Page 46

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LOGAN

I t’s time to end this. I repeated Eve’s words.

Through the haze of pain, I felt Eve—and saw her—in a way I never had before. A force, a beacon. She was everywhere, all at once, wrapping around me, pushing back against the crushing weight of Grayson’s assault. A fire being stoked back to life.

Rely on me , she said. Accept what I am giving.

I inhaled, nostrils flaring. I was on the ground and a part of my brain was telling me to stay there, that it was over, that this body and my wolf couldn’t withstand one more blow.

Eve nodded, the movement slow and encouraging.

I’m here , she said. Accept that you cannot do this alone. You never could. You never will. And you’ll never have to.

Her next words hit me hard.

I am here. Surrender into me.

Surrender. The man in me detested the word, but my wolf’s instincts recognized it. This wasn’t a loss—to surrender to my fated mate…

It was what I was supposed to do all along. I had to accept her help, accept her gifts, accept I could not continue the way I always had. I had to surrender, or this would be the end of it all.

I surrender.

The instant I thought it, a veil tore off me, and the suffocating haze vanished in a single, blinding rush. Relief coursed through me and my wolf savored the relief, the ache in my limbs evaporating. The bond thundered through me, a current too wild to control but exactly what I needed to rise, ready to finish this.

Grayson’s eyes were alight with victory. Suddenly, I wasn’t done.

The Heraclid wolves around us were teeming with nervous energy that I felt in my bones. Their energy had turned from scattered discontent to focus, purpose. And it was directed, pouring into me.

Eve.

She filled me, burning away the ache that had plagued me since we had begun our bond. It gave me the clarity I needed. I didn’t have to fight this alone. I never had to. Eve was mine, and I was hers. We were bound by a fate that knew a different future lay ahead.

Standing from the place where our life nearly ended, my wolf howled. The sound tore out of my throat with a force that was more than earthly, using energy that was channeled through Eve. Grayson staggered back as the ground beneath us seemed to tremble. The power coursing through me wasn’t mine alone. It was theirs too. Eve, the Heraclid wolves, Orion—it belonged to all of them, and it poured into me like a tidal wave.

My legs were strong beneath me, the weakness gone, replaced with an energy so pure I felt invincible. I rose to my full height, towering over Grayson. His smug expression was cracking with uncertainty.

He had no choice—he set the stage for this challenge and he had to see it through. He shifted back into his wolf.

End this. Eve’s voice pulsed through me.

Grayson’s wolf lunged, his jaws snapping inches from my throat. I twisted, driving him to the ground. Dust rose in a choking cloud around us, mingling with the metallic tinge of blood. His claws raked at my sides, a frantic effort, but my focus didn’t waver.

Not this time.

The pack bond pulsed around me, stronger. Their fear, their hope, their anger—it was all there as if it were from my own pack, surging through my veins like wildfire.

It was Eve, my fated mate, channeling it through me. I didn’t know how, and I didn’t question why. I allowed myself to lean into her presence, letting her drive me forward.

Grayson’s wolf was a massive, dark force of muscle and malice, but I held him down, my claws digging into his shoulders. His growls turned into a snarl, but his eyes showed something I’d never seen in them. Fear.

It was just us now, locked in a battle that would end with only one of us standing.

Grayson came at me, his strength monstrous. I matched him, forced him back down with a snarl that tore through the clearing like thunder. His body shuddered beneath mine, his wolf’s breath coming in shallow pants.

I lowered my head until my jaws hovered over his throat. My teeth grazed his fur, pressing hard enough to remind him I could end this, end him, with a single bite.

The world held its breath.

Grayson let out a low whine, his body trembling beneath mine, and I hesitated. This was a fight for more than dominance—it was the end of an era. The end of his rule. The end of everything he’d built on fear and brutality.

Then he snarled, snapping his jaws in my moment of reflection.

There would be no submitting. This was a fight to the death.

In a swift movement, I was around his throat.

He jerked to the side, but I tore my jaws back, the violence of death immediately softening into a silent river of blood that coursed out of him. My breath remained jagged as I waited for an impossible attack, thinking that he might get back to his feet and come at me again. I couldn’t let myself believe that this was it. I had the metallic tang of his blood on my tongue, a concrete sign that I had done what I hadn’t thought possible.

The tension in Grayson’s jaw went slack, following by his limbs, which fell to the side in a heap of bloodied fur.

And it was over.

Vibrations hummed through the pack, no one daring to move or make a sound. It’s over , Eve breathed into me, and I stood, shifting back into my human form.

The crowd of Heraclids watched and waited, their sentiment washing over me as they united in a single thought.

It’s over.