Mom’s growl fills the air and a sense of relief spreads through me. I smirk as the warrior barrels into one of my attackers and throws it off me. She pants, drenched in blood. “How many rogue asses has she kicked in this short amount of time to be that covered in it?” I ask Kora, but she doesn’t answer.
Kora darts in for the other wolf whose belly we’d ripped open, and her jaws clamp around its throat before she bites hard, and the lifeblood of the wolf squirts out as she breaks its neck with a sharp crack.
My eyes scan our surroundings as rogues keep flooding into the clearing, more than we can keep track of, and Jackson’s two pack-warriors continue standing on the edge, waiting for us to be taken down. When my father’s wolf attacks one of them.
My dad’s wolf blindsides one of them, jumping in from behind and taking a chunk out of the warrior’s side. Maddox, too, joins the fight, he runs from the front of the packhouse, to the side, leaping into the fray as our pack fights back.
It doesn’t matter how many they have, Alpha Jackson is about to learn what a real battle is all about. Without my mom training his warriors, there is no way they can get close to taking us out.
Kora whimpers, as two more rogues get brave and dart in. One catches us on our shoulder, and he tears a chunk of flesh away as he bites down, the other grabs at the side of our neck, jerking desperately to try to roll us over where we’ll be vulnerable.
Kora whimpers in pain, spinning around when teeth sink into our shoulder and neck, tearing a chunk of flesh away, she staggers before we are forced to shift back. I clutch my neck to stem the bleeding before getting to my feet. The blood soaks through my fingers and I grit my teeth.
“Kat, get inside and lock it down!” Ezra orders, and I look for Maddox to see him fighting three bulky wolves. My father is still fighting the man from before, but apparently he’s forced him to shift. Oddly, I don’t see the other one anywhere.
Angie and Jasmine shift back, also running for the packhouse and me.
Jasmine grabs my arm, hauling me to my feet and forcing me to run toward the back door. My mother’s voice rings above the fighting. “Kat!” she screams through the link when I hear the first shot fired, echoing off the trees, just as Maddox kills the last of the three wolves. Jasmine jerks me out of the way, and the breeze of the bullet swishes past me.
Maddox growls, and darts away from his kills, running, so fast clumps of dirt are scattered as he races to the side. I lift my eyes to see what’s going on, and I see the other man has returned to the battle, and he’s got a gun in his hand. He has it aimed directly at me.
Time comes to a crawl. The shot rings out, the sound so loud I thought it would break my ear drums. Maddox tears into the shooter, going after his soft stomach and ripping out his innards. A scream comes from behind me at the same time, it rings through my head, echoing and bouncing off, I have no choice but to close my eyes to try and escape it.
He’d shot at me. I wait for the impact, the pain, but it comes from the wrong direction, knocking me over from behind, and knocking the air out of my lungs as I smash into the ground.
Rolling over, I groan, looking up. My mother has a stunned look on her face, and at first, I don’t understand why she is looking at me like that. I’m dazed until she coughs, and bright red blood spews from her lips. She looks down.
My eyes follow hers to the blood pouring from the center of her chest. A horrible wailing sound fills the air. It’s so deafening it hurts me to hear it as it claws at my heart. Mom gasps, her hand clutching at her chest before she collapses in a heap on the ground.
My entire world stops in an instant.
Mom? I can’t bring myself to say the words. I think of the kiss dad had given her earlier, the hopes of them being together again.
Mom! A deep cry builds up deep inside of me. She’s not moving, she’s so pale. Kora is screaming at me, but I can’t break free. I remember every single time my mama has been there for me, stood up for me, and yet here she is once again putting me first.
My heart shatters into a million sharp pieces as I stare at her, and the cry inside me spills out.
“Mom!” I howl, the scream tears at my throat. I get to my hands and knees and rush toward her. I’m tackled from behind, my father grabbing me and dragging me back while my beautiful mom stares up at the sky, her eyes glazed. There’s so much blood and she’s so still. I can almost reach out and touch her.
“She is gone, baby, she is gone, you can’t save her,” my father cries, refusing to let go.
“Let go, let go! I can help her!” I insist, thrashing and trying to get out of his arms. Yet, his grip only tightens, his hot tears cover my neck. “No! I can help her, please, she is your mate,” I plead, trying to break out of his grip.
“And you’re my daughter,” he chokes out.
Kora forces the shift, and we break out of his arms. Kora runs toward her. We can bring her back. Her howl is agonized as we get to her still body, before arms wrap around our torso, dragging us backwards.
“No, Love, you won’t heal,” Ezra’s voice whispers next to her ear, Kora bites into his arm viciously, but he doesn’t let go, instead pulling us away and falling as she thrashes trying to get to mom.
Rogues are dead everywhere, and Jasmine cups her mouth with her hands in shock. None of this could be real. My father gets up and walks over to her body before he bends down, picking her up. Kora shifts back as she’s taken away from us, away from our power to save her. Ezra’s arms tighten around me.
“No, no, no, please!” I scream after my father, but he just looks at me, tears streaking his face, before he turns.
“I can’t let you, sweetie, I’m sorry,” he chokes out before running off with her.
“No!” I scream, my chest twisting painfully. The sound is so mangled and foreign, I can’t recognize it as my own. I can’t breathe. I am choking on my despair.
I fight Ezra, hitting and punching him, yet he doesn’t let go. The farther my father gets from me, the harder I fight to get to her. All I can feel is pain, pain like I never thought possible, like a piece of me just broke off and shattered into dust, a piece I’m not sure I can live without.
Mom is gone.
I try to get up, but Ezra still doesn’t let go, instead, his grip only tightens. Mateo steps out of the trees. Jasmine steps toward me, tears slipping down her cheeks as she stares at me, her lips quiver as if she’s moments away from breaking herself. Good, let her shatter too. She didn’t help, no one did.
I hated them, hated them all. She didn’t have to die. I could have saved her.
“No, I won’t let you, your father won’t let you, Kat,” Ezra insists, and I turn in his arms, smacking into him.
“I hate you, I fucking hate you! She is my mother, I fucking hate you!” I scream at him, hitting him, trying to make him let go.
His eyes bleed black. “Sorry, Kitty,” Maddox growls, sinking his canines into my neck. My movements become sluggish as I hit him. My surroundings are dulling. His teeth sink into my bone and my attempts to stop him grow feeble.
The pain is terrible, and all I can think is, I couldn’t save her, she gave her life for me, and I couldn’t save her, she is dead.
They are the last thoughts that slip through my head before all I see is darkness.