Page 44 of Wanted by the Wolves (The Last Shifters #2)

Chapter 43

Nova

T he king’s man wraps his fist around the chain, tugging me closer. “Almost showtime, omega, and I can’t wait to hear you beg.” He licks his lips, his eyes focused on my caged neck.

My vision blurs, the dancing flames from the fire making it feel as if the world is gyrating.

In front of us, the king speaks to his subjects, droning on about fate and mates, his destiny as the king who has restored the power wolves lost. It’s laughable. He knows nothing about what it takes to be a mate or to rule as an alpha should.

I don’t laugh though. My head is spinning from the rising moon, and slick runs down my legs. Despite the cold, my body is flushed with heat. The cinnamon of my scent is thick, creating a cloud that seems to make the crowd of alphas inch closer with each passing minute.

Everything about this is wrong, an upside-down version of how a moon gathering is meant to be.

When I woke in the tents, the king and some guards from his inner circle were preparing some sort of ritual, but it wasn’t like anything I’d ever seen. I didn’t recognize the spells, though the salt circle and the crystals were familiar enough. They drained a feral and chanted around the circle while they drank its blood from a shared cup like a bunch of psychos. Then the assholes painted that shit on my skin, covering me in runes before fighting me into this dress.

My wolf is quiet inside me, the wolfsbane forcing her to retreat. I have no way to escape. Whatever happened to our magic when the original betrayer slew my family has spread and twisted itself into a sick darkness that has led us to this Alpha King. I want to cry, hide under my blankets in my nest back at the cabin, and pretend none of this is real. But despite the fear, I feel numb. My body is peaking, going into heat, but I’m detached.

I scan the circle with half-dazed eyes, landing on Dex. My formidable mate is chained to a tree, his arms raised above his head and his neck covered in the same wolfsbane shackles as mine.He locks eyes with me, and it isn’t my mate staring back but a hunter. Maybe that should ratchet up my fear. Somehow, though, the violence and madness in his eyes ground me, making it feel as if I’m looking at an avenging god.

The dark healer shoves me forward next to the Alpha King. I feel Dex’s gaze on me, which gives me the courage to face the sea of nameless alphas crowding before the king.

“Watch as I take your queen,” the king shouts.

He looks deranged as he talks to the crowd, the sickness apparent in the blackness of his eyes.

“It’s time for you to bow for your King, troublemaker.” He pushes me to my knees in the snow, yanking on my chains until I’m forced to look up. The Alpha King traces my jaw and pinches my chin. “Your body and soul belong to your pack now. As it is meant to be.”

I hold his eyes, refusing to submit. He will never take me willingly. I have a pack. We belong to each other, and he can’t take that from me.

His lips curl into a snarl, and he opens his mouth to speak, but the words are lost.

A resounding bang followed by a blaze of light explodes within the circle of wolves.

Another blast, this time to the far right, is accompanied by sparks of shooting green magic. The crowd shouts, mayhem and chaos erupting as another bomb explodes inside the circle of wolves.

The king lets loose a rage-filled growl. He yanks on my chains, forcing me to fall face-first into the snow as he drags me behind him. “Get her in the tent,” he orders a wolf from the small group circled near the tent’s entrance.

I scramble to my hands and knees, fighting against the chains with a renewed sense of purpose. My other mates have come. I just have to fight long enough for them to get to us.

The king turns on the dark healer. “You guard my back, but I want their throats. She can watch their bodies bleed out while I claim her.”

Before the king and his healer disappear into the crowd, another shock wave rocks through the night. Only this time, it isn’t a bomb—it’s an explosion of magic.The power feels like a tsunami sending a crashing tide beating against my chest. It steals my breath and burns the skin on my back. The searing pain sends darkness creeping into my vision.

A deep grumble echoes through the clearing, shaking the ground. Dizzy and panting in pain, I twist to watch as Dex roars. My mate sprouts fur and claws, his clothes shredding as his body takes on his wolf. Only, it’s not his full wolf but something in-between. He’s both a two-legged man and a beast. A monstrous and terrifying sound erupts from his throat, the power of his wolf sending out another blast of magic.

Dex snarls, fighting his captivity, and the chains buckle under the strength of his beast. His eyes glow red with vengeance, and the skin on his chest is etched with a luminous blue rune.

It’s the symbol for mate. It’s my rune, activated by the connection between us.

I watch in awe as my mate—my avenger—tears through the clearing as if Odin himself is among us.