by Jade Royal
“Nah, this ain’t that kind of fight,” Kellan replied.
“So, you and your wolves gonna jump me, huh?” Maverick asked.
“Well, me and my male wolves ain’t gonna do nothin’ to ya’. My female wolves though? That’s a different story.” Kellan and the other men backed away, leaving the females front and center. In that moment, the women understood that Kellan was giving them power by allowing them to take down the man that terrorized each of them in some way, shape, or form. Kellan hadn’t told the women what he wanted them to do, and surprisingly, none of the women looked worried. They all smiled at Kellan before turning and grilling Maverick with death in their eyes. Even Gemma whipped out her claws ready to fight, and in that moment, where all the men were standing behind the women, Kellan felt a sense of pride. The she-wolves in his pack were fierce, and he learned that he didn’t have to baby them or keep them hidden in safety. They were capable of defending the pack too.
“Wait, you aren’t serious, are you?” Maverick asked laughing. He bent over slapping his knee like he was watching a comedy show. Kyra tilted her head to the side watching as he was laughing. Remembering how he tried to ruin her chances of ever having pups anger filled through her. She’d never forget how he’d attack her. So while he was busy laughing his ass off Kyra marched up to him with her claws drawn. When she got close, he stood straight and looked down at her. Kyra swung, connecting her claws to his face. On impact of her hand to his face, she raised her leg and kicked him hard in the stomach knocking the air out of him. He fell to the ground with his cheek bleeding and holding his stomach. He looked at Kyra all sense of humor gone from his face. He went to launch himself at Kyra but the other she-wolves were quicker. While he was down, they all ran forward claws and teeth ready for the attack. As a unit, they attacked him at once striking with blows they knew would keep him crippled. But he knew he was getting his ass kicked in human form. He pushed the women back, and in a thrust of power and in under a minute he was a large wolf standing over them. Gemma shifted just as quickly and was the first to launch herself at Maverick’s big wolf. The other she-wolves followed suit.
Even though Maverick was larger the she-wolves were stronger as a pack. And even though Maverick was biting through their flesh and dragging his claws through their them not one of the she-wolves showed any weakness. To finally get him down, Rita pounced on top of Maverick and clamped her jaws around his shoulder and neck. Gemma and Kyra clawed at his hind legs, while Bliss punctured his ribs. Not being able to stand or breathe sent him down immediately. Rita ripped out a large chunk of his flesh from his neck. The power of his wolf dimmed, and he shifted back to his human form. Blood poured from every crevice of his body. The she-wolves backed off and shifted into their human forms. Dell’s wolves were carrying bags with tunics. They quickly dressed in the tunics, so they weren’t walking around naked.
“Great, a bunch of women beat me up. Happy?” Maverick growled. Rita stepped in his face, crushing his nose.
“Shut the fuck up,” She spat. Gripping onto his arm, she twisted it with all the strength she could muster and yanked it out of its socket. He howled in pain and writhed on the ground as she did the same thing to his other arm.
“Help me, you bitch!” Maverick shouted at Hera. But Hera was looking at the scene in horror. Without a second thought, she backed away into the woods then she was running off not wanting any part of what was happening.
“So much for alpha female,” Rita joked. Maverick closed his eyes and tried to shift back into his wolf but with broken limbs that wasn’t going to happen.
“Just let me go. I won’t bother your pack again.”
“Funny you should ask to be let go,” Bliss spoke up.
“I begged you time and time again to just let me leave our relationship but each time to beat me down until I couldn’t even get up to walk. And then what’d you do when I nearly got free from your psycho ass? You drove your claws through my stomach and threw me into the woods to bleed out to death.” Bliss showed him her claws.
“Too bad for you Kellan found me where you dumped my body huh,” Bliss said. She kneeled down and jabbed her claws into his stomach. Kyra came over and stood over him.
“You nearly ripped my uterus to shreds because you were forcing me to have a pup with you,” she said squatting down above his bare hips. She grabbed hold of his dick.
“NO! NO! DON’T!” He screamed. But Kyra showed him no mercy. She dug her claws around the flesh of his dick and shredded it until blood coated her fingers. Unable to do what she wanted as a human, she took off her tunic and shifted into her wolf. With the power and strength of her animal, she locked her jaw around Maverick dick and yanked, biting it clean off. Her wolf tossed his dismembered organ to the ground while blood spurted everywhere. Even if this would kill a human, it wouldn’t kill a wolf. And that’s what made it torture. Just like he’d tortured all of them.
Gemma picked up his dick. Maverick was screaming his head off, so Gemma stuffed his dick into his mouth, shoving it deep into his throat until he began to choke. Because they didn’t know how else to end it in their human forms, they pulled the tunics over their heads and shifted again. Maverick watched, with his dick stuck in his throat as the she-wolves gathered around him. They were growling menacingly over him. There were no need for any more words. He saw what his fate was going to be. They simply had no mercy. All at once, the she-wolves pounced onto his mangled body and began ripping and clawing him to pieces. Their jaws chewed through his bone leaving nothing to be salvaged. When his life force left his body, the she-wolves backed off, panting heavily. They shifted back to human form in a rush of shifting bones and power. Once they were all human, they looked at the mangled remains of Maverick. He looked like raw ground meat, and it didn’t gross them out. In fact, all of them had tears in their eyes. Not because they were sad, but because they were rejuvenated and took back something they didn’t think was possibly.
“He’s gone,” Bliss gasped. She looked at her sisters before jumping up and down.
“We fucking killed his ass!” she cheered. Looking back at the men, they were staring at them with their mouths open.
“What?” Rita asked dressing back in the tunic.
“This was the plan,” she said.
“Well we knew we were gonna torture his ass this way,” Kellan said.
“But seeing y’all do this put fear in my damn heart. And Gemma?!” Kellan shook his head and rubbed his throat.
“The dick part was brutal!”
“Kyra was the one who ripped the shit off,” Gemma laughed.
“But that’s what he gets for messing with the Phoenix pack females.” Tristan was full of pride at the way his mate handled the torture of Maverick. Any other young wolf would have run. But no, she fought.
“Let’s head back to the cave,” Kellan said.
“Maya, Amber, and Brandy are probably sick with anticipation with when we’re coming back.”
“Yes and I have a wolf to mate,” Jayce said looking at Rita.
“Me and Tristan will stay back to burn the rest of Maverick’s body,” Jaxson said.
“We’ll see everyone back at the cave.”
“Wait!” Mira spoke up suddenly. She looked around the dark woods on high alert.
“What?” Kellan asked.
“There’s someone out there,” she whispered. None of the other wolves had sensed someone in their presence. But they all knew that Mira was more than just a normal shifter. Kellan didn’t sense a presence of anyone, but he heard the shift of the air and then arrows were being shot at them in rapid succession.
“EVERYONE GET DOWN!” Kellan boomed. But as he said that, he felt pain within the bonds he had with his pack. Tristan was hovering over Gemma to protect her, but she’d already been hit. So had Jayce and Jaxson.
“Bliss move!” Rita screamed. Bliss was trying to run towards Kellan when Rita had screamed. Bliss stopped in her tracks trying to look for the source of the attack.
Rita ran towards Bliss and pushed her out of the way of an oncoming arrow. Kellan screamed in pain as he felt something pierce his heart. He touched his chest, but he had no wound. Which meant he was feeling his pack’s pain. The whirring sounds of arrows stopped immediately making the area around them deathly quiet. Kellan fell to his knees as his heart constricted.
“Bliss?” Kellan gasped, fearful it was his mate who was hurt. Bliss was on the ground, but then she slowly got up. Kellan looked next to her. Rita was struggling to breathe as an arrow stuck out of the middle of her chest.
“No, no, no,” Jayce scrambled over to where Rita lay. He scooped her up in his arms. She began coughing up blood as she tried to speak.
“I got you,” Jayce said. He held the end of the arrow and quickly pulled it from her chest. Rita squealed in pain and coughed up more blood. Jayce assumed she’d be able to heal if she shifted, but then he looked at the arrow. The tips were silver. His heart crushed.
“No,” he wept. Shot straight through the heart with silver was a death sentence. Every shifter knew that.
“It’s okay,” she gasped out spitting blood from her mouth. She held onto his hand tightly.
“No, it’s not,” Jayce said.
“What am I supposed to do without you?” he asked.
“Live,” she breathed.
“Please-I want you to-be happy.”
“I can’t,” he exclaimed shaking his head wildly. But Rita only smiled at him through her pain. She made a suffocated sound before the hand that was holding his loosened. Her eyes closed and her body sank giving out its last breath before going limp.
“Rita, Rita baby please.” Jayce shook her trying to wake her up, but his ears didn’t pick up a heartbeat. She was gone. Letting out a large sob he pressed her chest to his face and cried heavily. His heart, his soul, his very life force felt like it was being crushed into non-existence. She’d asked him to be happy, but she didn’t know she took his happiness with her when she took her last breath. And then his life was over just as much as hers was.
********
Dell stared down at the dark cloaked figure he and his wolves had caught trying to run away. He had a pouch filled with wolfsbane and silver tipped arrows.
“I told Kellan you got away. I held up my part of the deal now hold up yours.” The stranger looked at Dell.
“I just want power,” he replied. “So I’m attacking a powerful pack.”
“You don’t smell like a shifter,” Dell commented.
“Hell, you have no smell at all.” The stranger’s hooded cloak covered his face, and Dell saw nothing but teeth.
“Who said I was a shifter?” the stranger asked.
“I’m gonna let you go and not tell Kellan about this,” Dell said.
“But you have to allow me access to these weapons you have. My pack will need further protection, and I like the looks of these weapons.” Dell was speaking the truth. His pack was going to need more protection. But there was more he didn’t say aloud. He just knew that this stranger would introduce him to weapons that would make him stronger. Perhaps even stronger than Kellan.
The stranger rattled off sparse directions to a section of the woods. Dell had never been there, but he could follow directions very well.
“That’s where you’ll find me,” he grunted.
“Always come alone.” The stranger turned and walked off then leaving Dell and his wolves.
“Let’s go,” Dell said. They shifted altogether and ran in the direction of Kellan’s cave not even noticing that Hera was hiding in a treetop listening to their whole conversation.
********
Jayce’s agonizing cries rumbled through the silence of the woods around them. Each she-wolf had tears flooding their eyes. Bliss was holding onto Kellan crying softly while Kyra held onto Jaxson and Gemma was holding onto Tristan. Dell had run off to try and find whoever was shooting the arrows in the first place with his pack. They hadn’t returned yet. Kellan kissed Bliss on the forehead before leaving her to go over to Jayce. He tried to take Rita from Jayce’s arms, but Jayce snapped at him and pushed Kellan’s hand away.
“Don’t fucking touch her!” he cried.
“Jayce you have to let her go,” Kellan said. “She’s gone.”
“I hope you’re fucking grateful,” Jayce spat at him. “She took the arrow meant for your mate.”
“I know that Jayce,” Kellan whispered. Kellan didn’t even know what to say. His best friend had lost his mate because she’d saved Kellan’s mate.
“I’m so sorry,” Jayce whispered to Rita’s corpse. “I was supposed to protect you.” Kellan rubbed Jayce’s back not even sure how else to comfort his friend. The she-wolves quickly gathered around Jayce and tried to comfort him in the same way. Mira was the last of the she-wolves to come over.
“Give her to me,” she said to Jayce. Jayce looked at her with bloodshot eyes.
“No,” he strained out not wanting to let Rita go.
“Come on Jayce, let her go,” Jaxson coaxed softly. They knew Jayce wasn’t going to willingly let her go, so the she-wolves began taking Rita’s limp body from Jayce while the men pried Jayce’s arms from around her. Jayce began crying harder at having Rita taken from his hold. Kellan held him back as the women set Rita in front of Mira. Mira ran her hands up and down Rita’s body.
“What are you doing?!” Jayce shrieked. But Mira ignored him. She began chanting in a native language. First, it was just whispers, but then her voice began to slowly rise. Her eyes, chest, and hands began glowing like the color of the moonlight.
“What in the…” Kellan was speechless and had no idea what the fuck Mira was doing. He didn’t know if he should stop her or not.
Mira placed one hand on Rita’s forehead and her other hand on Rita’s chest right over her wound. She began chanting louder her voice becoming deeper and deeper as if she was being taken over by another entity. Her glowing eyes looked down at Rita, and she began to jerk her hands like she was giving Rita CPR. Then she looked up to the sky, bellowing that chant in her deep voice. Lightning struck around them that emanated from Mira’s glowing body. She screamed as her body went into some sort of shock. Energy was zapped out of the atmosphere for only a second in which Rita’s body jumped. Mira stopped glowing and fell away weakly. Rita’s eyes popped open, and she drew in a deep breath as she arched off the ground. She fell back down to the ground limply and her eyes closed, but her chest rose and fell with her breathing. Kellan felt an ignite of a pulse inside him and his body was filled with Rita’s essence, and his ears rang with the sound of her heartbeat. He looked at Jayce who was sitting there, shock filling his features. He wiped the stained tears from his face. Mira sat up slowly, still weak.
“Hurry. You need to complete your mating bond so she can share your strength. It’ll help her.” Jayce was confused, but he crawled over to his mate. Her eyes were closed, but her chest was rising and falling. Her wound had closed, but she was still scarred. Jayce looked up at Mira.
“Go! You don’t give her strength she’s gonna die again!” Jayce realized Mira had given him a second chance.
“I-”
“Just go! Thank me later!” Mira winced in her own pain. Jayce scooped Rita up in his arms and was dashing through the woods to get back to their cave.
“You can heal people?” Kellan asked Mira.
“When I was a baby my tribe performed a ritual that gave me the ability to heal. But it can only work if the person is deserving of life. Much like the wolf bite. You can only be granted the gift of a shifter if the universe deems you worthy of it. So the universe has deemed Rita was well worth living again. Only downside is that I get weakened by the ritual. I won’t be able to regain my strength until the full moon again. I won’t be able to travel with Dell and the pack.”
“Don’t worry about that. What you have done is a debt we have to repay you for. You can stay with my pack under our protection for as long as you need to recover,” Kellan said. Bliss came over t
o Mira.
“I know we have had our troubles,” Bliss said.
“But you didn’t have to do this, and you did. Thank you. Rita is more than just our packmate.”
“I screwed things up by opening my mouth. This is my way of showing that I can be useful to the pack in more than just causing drama.” Bliss nodded at her.
“I’ll take her back to the cave,” Jaxson said coming over to them. He scooped Mira in her arms ready to carry her off.
“Gemma and Kyra go with him. Keep him protected in case whoever was shooting at us comes back. It’ll be harder for Jaxson to defend himself while carrying Mira back,” Kellan said. Without question, Gemma and Kyra went off with Jaxson. Both she-wolves were bleeding from wounds of the arrows, but none of the wounds were life-threatening.
Tristan, Bliss, and Kellan were the last ones left. While Bliss watched, Kellan and Tristan created a fire to burn Maverick’s body. In the process of burning the body, Dell reached out to Kellan in his mind.
We lost the trail. But we’re going to do a perimeter to make sure there’s no lurkers around, Dell spoke.
Good. You can meet us back at the cave and update me when you’re done. Kellan looked at Tristan and Bliss.
“Let’s go home. Dell will meet us there.” Tristan put out the fire on Maverick’s body when his bones disintegrated to make sure nothing else in the woods caught fire. Knowing Bliss was weakened after the fight with Maverick, Kellan bent down so Bliss could climb onto his back and they could hurry back to the safety of their home
Chapter Seventeen
Jayce placed Rita on his bed softly and quickly undressed her. Her heart was still beating, but as each minute passed, it got slower and slower. Jayce undressed and got into the bed next to her.
“Rita, baby, open your eyes and look at me.” Her eyes opened only slightly. Jayce didn’t know if they could even complete the bond without sex, but he was going to try. Knowing the most sensitive place to put his bite was on her inner thigh near her womanly core. Jayce got between her legs and opened them wide so he could bite down. Focusing on that magic link inside them that made them mates, Jayce let his wolf teeth fall from his gums and pierce Rita’s sensitive flesh. He felt the power of the bond begin to knit together slowly. Closing his eyes, he let the memories of Rita’s laughter, her attitude, and the way she loved him fuel the bond giving it power to knit together faster. He thought about how he was going to fill her belly with as many pups as he could, how he was going to give every bit of himself to love her and appreciate her life.
