Then again, he hadn’t breeched the first line of Boulders yet.
A snarl had my attention jumping back to the ring where Cassandra was hurtling toward Liam.
I needed to focus on Liam.
Someone in my pack would surely spot Alex and bar his path.
I tried to keep my eyes on the two Alphas, but I peeked past their bodies. Alex had disappeared, but August was still there.
Where had Alex gone?
A burst of yellow materialized in the darkness behind the thin row of Boulders.
Alex had shifted.
I barked.
Still, August didn’t understand. The groove simply deepened.
No Boulder looked over their shoulder. All of them too focused on what was happening in the dueling ring.
The yellow shape loomed larger so terrifyingly fast that I locked my gaze on the shimmery blue cord that connected me to August and pulled so hard my belly button almost burst open.
August jerked.
His arms fell out of their bind and extended to steady his teetering body.
I’d moved him, but only by inches.
August finally looked away from me, but only to stare at his abdomen.
Over your shoulder, I barked. Behind you!
When he looked back at me, wonder lit up his entire demeanor.
He didn’t understand.
I raced toward him, hoping Liam had Cassandra under control, hoping that by choosing one wolf, I wasn’t sacrificing the other.
When Alex dropped into a crouch, I was still too far away.
I don’t know if it was the panic lighting up my pupils or my mad dash toward him, but August finally spun around.
Too late.
Alex was already airborne.
I clutched the blue rope with my mind and poured all of my hatred for the boy who’d driven my cousin off the road and into his grave into my grip.
August lurched forward, several feet this time. He fell, hands smacking the ground before his head could make contact. Alex’s lids hitched up as he landed on grass instead of flesh, and the shock made him stumble.
As he righted himself, his narrowed violet gaze locked on August’s kneeling form. Before my mate could stand, Alex galloped toward him. The rope escaped my invisible grip and swung so chaotically it blurred, thwarting my attempt to latch onto it.
I came to a screeching halt, and the rope stabilized some. I clutched it, and this time, closed my ghostly fingers hard around it. I pulled just as another wolf barreled out from behind the blockade of human legs and jumped on top of Alex. At first, I thought it was a Boulder, but the wolf was small and slender, not male. And its fur was wavy.
Sarah.
Alex flung her off, and her small body arched through the air, slamming hard into the ground.
Alex growled and darted toward her just as another wolf appeared, this one gray and large.
Larger than Alex.
Lucas.
Snarling like a wild animal, my packmate sank his fangs into Alex’s spine. I watched in morbid fascination as Lucas’s muzzle and teeth came away drenched in blood.
Ness.
The thin sound of my Alpha calling my name jerked my attention off the sidelines.
I pitched around so fast my vision swam, but then it honed in on the heap of fur at the far side of the ring. Cassandra was standing over Liam, front paws on his shoulders.
He wrung his body to shake her off, but her paws stayed put as though welded to his fur. When he heaved a cry that detonated against my eardrums and echoed in my chest, I understood it wasn’t her weight keeping her anchored to him but her purple claws.
As her mouth lowered to his neck, I shot forward, adrenaline zipping through my bones and electrifying my muscles.
He twisted sideways, and her mouth missed its mark, but she remained fastened to him. When another violent holler hit my ears, I sensed her claws had cleaved open more of his back.
I was almost there.
Almost beside them.
Cassandra snarled, and her moonlit fangs approached the mound of thrashing black fur beneath her.
I’d sworn to protect him, but I’d gone off and left him on his own.
I’d let my mate distract me.
I’d failed Liam.
He bucked, interrupting Cassandra’s momentum but failing to dislodge her.
Another blood-curdling yowl erupted from my Alpha just as I slammed into Morgan’s side. It was like hitting a brick wall, but the wall toppled. Her claws popping out plucked another guttural moan from Liam.
Runnels of split flesh wept blood onto his black fur, but his heart still beat.
It still beat . . .