If his pack was here . . .
I stared at August, my eyes misting with tears.
If the Creeks were here . . . they would . . .
I shuddered, unable to bring myself to envision what they might do to us.
“This is your last chance, Michaels. Let her go or die.” My navel pulsed with August’s barely contained fury.
When claws clicked in the foyer, Aidan pulled me back, tightening his hold on my neck that was long and thin again, delicate . . . human.
Three furred beasts erupted into the kitchen, eyes aglow, thick bodies tensed, tails horizontal.
Boulders. Not Creeks!
The black wolf’s lambent yellow eyes met mine, and relief careened up my spine.
Our wolves had come. Not Aidan’s.
I used the distraction to my advantage.
Willing my nails to transform into claws, I shifted my hips to the side and swiped my paw between Aidan’s legs. When my sharp claws pierced the fabric of his pants and met skin, he let out a shrill shriek, and the knife popped away from my skin. I whirled, and remembering what Liam had taught me, shoved Aidan’s flailing limb under my armpit, clamping down on his elbow with both my palms to immobilize him.
Aidan’s face had become a patchwork of whites and reds glossed over by sweat. He puffed out his cheeks and agitated his wrist. The blade scraped my shoulder before clattering onto the floor.
Suddenly, his body was torn out of my grip and airlifted. Even though he was still in skin, August snarled as loudly as the wolves circling us. He flipped Aidan around, squashed him against his chest, then wound his arm around the Creek’s shoulder and cupped his chin.
Aidan’s eyes bulged behind his glasses that sat askew on the bridge of his nose.
Our Alpha barked and then shouted into our minds: STOP! Don’t kill him!
August stared fixedly at Liam, and then at my neck, absorbed the cut that must’ve been deep because it was still dribbling blood. With a flick of his wrist, my mate snapped Aidan’s neck.
NO! Liam’s voice exploded inside my skull.
August unwrapped his bicep from around Aidan’s shoulders, and the limp body of the man who’d destroyed my family crumpled, his cheek smacking the floor like a dead fish, his glasses tinkling against the stone like a Christmas ornament.
I squinted at his chest to see if it still rose and fell. Weren’t we more difficult to kill?
In a croaky whisper that barely carried over Liam’s barking, I asked, “Is he . . .?”
Ignoring our Alpha, August stepped over the prostrate body. And then his arms were around me and his face burrowed into my hair. “Yes. He’s gone. He can never hurt you again. He’s gone.”
Both my neck and navel burned, one with blood and the other with fear and fury. The dregs of adrenaline made me shiver so hard my teeth rattled. All of my bones felt as though they were rattling.
“Are you sure?” I murmured.
“Sweetheart, I severed his windpipe. Even we can’t-” A guttural oomph surged out of August as we rocketed forward, hitting the yellow painting on the wall. He cushioned the back of my skull with his palm, his knuckles getting the brunt of the blow.
What the? I peeked over his shoulder and found Liam back in skin, his incendiary gaze burning a hole into August’s back.
“Liam!” I gasped at the same time August wheeled around, muscles twisting beneath his skin.
Our Alpha punched August in the jaw. “What part of no didn’t you understand, Watt?”
August growled, “Aidan was a threat to the pack, and to Ness. He didn’t deserve to live. He should’ve been killed six years ago!”
Liam snarled. “You don’t realize what you’ve just done, do you?”
“I neutralized a threat.”
“Neutralized a threat?” Liam snorted. “This isn’t the fucking Marines, Watt!”
“Liam, calm down,” I said
“Calm down?” He yanked on the roots of his hair as though trying to tear it off his scalp. “Do you not remember what we promised Morgan, Ness?”
What we’d promised Morgan?
What had we promised Morgan?
Oh . . .
Realization hit me as hard as a kick to the gut.
“Yeah.” Liam bobbed his head a tad maniacally. “I hope you’re ready to duel, because now, it’ll be on their terms.”
“What are you talking about?” August asked.
“I’m talking about the fact that we promised Morgan no harm would come to her son or her cousin until after the duel! I’m talking about the fact that if one of them died at our hands, then the choice of time reverted back to them! That’s what I’m talking about!” Spittle flew out of Liam’s mouth and smacked August’s grinding jaw.
“Lucy . . .” I whispered, my fingers coming up to my neck. Wetness slicked my shaky fingertips. “She’s the one who attacked him. She’s not a Boulder. We can pin the murder on her.”
Liam’s nostrils pulsed, and his shoulders still heaved, but his heart rate was slowing. I could feel the echo of it in my own chest. “Our smells are all over Aidan.”
“We could burn him and his house down.” The new voice had me peering past August’s rigid arm.
Cole was crouched over Aidan’s lifeless form, fully clothed, which told me he’d come by car. Matt and Lucas, though, prowled beside him, both in fur.
“Aidan said he called the Creeks,” I said. “That they were on their way.”
“He was bluffing.” August’s voice was alarmingly flat.
“How do you know?” I stepped around August whose temper had bled into his eyes, stamping out their natural brilliance.
“I’ve been around enough people like him.”
The tether trembled between us as he hunted my expression. I realized he was trying to gauge my reaction to the chain of events Aidan’s death would set in motion. I was scared-we weren’t ready to face the Creeks-but I was also grateful that justice had finally been served. I caught the balled fist resting against his thigh and spread his stiff fingers with my own.