“He can leave. He and his siblings. I’ll let them walk out of here free and clear.”
“Wait, what’ll happen to Dare?” I asked.
“I’ll kill him.”
“That’s not a fucking surrender, that’s—” This time, the Were shoved me forward, then grabbed me by the hair and forced my head back while he growled stank-breath in my face.
Gage waited. “So what’ll it be, Dare? Fight and kill your mate and yourself, or save your mate and lose your life?”
Fight. Fight. Fight. I repeated it like a mantra in my head.
You die, I die, remember?
Well, I’m not leaving here knowing he’s going to kill you!
Dare shook his head, not speaking back, and with slow movements, lowered himself to his knees and bowed his head.
My proud alpha. My True Mate. The same Were who delivered me food in bed, who could name every pack member, and who risked his life to save my brother and sister. The love of my life who touched me with kindness and called me his little wolf. He was willing to do this for me. He was willing to sacrifice himself so I could be free.
The soft sound of water hitting the earth had me looking up into the night sky for rain. Until I realized they sound was coming from the tears dripping off my face. My mate, my proud alpha, was now bowed before a weaker leader.
Under Gage’s rule, this proud pack would be cowed and abused just like the Bluefoot pack.
Mav. Cati. What would happen to G and Vaughn and Rua? No way could I let this happen. Dare’s hands were figuratively tied, but mine weren’t. I was the alpha’s Mate, damn it. His True Mate. The pull in my body was overwhelming, making it impossible to remain passive. I wanted to fuck up some Weres and defend my mate, and there was no denying it.
Despite my depletion of energy, I called my shift, and immediately, a unique sensation flared like a struck match in my chest. Normally, my feet, hands, and head shifted first. But as the burning intensified in my core, my chest began to expand. And expand. The inferno spread to my limbs. The Were who held me dropped my arms with a hiss and, when I turned to look at him, he was whining and clutching his hands as they smoked. Smoked. Like my flesh had burned him.
When I held my hands out in front of me, they morphed into massive paws, double the size they normally were. I screamed as my skull stretched, and I fell to the ground on all fours. This shift was pure agony, and for several moments, I swore I was going to die. Why did this hurt so bad?
When my vision cleared, I stood on four paws, and the ground was much farther down than it normally was. I swung my head to my brother and sister. Selene’s hands were clapped over her mouth, and Jude’s eyes were bugged out of his head.
“Reese.” He gaped. “You’re fucking huge.”
I shook my fur, rippling my muscles, reveling in the power and strength in them that I’d never had before. The Were who’d been holding me snarled, his palms now red and blistered. I slashed my paw across his throat and didn’t bother to watch as he bled out.
And all around me was chaos. While I had shifted, G had too. Rua and Vaughn were off to the side, protecting my brother, sister, Gale, and Bay, while G tussled in a pile with about three Weres pummeling him.
A yell went up, and I turned to see Gage with his fist in the air, his other arm locked around Dare’s throat. My mate's entire side was a massive burn now, as if Gage had ripped the silver knife through him again. The sight of Dare’s swollen human face and the smell of his burnt flesh sent me into berserker mode.
I leaped into the air, easily clearing the heads of the eight-foot Weres in front of me. A sick smile stretched across Gage’s face as he gazed down at a struggling Dare. Dare saw me coming first, his eyes wide, mouth open as I descended onto the man who sought to kill my mate.
My front paws collided with Gage’s chest, and he released Dare as he fell back, me on top of him. A strangled sound rumbled from Gage’s throat, but it was too late for him, too late to stop the fury and killing instinct that was consuming me.
I dug my claws into his skin, blood pooling around the puncture marks. With a growl, I opened my jaws as wide as they could go, bit into his neck, and twisted, shearing his head clean off his body. It rolled away as blood poured from the open neck wound. Gage’s body twitched beneath me as his life blood mixed with the dirt.
I whirled around with a growl. G had dispatched several Weres, and bodies littered the ground. But they were all watching me now, and, when the remaining Weres who had been loyal to Gage saw their leader was dead, they bowed their heads with a whine.
A low moan drew my attention. Dare was on his stomach, crawling his way toward me. “Reese,” he gasped.
I immediately raced to him as he rolled onto his back and fisted my fur. “You’re huge.” He ran a hand down my flank, his eyes taking me in with reverence. “I can’t believe you…” He glanced behind us at Gage’s headless body. “I take that back. I can believe. I just never would have predicted it.”
His side was a riot of burned flesh. Without thinking, I bent my head and began to lap at the wounds. The taste was horrible—metal and ash and sickness. But I kept going, because wherever my tongue touched, wherever my saliva soaked, the skin began to close and heal. Dare panted beneath me, one hand on my head, stroking my ears, as I sought to heal my mate.
Dare
* * *
I sifted my fingers through Reese’s dark fur, unable to believe the size of him. He was double the wolf he’d been just earlier today. That, along with the mental connection we now shared, made my head spin.
Also? He was healing me. With every lap of his wolf tongue, the burned flesh of my side slowly began to heal. The pain receded to a mild tenderness. He lifted his muzzle, blue wolf eyes admiring his handiwork, before swinging his head to me and nuzzling my hand with his snout.
“You’re beautiful,” I said.
He shifted to human quickly, and I actually kinda missed the warmth of his fur. Of course, nothing beat Reese’s grin. “Hey,” he said.
I smiled back. “Hey, yourself.”
“How’re you feeling?”
“Better now.” His skin was slick with blood, and I fingered his previously injured ribs. “You hurt?”
He shook his head, and shifted closer to me, laying a hand on my thigh. His fingers curled in slightly, and he didn’t take his eyes off me.
I slowly lifted my torso with my hands braced behind me. “What?”
“I don’t even know. Everything. What Gage did, what happened to me, that choice he forced you to make. I’m not sure what to make of it.”
I swallowed. “Me either.”
“Did you really want me to run?”
“I wouldn’t have said it if I didn’t.” It would have killed me to watch him leave, but knowing he had a home to return to helped. “I was going to die either way. My pack would have been vulnerable no matter what I did. So protecting you was the only legacy I had left.”
He pushed himself forward, lips meeting mine. And as quickly as he kissed me, he pulled away and rose to his feet. “Let’s check on everyone.”
He was the perfect alpha mate, thinking of the pack. I clasped the hand he offered me and stood up.
I heard that, he raised an eyebrow at me.
Good.
All around us was carnage. Bodies in various forms of dismemberment lay on the bloody earth. G had the attempted-mutiny crew lined up against the wall, his arms crossed over his chest. There were only three of them left out of about a dozen. Vaughn was playing with Gage’s head, making the jaw move and saying things like, “I’m Gage, I’m a cheater, and a wolf still took my head off.”
“Vaughn!” I barked.
He started and dropped the head, quickly folding his hands behind his back. “What’s up?”
That Were. Couldn’t take him anywhere. “Close the gate.”
“Yes, Alpha!” He trotted toward the gate.
I immediately went to Bay, who was attempting to break the silver collar
around his neck. Just the sight of his beaten face was almost enough to send me into a rage on Gage’s body, but I controlled myself. I knelt next to him and ripped the collar in half.
Bay collapsed into my arms. I squeezed him tightly, noting his one arm dangling at his side. It was probably broken. Those fucking bastards. “I’m sorry,” I said into his matted hair. “I’m so sorry.”
Bay chuckled against my chest. “You didn’t know they’d do that, and I didn’t either. We can talk later about the bad decisions we made. For now, though, let’s just be happy it ended the way it did.” He pulled back. “My heart stopped when you bowed your head, Dare. I thought we were all goners until your mate went Super Wolf.”
Reese ducked his head, his cheeks coloring.
“Yeah, that was something else,” I said. I patted my brother on the back. “So what happened?”
“Spineless shits. Broke into my room while I was sleeping. Beat me up, chained me, then made a pack announcement that Gage was the interim alpha until you arrived back home and he could challenge.”
“Mav?”
“He’s fine. He and Cati hid. That was one of the reasons they went all out on me. They wanted to know where Cati and Mav were.”
I growled. “I need to get back to the pack. They inside the Hive?”
“Yeah, Gage set curfew and everything.”
“You okay?”
“Sure, I just need to shift and heal up. Sleep for a week.”
“Good idea. I don’t want to see you for seven days.”
Bay grinned, then shifted to his wolf. He shook out his fur and, with a look at me over his shoulder, slowly trotted away.
Beside me, Reese swayed on his feet, and I grabbed his arm to steady him. He shot me a smile that didn’t look all that happy. His face was pale, and his eyes didn’t seem to focus, right. “You need to rest.”
“So do you,” he said back.
“Yeah, sure, but I’m alpha, and I’ll rest after I check on my pack.”
He tilted his chin. “I’m the alpha’s mate. I should check on the pack too.”
“Reese,” I said firmly. “You were severely injured, then you gifted me all your energy, then you shifted into a wolf twice your normal size and tore the head off my challenger. I think you can rest while I check on the pack, okay?”
He was quiet for a moment before mumbling, “Yeah, sure, whatever.”
“Code to our room is 247283. Got it?”
He nodded.
“G,” I called. “Get Selene and Hans a room, walk Reese up to my room, then you and Jude get some rest.”
The big Were frowned and gestured to the Weres he was guarding. “But what about—?”
“I’ll handle them,” I said.
He hesitated for a moment before following my orders, gathering a stunned-looking Hans and Selene and leading them along with Jude and Reese into the Hive. I watched until they entered safely before turning to the traitors as well as the rest of my pack. “Vaughn, stay with me. The rest of you, head on inside and call a pack meeting. I know it’s late, but I want everyone up.”
Murmurs of assent greeted my directions, and then the only living beings that were left on the grounds were Vaughn and three other Weres who I once thought were loyal. I stood in front of them, pissed off I had to deal with them rather than heading inside to see my son. I crossed my arms over my chest and braced my feet apart. “Why?”
No one spoke for a long while, until finally a young Were, barely months from his muto, said, “He told us this wouldn’t last. That he had proof the Noweres were getting stronger, smarter, and that they’d eventually take over our compound, so we needed to start conquering other packs.”
“What kind of proof?”
The older Were beside him shrugged. “He never said.”
“And you believed him?”
“We didn’t have reason not to.”
For once Vaughn was quiet, frowning as he digested the Weres’ words before turning to me with a quizzical look.
“Sometimes it feels like we’re just waiting,” the third Were spoke up. “Gage said it’s not in our nature to be passive, that—”
“You think I’m passive?” I cut him off with a deep voice that rumbled with suppressed anger. “I’m not passive about the Noweres. But I don’t think the solution is to use resources to take over other packs. That’s not how I operate and if that’s what you want, then the gate is there. Leave.” I stepped closer. “But know this, there are many ways I’m actively working to keep us safe and happy. Maybe I should have done a better job of communicating that to the pack, and I’ll remedy that from here on out.” I straightened my back. “So, do you want to leave or stay?”
“Stay,” the youngest Were said quickly. “We shouldn’t have believed Gage and…I’m sorry.”
“Stay,” the other two echoed meekly.
I flicked my fingers toward the Hive. “Go to your apartments. Stay there until I decide on your punishment. Because trust me, there will be one.”
They rose with muttered thank-you’s and walked with their heads bowed. When they were out of sight, I sighed. There was still so much to do, and all I wanted was to crawl into bed with Reese. Hold him tight, try to convince him to stay with me even though I knew he wouldn’t.
Vaughn rubbed my shoulders. “You okay, Alpha?”
“Fucking exhausted,” I said, rolling my shoulders into his touch. “Little to the left.”
He laughed and smacked me. “Come on, let’s get inside, then you can screw your mate.”
I rolled my eyes at him as we trudged toward the Hive.
As soon as I walked through the doors, a small novus crashed into me, his skinny arms wrapping around my thigh. I bent and buried my face in my son’s neck, breathing him in, so glad I’d secured a hideout for him in the event of a challenge, and thrilled he had a mother who made sure he was safe.
I glanced up to see Cati watching us with wet eyes. I stuck out an arm and she ran, hugging us.
“Thank you,” I said into her hair. “You did good protecting him.”
“I got him to the safe place like you taught us,” she said. “And I had my knife, and I would have died protecting him.”
I ran a hand down her cheek. “I know you would have.”
Lowering Mav to the ground, I knelt in front of him. “You okay?”
He nodded, biting his lip. “I am now.”
“I’m sorry that had to happen, that you had to hide away with your mom, but it was for your safety, you understand?”
“Did you kill Gage?”
I hesitated. “Reese did.”
Cati made a small gasp, and Mav’s eyes widened. “Is he okay?”
“He’s fine, but he’s resting.”
“When he’s awake, can I see him?”
My heart cracked. “’Course, buddy.”
I rose to my feet and patted his back, then walked further into the Hive. The chatter of a large group of Weres grew louder, and when I reached the Forum, applause began.
I gazed around me and above me at my pack, all gathered on the floor and along the balconies, clapping and hollering. I waved, a swell of pride filling my chest. This was what Reese had done, given me back my pack which Gage had tried to steal. Never again would I be lax and allow a usurper to gain power.
I made a motion for them to quiet down, and when they were silent and listening intently, I began to speak.
Chapter Twenty
Reese
* * *
Dare’s presence was different. As I watched from my perch on the balcony on the top floor, hidden behind a column from his view, I sensed the change in him.
The pack did too, because after cheering his arrival, they were now silent. Rapt. Hanging on to Dare’s every word.
I should have been resting like Dare ordered me too, but watching him command the attention of his entire pack was mesmerizing.
“I’m sorry for what you went through in my absence,” Dare was saying. “But Gage l
ost the challenge, and he’ll receive a proper burial. From now on, there will be no more tolerance for members of this pack who threaten my leadership. If you have concerns, then I welcome discussion. But outright hostility and aggression will be met with swiftly. That is an error I made, out of guilt for the death of Gage’s father, and I’ll always regret the terror you’ve been put through over the last couple of days.”
He was larger, his voice deeper, and the power emanated from him in waves. There was no way anyone could miss the difference in him. I thought he’d been powerful before. I hadn’t known how much more he could be.
He went on to describe the fight, and his voice grew louder when he talked about my shift. “My mate knew I had no choice, and shifted so he was able to defeat Gage. He kept me alive. He’s resting now, but when you see him, please thank him for what he did.”
Dare dropped his head, and I strained to read what he was thinking. I was met with silence. My mate wasn’t allowing me to hear his thoughts, but his expression was somber when he lifted his head, and it wasn’t hard to imagine what he was thinking about—me leaving.
My chest tightened, and my lungs cramped, as if oxygen had been sucked from the air. I’d heard enough of Dare’s speech, seen that the pack was once again happy, so I ran up the stairs to our room, spun the lock to the correct numbers, and walked in.
Our room. Yep, I’d said that. In my head. It was, wasn’t it? The room that Dare and I had made ours, where we’d officially mated, where we’d feasted on fresh food, where I’d read his son stories and slept under the skylight.
After securing the door behind me, I stripped off my clothes, giving myself a quick wash before crawling into bed. But I didn’t sleep. As exhausted as I was physically, my mind was racing.
Home wasn’t a concept that had made sense to me for a long time. Home had been Astria. But it’d been Astria the way it was before the Nowere attack—when the threat of them had seemed more like a fairytale than a reality. We’d lived and loved in bliss. Even if some of my pack had lived, even if they were rebuilding, there was no way it’d be the same. Not after the devastation we’d seen.
Daring Fate: Silver Tip Pack series Page 21
