by Eve Newton
That’s exactly what I am and I won’t bow down to any of this mating pressure.
But I’m not a fool. What happened with Tony tonight will have consequences. An Alpha wolf like him won’t take kindly to my rejection or to me kicking his ass. I have no doubt that he’ll try to come at me.
God help him if he does, because he won’t be walking away.
Bring it, bitch! I’ll show you what I’m really made of.
No one fucks with me and gets away with it. If the pack wasn’t my priority and if we weren’t on the run, I would finish it now with him. But I can’t risk waging a war against him. It would expose me and, by extension, the pack. I can’t allow that. They’re my responsibility.
I draw in a breath in an effort to calm myself, as I reach the door to my room. I turn the knob and step inside to the near-empty space. A small cot for a bed, a window overlooking the courtyard below and two of my black duffel bags make up the entirety of everything within the room. I reach for one of the duffel bags—the one with the clothes in it. The other is full to the brim with weapons. It’s my portable armory. But I stop myself. I can’t be bothered to change. The strain of holding the wolf at bay for the last few hours amid three bouts of extreme violence—the bikers, Vicki and Tony—has left me feeling absolutely exhausted.
I crawl onto my bed.
As soon as my head hits the pillow, I’m out.
Chapter 6
~Aria~
The air is rancid.
Fire and death everywhere.
The stench of burning flesh. Their screams piercing through the eerie stillness of our decimated campsite. Too much. It’s all too much. It’s all I can do to stop myself from retching.
The thick smoke is drawing too much oxygen from the air, making it a struggle just to breathe.
I’m fighting to center myself. To get a hold of myself.
I can hear my father calling to me, begging me to leave with the others he’s evacuated. The few who haven’t already perished.
It’s just him and me.
He wants me to run. Wants me to leave.
But I won’t.
I can’t leave my father here to die.
He doesn’t want them to see what I really am.
They would never stop coming for me.
Right now they have no idea. Our wolf camp is just another victory to them. More wolves they’ve stomped out of existence.
“Aria!”
My father’s mammoth form stands in front of me. All height and muscle. Power and intimidation. His eyes are on fire with the sign of a coming shift. He’s seconds away from wolfing out.
“Run. Now. I will hold them off long enough for you to escape.”
I shake my head, tears stinging my eyes. “No. I won’t let you die.”
“That is not for you to decide. My fate is my choice, sweetheart. Now, leave. The pack needs you. You are their leader. Their Alpha.”
“Father—”
“You have more to do! Tonight is not your time to die!” he bellows at me. “Go! Now!”
When I still don’t move, he wolfs out. A mass of dark brown fur and glistening teeth fills my vision.
He swipes his paw at me, catching me off guard.
I hurtle back several feet, just shy of the concealment provided by the surrounding forest, and land hard on my back. The back of my head smacks painfully against the hard earth and it disorientates me for a few moments.
Groaning, I roll onto my side.
I take in the sight of our camp. It’s been our happy home for the last two years.
Until tonight. Until they found us.
Now it’s nothing but ash.
Rage rises within me as I watch a wall of gold form a semi-circle at the entry to the camp. Ten of them in total. They stand identically, impossible to tell apart, with their golden armor and their death-dealing swords. They call them Swords of Judgment. Made from pure silver and infused with a golden substance found only in their realm, they burn like a bitch when they strike one of our kind. They condemn the Tainted with them. That’s what they call my kind. Vampires and witches, too. To them we’re impure supernatural beings. To us, they are monsters. Evil warriors. Their swords aren’t the only thing to worry about either. Some of them don’t always use their swords. They use their black magic if the situation warrants it.
They close in around one of the camper vans.
And that’s when he emerges.
My father.
In wolf form, he prowls around the side of the camper van, coming into full view of the semi-circle of them before him.
The ten soldiers step forward in unison.
My father lets out a primal, throaty roar.
And then they advance on him.
I’m burning from the inside out now. My wolf is fighting desperately to break free. The rage coursing through me, coupled with the terror of seeing my father in mortal danger, has me losing my grip.
My control snaps.
My wolf erupts from within.
It breaches the surface.
I fail to stop it.
I shift.
My roar reverberates around the camp, the power behind it shaking the very ground beneath.
My father turns his wolf head and I see his eyes flash with fear.
“No!” he cries in wolf tongue. To the enemy, it sounds just like an animal cry of pain. A whimper.
I bound through the rough grass and brush, picking up speed quickly.
In seconds, I’m pouncing in front of my father, protecting him in my mammoth black wolf form—larger than his; larger than any other wolf in existence.
And stronger, too.
I swipe my large paws at the soldiers, propelling four of them into the trees behind them. Their impact takes chunks out of the old bark and they crash to the floor with heavy thuds.
It’s a whirlwind of swiping paws, crippling back leg kicks, mauling and claws and teeth devouring flesh.
The stench of their blood fills my nostrils and the wolf welcomes it.
It welcomes it too much.
And I’m not in control, because of the state of rage I was in when I shifted.
The wolf wants more.
To destroy. To maim. To rip apart. To kill.
Everything becomes a haze of red. Blood red. The Ambassador soldiers’ screams of agony drive my wolf on until there are only two remaining. The rest are a mess of bloodied flesh.
One keeps his distance as he circles me.
The other, I feel behind me with my father.
I need to protect my father before dealing with my opponent. But before I can make a move, the soldier thrusts his sword at me. I dodge its trajectory, but it doesn’t hit the ground. It’s being propelled by black magic. It’s like a missile, following its target. Oh, shit.
It hits me, plunging into my side.
The burning is like silver—unbearable—and my wolf collapses onto its stomach, groaning in agony.
“I’ve got you. Hold still, sweetheart.” It’s my father speaking to me in wolf tongue.
The next thing I know, the blade is ripped out of me.
But helping me costs him.
It costs him everything.
His ferocious howl is the last sound I hear from him.
I force myself back onto all fours and turn to see two swords protruding from his back and him down on the ground, his eyes half-closed in pain as he looks at me.
I hear him growl the word, “Run.”
As I feel the Ambassadors advancing on me again, I know I have no choice—other than death. I’m wounded. I can’t take them now, because my strength has been compromised by my supernatural need to heal. It will draw too much power from me.
And so, as I watch my father’s eyes close in death, I turn and bound towards the trees.
***
My eyes snap open in horror.
Not again. Every time I close my eyes I’m pulled back to that awful night.
It just won’t leave me.
<
br /> I try to reach for the scar on my side—the place where the Ambassador’s sword had stabbed me that day—but I’m stopped by some resistance.
I glance up frantically to see that my wrists are bound by cuffs to the headboard.
What the fuck?
I fight to get my bearings quickly, the nightmare having put me in one hell of a daze.
“You look absolutely delicious in bondage, Aria.”
My gaze snaps to my left, towards the sound of the familiar voice.
Tony is standing there, leaning against the wall with his arms folded, watching me.
“How did you get in here? How didn’t I—?”
“Sense me?” He smirks slyly. “Magic, baby. I have witches on my payroll, remember?”
“What the hell is this?” I hiss, struggling against the cuffs forcing my subjugation. Argh!
“After what happened between us, I had no choice.”
“What the fuck are you talking about?”
“I knew you’d come for me after I attacked you in my club. You wouldn’t just let it lie. I couldn’t let that happen.”
I don’t like where this is going; his creepy, ominous tone. “What have you done?”
“They would’ve found you eventually, anyway. You could only run for so long.”
“What?”
He pushes off the wall and rounds the bed, his perverted gaze sweeping over me lying in my leather pants and jacket with my arms bound to the bed. “You’re no normal wolf.”
“Tony, no, I—”
“No wolf has the strength and extreme power that you have. There’s something different about you. And that makes you a much more coveted prize to the Jurisdiction than me and my wolves could ever be to them.” He shakes his head sadly. “I traded you, Aria. Your life for mine. I had to. They won’t send their Ambassadors after me and mine again now. We struck a deal.”
“You fool! They won’t honor it!”
“I’m sorry. I really do love you.”
“You have no fucking clue what that means, you sick fuck!” I bellow, irately.
“You’re one to talk with all your emotionally unavailable bullshit!”
I growl and pull at the cuffs. Why aren’t they budging?
“You won’t break them. They’re silver.” He raises his eyebrows at me. “You can’t feel the burn?”
“They aren’t pure silver.”
“No, they’re plated, but you should still—”
“I’m no ordinary wolf, just like you said.”
His eyes widen then. He actually looks scared.
Yeah, well, he’s about to be fucking terrified.
“Where are they?”
“They’ll be here in minutes.”
And that’s all I need from him.
He can die now.
I pull on the strength of the wolf within. It’s a major risk, because it could have me wolfing out from touching it even slightly. But I don’t have a fucking choice now, do I?
An animalistic roar rips from my throat as I shatter the restraints and lunge across the bed at Tony.
I drive him to the floor and the claws of my right hand spring free against my will.
Shit.
I wrap my other hand around his neck and hover my claws in front of his face.
“You piece of shit! You betray me like this? I’ll kill you! Kill you!”
“It…was…me or…you,” he chokes out through my suffocating grip.
“It didn’t need to be. You took it there, you power-hungry fuck!”
A sudden blast of energy slams into me, blowing me across the room, away from Tony.
I groan as my back jars against the wall painfully and I look up quickly to see an Ambassador standing in the doorway, one hand raised with glowing black magic and a sword in his other.
He thrusts his hand out and a bolt of black magic slices through the left arm of my leather jacket, into my skin. I hiss. That shit burns like a bitch.
“Tainted,” he mutters.
I push off the wall and bite back, “Is that all you fuckers can say, huh? Those Jurisdiction dicks never taught you how to speak?”
His eyes narrow at me and he takes a heavy step towards me that has the floor shaking under his weight. God, how much do these guys weigh? Triple my weight, is my guess. All of them are always towering over six-foot and all muscle.
“Well?” I ask, trying to buy some time while my body heals itself.
Just a few more seconds.
I’m vaguely aware of Tony scrambling up off the floor. But my main focus is on this hulk of a soldier in front of me.
It’s not his size that I’m worried about. I’m strong enough to match his brute strength. That was tried and tested that night when they killed my father. I’m actually the only wolf who can match them that way. No, it’s his sword and his magic that concerns me.
He doesn’t respond. He’s like a damn robot, only programmed to kill my kind, not to engage in any other way. A soldier to the core, following orders and nothing more.
Wounds healed. I’m good to go.
I shift my weight, ready to do what I need to.
But that’s when Tony decides to fuck me over again. “She’s gonna pounce!” he warns the soldier.
Son of a bitch!
I have no choice now.
I do pounce. But not in any way that Tony would’ve seen before.
No, my speed is unmatched. My movement is barely perceptible to the naked eye, because I’m so incredibly fast.
In a split second, I’ve covered the twenty-foot distance between me and the Ambassador.
All my claws spring free then on instinct and I dig them into his chest as I drive him to the floor.
He cries out as I slice deep, through his armor.
His eyes widen in shock. “What is this?” he gasps out.
I guess no other wolf has been able to penetrate his armor before then.
Well, let me be his fucking first then.
He’s so taken aback by it that he doesn’t react in time to stop me, before I rip my claws from his chest, grab his neck and twist it viciously.
The satisfying crack lets me know he’s dead.
“Holy shit,” Tony murmurs from behind me.
I get to my feet and fight to draw in a calming breath. My wolf is burning white-hot, right at the surface now. Too much violence, rage and blood. It’s really fucking painful to keep it pushed down. But if I shift in this state, I won’t be able to maintain control. I’ll be all animal.
I can’t risk it.
I need my wits about me.
The distraction of trying to cool my wolf down costs me big time then.
The floor shudders and before I can even turn around, I feel them.
More Ambassadors.
They don’t take their chances like the other one did.
No, they start firing their black magic wildly.
Bolt after brutal bolt rips into me. Every hit is like a five-hundred-pound weight smashing into me and pushing me back across the room, inch by inch, as I fight to dig the heels of my boots into the concrete floor to gain some traction.
I look up at the sound of more footsteps.
In seconds, the room is full of them. Seven Ambassador soldiers.
I glance around. Tony’s gone. He must’ve snuck out in the chaos. Sly fucker.
My wolf instincts alert me to a threat from my right. I struggle to turn into it.
I just manage it in time as a sword slices through the air towards me.
I throw out my hands, grabbing hold of the arms of the wielder. Growling from the strain of summoning such strength when I’m injured so fucking badly from their magic, I manage to thrust my knee up and strike his arms, knocking the sword from his grasp.
Phew. That damn sword would’ve finished this fight for me pretty damn quickly. The combination of the weapon with their black magic coursing through it is brutal. I still have that damn scar from the last time one of them stabbed me six months ago.
And wolves don’t scar. They heal incredibly quickly from any wound. So, that just tells you how powerful these Ambassadors really are.
Another one of them lunges at me, while the others continue to blast me with their magic.
If I was any other wolf I’d be dead by now.
I dodge the attack.
But my blood runs cold as I realize it was a strategic move on their part as, in the next second, they all blast me with their black magic.
The sudden blow rips me off my feet and propels me into the window.
Oh. My. God.
I careen through it, the violent sound of shattering glass assaulting my sensitive wolf hearing painfully.
I scream as I free-fall the forty-foot drop from the window.
I land hard on the abrasive concrete of the courtyard.
Jesus fuck.
Coughing up blood, I try to force my body to move.
It resists. Too much pain. Everywhere. I can’t feel a part of my body that isn’t bloodied, bruised or broken right now and in incredible agony.
“What are you doing? Shift! Now!”
What? Who the hell is that?
I don’t recognize the voice, but it’s thick with a British accent. A woman.
What’s happening?
Am I imagining things now?
“Shift!” she commands. Her tone is filled with attitude, instantly pissing me off.
“Can’t,” I manage to eke out, as I finally succeed in rolling to my side. I can’t do it. I can’t lose control again like I did that night six months ago.
And that’s when I see them: the Ambassadors barreling out of the compound towards me. They’ve come to finish me off.
A violent gust of wind whips around me, coming out of nowhere.
The ‘voice woman’ suddenly stands in front of me.
She looks like a fucking fashion model, standing there with her hand on the hip of some sort of expensive looking black dress and her ridiculously high heels scraping on the concrete as she shifts her weight while she takes me in. She turns her head quickly towards the Ambassadors, her long brown hair whipping around as she does.
“Humph,” she mutters to herself, before turning her attention back to me. “You’re badly hurt. You need time to heal,” she says, kneeling down in front of me.
Really? No shit.
“Who…you?” I gasp out on a shaky breath.