

She quietly unlocked and opened the door. We made a mad dash for her Subaru and tore down the driveway.

“They’ll chase us,” I said, gripping the door.

“Good,” Emery grinned. “We’ll need the backup.”

She grabbed something from the console and tossed it into my lap. “I forgot I had that.”

My fingers curved around the cool deer bone handle of my grandfather’s hunting knife, covered in its original leather sheath.

“You kept this in your car?”

“Yeah. You left it in here so I didn’t bother removing it. Why? Is that weird?”

“Uh—”

“Shut up. You might need it.”

My grip tightened, one hand on the oh-shit handle, the other on the knife. We couldn’t get there fast enough.

When the little SUV came to a screeching halt, I was already out the door. Emery shouted, but I was already running.

Snarls split the air. Blood tainted the wind. I burst into the clearing, breath catching in my throat.

Pockets of warriors faced off. My eyes searched for the one I needed to find. And then I saw him.

Briggs lay crumpled on the forest floor, his chest heaving, arrows jutting from his body. Phelps loomed over him, hand raised for the killing blow.

A scream of rage tore from my throat as I launched myself forward, my vision tunneling until all I could see was the threat to my mate.

Phelps turned and I stabbed into the meat of his bicep instead of his neck. He threw me off his back, yanking the weapon out of his arm and throwing it off to the side.

“You’ll pay for that, whore,” the Alpha threatened.

He looked down at Briggs. “But first you can watch your mate take his last breath. Then I’ll fuck you on top of his corpse.”

Rieka’s wrath was a white-hot blaze in my veins. With an unprecedented surge of power, my wolf exploded out of my flesh.

The world narrowed. Our beings combined into a single deadly unit with a single objective.

Kill .

I didn't think, didn't hesitate. I simply acted, my body moving on pure instinct as I threw myself between my mate and the threat to his life.

The sickening crunch of bone, the taste of blood in my mouth. Turner's howl of pain as my jaws clamped down on his arm, tearing and rending.

I was dimly aware of Emery rushing to Briggs' side, her hands covered in blood as she tried to staunch the flow of his lifeforce from the wounds. But my focus was on the enemy before me.

We tumbled to the ground, snapping teeth and slashing claws. Turner's claws raked down my side, drawing a yelp of pain from my throat.

I struck fast, jaws clamping down on his shoulder, my teeth sinking deep into flesh and bone. The Alpha roared, thrashing beneath me.

I held on with grim determination and shook my head viciously from side to side. I would tear his throat out if it was the last thing I did!

Muffled voices called for my attention, making my ears twitch. They got louder and louder until one reached through my bloodlust.

"Ivy!" Emery's voice rang clear. "Damn it, Ivy! We need to get Briggs to the healer, now!"

I released Phelps, shoving him back. He stumbled back, his eyes wide with shock and pain, his hand clutching at his mangled shoulder.

My paw stepped on something. The knife.

I shifted back and seized the discarded weapon.

As Phelps struggled to get to his feet, I drove the blade deep into his throat. Satisfaction filled me as he fell to the ground with a choked whimper, gurgling blood pooling under him.

I lifted my arm to stab him again when a large body grabbed me from behind.

“Come on, killer. Your mate is going to murder us both if he lives.”

The fog lifted from my head. I broke free and ran for Briggs, who was barely hanging on.

I wasn’t sure I was enough to hold him to this world.