Praying she hadn’t bled into him, I hopped over him, creating a shield with my scrawny body.
Before Cassandra was fully upright, I jumped on top of her and forced her back down. She landed on her spine, teeth flashing. I batted her face with my paws, but all that served was to anger her further.
Like the punching bag Liam had obliged me to train on until my knuckles bled, I hit her, over and over and over, dragging my claws across her cheek, across her forehead, across any pliant surface I could make contact with. Howling and snarling, she smacked my cheek, trailing fire over my temple, my left eye, my muzzle.
I blinked wildly, but I couldn’t clear my vision. And then I was yanked off her.
NO! I cried as August pulled on the tether, reeling me in.
I dug my claws into the ground, my muscles screaming, my bones spasming. I fought against the invisible bit hauling me away from Cassandra and Liam.
Liam who still hadn’t gotten up but whose chest continued to rise and fall.
As Cassandra bounded onto all fours, I crawled toward her, stretching the tether so tight it almost snapped. And then, praying that for once I’d be stronger than August, I vaulted onto the Creek Alpha’s back and did the only thing I could think of to save Liam’s life.
I sank my teeth into her neck. As the taste of metal and salt filled my mouth, I worked on not swallowing a drop of it.
“No!” I heard someone scream. I couldn’t tell if the voice was inside my head or outside.
I whipped my face from side to side to tear through her sinews and veins, and didn’t stop until her body slackened . . . until her giant body collapsed beneath mine.
I gagged on the mouthful of Morgan’s blood. Forcing my throat closed so that none of her tainted fluids entered my throat, I spit and heaved. A jet of vomit spurted out of me and sprayed Cassandra’s blotchy fur, which was already receding into her pores.
I blinked as my eyes filled with heat and more slickness. My vision became even blurrier, but not blurry enough to miss her slipping back into skin for the very last time.
Cassandra was dead, and I was still alive.
We did it, Liam, I whispered.
I inched closer to my Alpha, reveling in the sound of his heart pounding against his injured flesh. If her poison had penetrated him, his heart would’ve already stopped. His neck lifted, and his luminous yellow gaze fell over me.
We did it, I said again, swiping my paw over my cheek, trying to see through the sticky veil of blood.
His entire body moved this time. He rose like a billow of smoke, darkening the sapphire air and the emerald grass, advancing in slow-motion toward me.
The ground trembled, rife with footfalls. I tried to turn my head, but it felt so heavy, as though Lucas had attached a set of those enormous dumbbells he so enjoyed curling when he watched me train.
The world blurred, colors and sounds swimming and blending like murky watercolors.
When I blinked, I found myself staring at a sheet of brilliant stars.
Even though I was a creature made for land, I loved the sky, the beauty of its forever shifting colors, of its distant luminaries that had inspired so many of my father’s stories, of its clouds that drifted like windblown dandelion florets, of its brilliant moon that had found me worthy of its magic.
A face as magnificent as the sky loomed over me, obscuring the sight of constellations and yet presenting me with another made of freckles instead of stars.
The low, raspy timbre of August’s voice soothed the sting streaking through my veins and drew my lids down. How many times had I fallen asleep listening to that rough silken voice?
My chin dropped against my collarbone and then lolled backward.
The earth shook again, or perhaps it was the arms clasped around me that quaked.
“Dimples!”
I heaved my heavy lids up, caught a glint of green and gold, like sunlight threading through the leaves of the tree August had taught me to climb.
My heart jerked as though hit by a shot of pure adrenaline, and my skin bristled, my muscles seizing and my bones clinking as they realigned.
Large fingers swept over my cheek, through my hair, curled around my human neck, lifting my limp form, cradling it.
The world spun, as though toppling off its axis, and the green and gold melted into black, then gray, and then pure white as though the night had been shot through with fireworks.
Had August lit up the sky for me again?
I so loved fireworks.
I looked for him, but he’d gone.
All was quiet.
All was bright.
Fire singed my veins.
Noise crashed against my eardrums.
Heat charred my skin, and then a chill slid down my throat, and my lungs expanded like bellows, ripping a cry that reverberated against my palate and pulsed my cheeks, awakening a ferocious ache.
Thump.
Metal clinked.
Wild battering inside my chest.
Strips of glaring light.
Flashes of blinding pain.
Smears of color.
Light blue.
Peach.
Green.
Brown.
Then white.