Page 105 of The Delta’s Rogue (Crescent Lake #4)

Selene floats towards us across the grounds.

The moonless night brightens as she draws nearer.

Murmurs run through the crowd of Crescent Lake pack members as they watch her entrancing stroll.

Many of them lower their heads in reverence while others crowd closer, hoping to get a glimpse of the goddess responsible for our existence.

Nolan glares at her. “Nice of you to join us,” he snaps.

Cassandra’s face pales at Nolan’s incivility. Of all of us—other than Haven—Nolan is the least… enamored …with the idea of Selene.

None of us blame him. Haven is practically his little sister. Anyone who hurts Haven ends up on Nolan’s shit list. Mix that protectiveness with the brutal rejection he endured at the hands of his first mate, and you get the pure ire dripping from Nolan’s hazel eyes as he watches Selene.

Selene pivots her head towards them. She looks first at Nolan then at Cassandra, and then back at Nolan. “I’m sorry. I’m not perfect.”

I’m not sure if she’s apologizing to him for what happened here or for what happened to him seven years ago.

“I was doing what I said I would do. What I promised Wesley I would do before I took Haven to Peter’s,” Selene continues .

“And what was that?”

“Stay with Haven until we had Lyall subdued, no matter what happened to any of us,” Wesley answers for her.

Wesley shoots Nolan a warning glare as he approaches. Nolan looks like he’s about to snap back at Wes, but he grimaces and clenches his teeth together, deciding against it.

Exhaustion and anguish weigh Wes down, painted across his face in tears and swollen eyes. He leaves Maddie behind, crumpled over our dad’s body with Cav curled up beside her.

Cassandra slips away from Nolan, taking Wesley’s place at Maddie’s side. Nolan tries to follow her, but Wesley’s glare bears down harder on him, and he stays in place.

So the four of us are together. Like we should be.

Together. Stronger.

Even if it won’t be that way for long.

Leaving will be that much harder now that my dad is gone. How can I leave behind my family after such a heavy loss? How can I abandon them when what we need is to stand together, to hold each other up, until we’re healed?

Not that any of us will ever truly heal from this.

“How is she?” Wesley asks Selene, his glare morphing into a concerned frown.

“She is safe.”

“And my mom? Is she— Did she—”

My heart flies into my throat as Wesley struggles to get the question out. Fresh tears fill his eyes and mine.

Our mom.

Losing a mate is one of the most painful things a werewolf or lycan can experience. The strongest of us can die from the death of a mate. Even with our parents being chosen mates, this loss will be brutal for her.

I hold my breath as we wait for Selene’s answer.

She takes Wesley’s hands in both of hers and squeezes them, her own eyes filling with unshed tears. “She is mourning, but she is strong.”

“Can— Can you…can you bring them back?” Reid stares at the smoking ground where Dominic used to be, and when he brings his gaze back to Selene, intense hope blazes in his eyes .

“You already know the answer to that question,” Selene whispers.

Reid’s jaw clenches. Nolan grips Reid’s shoulder, offering him his silent support. My lycan whimpers, and my heart aches at the confirmation that they’re both truly gone.

Two fathers taken from their children too soon. All because of some petty feud between Selene and Lyall’s “benefactor”.

Selene’s demeanor changes faster than Lyall’s bolts of lightning shot through the air. One moment she’s empathetic, crying along with us at the losses we’ll never recover from, and the next she’s cold and angry.

She snaps her attention to where Brenna keeps Lyall trapped in his mind. He slumps on the ground, panting and crying. His hands wave in front of him in a weak protest.

Sarina and I move with Selene, staying one step behind her as she prowls towards him. Now that we’re closer and his fit is less frenzied, we can see him better.

A large scar mars the front of his throat as if a piece of flesh was torn out and put back in.

His face is long, his chin pointed, and his nose is too small for his face.

His skin is pale, his eyes a lifeless green, and his hair a flat color reminiscent of dust layering atop unused furniture.

He’s plain and unremarkable. Aside from the scar on his neck, he could be any random werewolf.

“Is this him?” Sarina asks Selene.

“It is,” she snarls. “This is the male who killed my daughter.”

At the sound of Selene’s voice, Lyall’s eyes widen and dart around. Still held captive by the vision Brenna implants in his mind, he can’t see Selene, but he definitely recognizes her voice.

I smirk in satisfaction as the fear deepens in his sightless eyes, brought on by the tone with which Selene speaks. Her malice isn’t directed towards me, but my lycan cowers in my mind.

“Release him from his nightmare,” Selene instructs Brenna. “Leave him in darkness while I speak to him.”

As quickly as Lyall displayed his fear, it disappears. “You can’t make me do anything or confess anything. You have no power over me.”

“You’re right,” Selene admits, lifting her hands. “But I only want to know one truth.”

Her gaze sweeps over the grounds, taking in the damage wrought on the pack and the land. She assesses the injured werewolves making their way to the hospital and the dead witches being carried to the cells. Her eyes linger on the spots where we lost those important to us.

Dominic. My dad.

“Was all of this—the kidnapping, the trafficking, the pain and suffering you caused my warriors… Was all of it really so you could have a wolf again?” she asks.

“And a mate, yes.” Lyall’s lip curls.

His admission makes Brenna shiver and elicits a growl from my fierce, vengeful mate.

“My benefactor promised me both once he felt I’d sufficiently harmed you. This attack was to be my coup de grace,” Lyall says.

Selene’s head slants to the side, so like a wolf that I almost snort with laughter. “Surely you know I am the only deity who can make you a werewolf again.”

Lyall’s face falls, his smirk wiped from existence. “But he said— He promised—”

“‘He’ likely said whatever he thought you wanted to hear to get you to do his dirty work.”

The realization of what Selene implies about the god who tricked him hits Lyall like a tidal wave of the coldest water.

Selene isn’t paying attention to him. She scans the now silent battlefield once more before catching Sarina’s eye. Sarina nods, and I squeeze her hand, giving her a boost of love and strength through the bond.

“I will offer you a new deal, Lyall,” Selene says. “I will give you a new wolf. If you promise to leave my werewolves and lycans alone for the rest of your life.”

Lyall frowns. “I’m a demigod. The rest of my life is a very long time.”

“Those are my terms.”

“And a mate bond? With the witch?”

Brenna gasps and shakes her head. Selene considers Lyall’s request with pursed lips.

“Yes,” Selene agrees with a sharp nod. “I will grant you a mate bond with the witch.”

Lyall’s acceptance and Brenna’s protest intersect.

“Deal.”

“NO!”

A cruel, triumphant grin gleams on Lyall’s face.

Brenna leaps to her feet. “No, please!” she begs. “Please don’t do this!”

Moonlight streams from Selene’s hands, her magic already at work to fulfill her end of their bargain.

Brenna makes a broken, desperate noise and whirls towards us. “Don’t let him take me,” she sobs. “I can’t— I won’t—”

A howl from behind her cuts her off. Brenna screams a heart-wrenching wail, then collapses and curls in on herself near Sarina’s feet, tears overtaking her and ruining her ability to speak. Brenna’s despair adds to mine—to everyone’s—and riles up my lycan, bringing out his protective instincts.

I lunge forward, but Micah beats me to Brenna and scoops her up.

Brenna flinches at first, wrapping her arms around her stomach, as she stares into Micah’s earnest expression.

Her face twists and warps with the force of her distress, and she throws herself forward, tucking herself against Micah’s chest and under his chin as sobs tear from her throat.

A few yards from us, Lyall inhales. He takes slow breaths that flare his nostrils and expand his chest, like most shifters do when they’re scenting their mate for the first time.

A disgusting moan of pleasure escapes him as he exhales, bringing bile into my mouth and forcing Brenna to burrow further into Micah’s embrace.

Sarina tenses next to me as Lyall opens his eyes to reveal irises swirling with the shimmering, dark gray presence of his wolf.

Now that Brenna’s spell on him is gone, now that he can see again, Lyall prowls forward, his greedy grin growing. But he cuts himself short with a gasp. He doubles over. His hands clutch his chest, his throat strains, and his face contorts with agonizing pain.

“What is happening?” he asks between his panting exhales. “Why does my heart feel like it’s going to implode? Why is my wolf howling in agony?”

“Because your mate is on death’s doorstep.” Selene wipes her palms on her dress. “I estimate she has only a few minutes left. Or less.”

“What did you do to Brenna?!” Lyall snarls, stumbling drunkenly from the force of his severing mate bond.

Selene’s eyes twinkle, and she laughs. “Not Brenna. Amara .”

Sure enough, as we all glance at Amara, her chest expands with one painful, shaky breath. Then she’s unmoving again for several long moments before another, shallower breath flows into her lungs. It’s nearly undetectable, but she is still alive .

All the tension in Brenna’s body releases with another enormous sob, and her face floods with relief. But even with her relief, her tears and shaking continue, her body in shock from the stress.

“That was not our deal!” Lyall says. “I asked for a mate bond with Brenna.”

“No. You asked for a mate bond with ‘the witch’. You didn’t specify which witch.”

“You bitch!”