Page 53 of Wishes in the Moonlight (Rocky Mountain Wolves #4)

~Amanda~

Only a few minutes into the fight and already, the forest reeked of blood.

My paws pounded across the ground as I tore through enemy lines, each muscle coiled with fury and purpose.

The trees blurred in streaks of green and gold, the scent of strange wolves mingling with blood and churned-up earth.

Cinder was fully in control of our body, our thoughts one and the same. Protect the pack. Protect our mate.

Ahead of me, chaos raged.

Snarls, howls, and bone-crunching impacts echoed through the woods, a soundtrack to the violence ripping Ravenstone apart. Bodies collided. Blood sprayed. And above it all, I felt the threads of the pack link, each one a thread connecting me to my people, strain and tighten.

Suddenly, one snapped.

A strangled sound left my throat as I stumbled mid-sprint.

Somewhere to the west, one of our warriors fell.

I didn’t know who, not yet, but the loss reverberated through me like the strike of a hammer.

As a new Alpha, I’d never felt the death of one of my own before, and I didn’t know it would feel like that.

Another snapped. And another.

Pain lanced through my head as if I’d been physically struck. I staggered, momentarily blinded by the grief, until Cinder shoved us forward again. Later, she growled. Mourn later. Now, we fight.

A flash of fur came into view on my right as Felix, the Crimsontooth Beta, recognizable from his scent, tore into one of the attackers.

To the left, Savannah’s sleek wolf was locked in a vicious clash with a grey beast, their bodies rolling through the mud in a blur of fang and fury.

Although I wanted to help, I had to trust my team to look after themselves. I had one target, one I could see up ahead, watching me come.

The Alpha on the other side.

He stood apart from his pack just beyond the clearing, larger than any of the others, his coat dark as coal, his eyes dark and cruel, even in his wolf form. His aura rolled off him in heavy waves, a dominance that rivalled my father’s, but it didn’t shake me.

I was an Alpha too.

Cinder snarled, and we lunged.

He met my charge with a thunderous growl, his claws slashing forward. We collided in a tangle of snapping jaws and raking limbs, teeth catching fur, skin, and bone. His fangs scraped my shoulder, but I twisted beneath him, forcing him off-balance and slamming him into the ground.

Before he could recover, I pounced, sinking my teeth into the soft flesh at his side. His howl contained no fear, only rage as he kicked out with powerful hind legs, knocking me back just enough to flip onto his paws again.

Panting, we circled each other, blood already staining the dirt between us.

The skin around his teeth pulled back in a snarl, revealing sharp, unforgiving teeth, and I returned the gesture, refusing to back down. This was my land. My pack. Who the fuck did he think he was to have any right to it?

A flicker of movement behind him, another wolf, tried to catch my attention but I didn’t spare him a glance. My warriors would deal with the rest. My entire focus had to stay on the Alpha.

In the blink of an eye, he lunged again. I dodged left, ducked underneath him, and tore at his leg.

He stumbled, losing his balance, and hit the ground.

Now! Cinder urged.

I leapt, jaws open, aiming for his throat…

… when something slammed into me from the side, mid-air.

Teeth clamped down on my flank with searing force. I crashed to the ground, stunned and breathless, pain flaring white-hot through my ribcage. Blood instantly soaked into the earth beneath me.

My limbs scrambled for purchase, but the second wolf was already on top of me, heavier and broader than I expected. His teeth tore into my shoulder, and I screamed, both in my wolf form and through the bond.

I felt Troy’s pain even before I heard his voice through the link, weak but urgent. Amanda!

I couldn’t answer.

I couldn’t breathe.

The enemy Alpha rose to his feet again, his form blurring through the dust in my eyes. Above me, the second wolf’s breath bore down against my neck. He could have taken a decisive blow, but he didn’t. He offered me up to his Alpha instead.

And that was his mistake.

Gathering all my strength, I rolled over on my back, towards the second wolf, and dug my claws into his belly above me.

He yelped in surprise, or pain, or both, but I didn’t hesitate as I rolled back, using his own weight for leverage, and released him straight into the Alpha wolf as he lunged towards me to finish me off.

The two collided with a heavy thud, bones smashing together as I retracted my claws and rolled out of the way.

Alpha! Savannah’s voice reached me just as her wolf appeared. I’ve got the second one.

Sure enough, she leapt at the wolf who’d brought me down, leaving me one-on-one with the other Alpha as he gave his head a hard shake, trying to reorient himself.

I wouldn’t give him that chance.

Cinder pounced onto his back, smashing his head down into the dirt, her teeth finding the soft, unprotected flesh of his neck and growling deep and low with an unmistakable order in the language of wolves.

Surrender or die.

He snarled back, bucking in a wild attempt to throw her off, but when she bit down harder in one final warning, he got the message.

The clatter of battle around us dimmed as he sent out a mind-link to his pack, telling them to back down.

I did the same.

I’ve got the Alpha. Hold your positions.

When everything had gone quiet, the wolf beneath me shifted back to his human form, the ultimate surrender in any battle.

He shoved me off, defiant even in his loss, and pulled himself up to face me.

Blood streaked his human skin. His breaths came ragged, chest rising and falling heavily, but I could only stare at his face.

His eyes. His jawline.

The shape of his mouth.

I knew them all, or at least, a younger version of them. I’d kissed them just a few minutes earlier.

His face looked just like my mate’s.