by Dannika Dark
With my heart still beating wildly, I limped halfway across the room before a husky voice yelled out, “Hey, bitch!”
I whirled around. A Shifter plucked the knife from the panther’s chest and hurled it at me. The blade rotated toward me like a propeller slicing the air.
A split second before it struck me in the chest, a man appeared out of nowhere and rushed in front of me. I trembled, touching my bloody dress in disbelief.
“You’ll pay for that,” the stranger shouted.
When he turned around, I recognized the bright-haired Vampire.
“I don’t believe we’ve had introductions. I’m Atticus,” he said coolly, the handle of the blade still protruding from his chest. “With your permission, I’d like to ask for a dance. Not right this moment of course, but perhaps later?”
I stood aghast, bemused by his politeness amid the chaos. “All right,” I heard myself saying. Did I just agree to dance with a Vampire in the middle of a Shifter war?
The knife made a terrible sound when he pulled it from his chest and grimaced. “Splendid.” Atticus crumpled into a chair, his face pale. Vampires could heal, but the consumption of blood made the process quicker.
I stepped forward and met his gaze without looking away. For Vampires, that was a show of trust. “What if I give you a drink instead of a dance?” I would have never offered my blood to a Vampire, but Atticus had saved my life.
His black eyes were cold and bottomless. “Not a chance. Just catching my breath before I crush the idiot who threw the knife—the one I can hear walking toward us.”
Atticus spun out of his chair and gripped the man by the neck, pulling him close and sinking his fangs into the Shifter’s throat. I turned away, my stomach twisting in disgust.
Lexi and Trevor had teamed up against a Shifter—her wolf intimidating and biting him while Trevor assailed him with a series of punches. Denver was lying semiconscious on the floor. He had a broken nose, a gash on his arm, and blood matted his blond hair from a laceration on his head.
“Denny!”
To my horror, a burly Shifter strolled into the room, dragging Maizy by the hand. Her eyes widened at the sight of Denver’s unconscious body not twenty feet ahead.
“Denny!” she cried out.
“Let the little one go!” I shouted, approaching him unarmed.
The man lifted her onto the bar with a violent motion and she hit her knee on the edge. Maizy lay on her side, holding her leg and crying.
He bared his teeth. “Everyone back off or I’ll—”
Before he could finish the thought, a Chitah tackled him at lightning speed. The man made a gurgling sound as the Chitah tore at his throat with sharp canines.
Austin rushed to Denver, making him shift to his animal and then back. Denver sat up, holding his head where a small bump had formed. Then he shoved Austin away when he heard Maizy’s cry. Knowing his nudity would startle a human child, he put on his jeans and went to her.
“I got you,” he said, scooping her into his arms. She turned into him to avoid seeing the mayhem around her, and Denver disappeared with her into the kitchen behind the bar.
I stumbled when a loud shotgun blasted. Lynn centered herself in the hall like the angel of death, aiming her gun at anyone who crossed her path. “Where’s my daughter!”
“Lynn, she’s safe,” I called out. “Denver has her.”
When a man attacked her from the side, knocking the gun out of her hands, I unleashed my wolf.
***
Lorenzo circled the Shifter, keeping his reflexes quick and his eyes sharp. While the man was a worthy opponent, Lorenzo decided the guy’s ego would lead to impulsive decisions.
Of course, Lorenzo had a weakness of his own: impatience. He wanted to wrap his fingers tightly around Fox’s windpipe. Despite how quickly this fight needed to end so he could accomplish that task, he’d been relieved when Ivy hadn’t intervened. She understood the true Shifter ways and how to fight with honor.
“You move like a rabbit.” His opponent swept out his leg.
Lorenzo jumped out of the way and delivered a forceful kick to the man’s chest. “And you fight like a giraffe.”
The man staggered back and then flipped over a table to make more room. “This is a good boost for my ego to fight an alpha. The fact I’ve lasted this long gives me a little hope.”
“Hope for what?” Lorenzo dodged a punch and threw a hard right.
The man spun away, his black hair rippling around like a wave. “Taking out Fox when the time’s right.”
Lorenzo knocked him in the jaw. “You’re two men down.”
“Two weak men.” He spat out a mouthful of blood. “Panthers are strong, but they’re fucking crazy and everyone knows it. Fox was an idiot for bringing them in.”
“There is more honor in following an alpha Packmaster than a rogue pretender.” Lorenzo arched back and weaved around another punch.
“Some of us would rather lead than follow. Fuck alphas. You guys think you’re invincible, but half of you aren’t even fit to lead a pack. I’ve seen better men in lower ranks more capable of being a Packmaster. What the hell makes you so goddamn special?”
With each exchange, Lorenzo delivered a kick, a punch, or a defensive maneuver. “Because an alpha is born with a gene you do not possess. It’s a calling. We will bleed and die for our pack and do whatever it takes to keep the family together. Courage. Spirit. Strength. Loyalty. These are weapons you do not possess.” Each punch became more solid than the last. “Greed is your shield and envy is your sword. No man can win a battle with armor forged from fear. You will never become a leader unless you are willing to die. That’s what separates the alpha from the omega!”
Lorenzo roared, striking mercilessly until the Shifter fell onto his back. He grabbed a knife from a dirty plate, wiped the sharp instrument clean on his pants, and fell to his knees, plunging the blade into the man’s heart. His enemy’s pupils engorged, and his mouth opened in a soundless scream.
“Die a good death, Shifter. Take your dark spirit elsewhere.” Lorenzo ran his fingers over the man’s eyes and closed them.
He flinched when a shotgun went off. The older woman in Austin’s pack fell over when a man knocked the gun out of her hands. Lorenzo’s heart stopped when he saw Ivy’s long braid swing as she shifted into her silver wolf and attacked the Shifter.
“Ivy!” He shoved a man out of the way. Jesus, he had to get to her.
The blue-haired bartender threw a blast of energy into Austin. Neither the staff nor the customers knew what to do except attack anyone who came within reach.
The Shifter flipped Ivy’s wolf onto her back, but she had latched onto his shoulder with a mouthful of angry teeth. The bastard punched her in the side with a tight fist, making her bite harder.
“How dare you!” Lorenzo raged, pulling the man by his shirt.
Ivy’s wolf flipped onto her feet, hopping until she gained her balance.
Suddenly, something struck Lorenzo on his skull and the sharp pain caused him to fall to his knees. The noise in the room dulled. It felt as if he had earplugs in and he blinked, watching spatters of crimson wet the dark carpet like tiny raindrops. It tickled his forehead and got in his eyes. He flattened his hand on the floor, struggling to hold on to consciousness.
When his hearing returned, a man was speaking in midsentence.
“…nothing but a lowdown, dirty Indian. Ivy’s part, but not full-blooded. Maybe that’s why she’s better for me than her mother. I have claim on her in a way you never will, so remain on your knees like a good dog.”
In a swift movement too fast to track, Lorenzo reached around and yanked Fox so hard by the ankles that he knocked him to the floor. Ivy’s cane rolled out of his hand, Lorenzo’s blood staining the silver grip. He stood up and touched the top of his head, his fingers exploring the wound.
Ivy and a dirty brown wolf were fighting to the death. He was bigger, but she’d locked her jaws on his throat and wasn’
t letting go. Wheeler shifted and his wolf jumped in. There was no honor in seeing a male attack a female, and no decent packmate would watch a rogue draw blood from his sister.
“So you think you’re the one who’s gonna tame that wolf.” Fox rose to his feet. He matched Lorenzo’s height with more brawn. Salt-and-pepper hair revealed his age to be well over two hundred. His blue eyes were piercing, filled with nothing but malice.
Loud crashes and shouts exploded around them, but Lorenzo wiped the blood out of his eyes and ignored everything except Fox.
His enemy.
“At last we meet,” Lorenzo said. “The man who would rape a child and hunt her down all these years later to make her his bride.” His fingers splayed as he tried to restrain his wolf.
Fox laughed and it was a boisterous sound. “Child? That woman was no child. Age is nothing but a number when you’ve lived as long as I have. You know nothing about our past. Ivy and I had a good relationship; she’s twisted it all around because of her father and that damn baby. Probably not even mine.”
Lorenzo lifted his chin.
“Yeah, that’s right. You should have seen the way she used to run around the house with all that hair flying behind her before she started braiding it. The way she’d lean over the back of the sofa, riling up some of the men in the pack. The way her dress hitched up her legs when she rode bareback on that horse of hers.”
Lorenzo assailed him with a series of vicious punches to the face. Fox retaliated, striking Lorenzo in the eye.
“You had no right!” Lorenzo saw red, and it wasn’t from the blood in his eyes.
Fox charged at Lorenzo, slamming him against the wall. Up ahead, the front door opened and people were running out. Fox struck Lorenzo in the gut, pinning him with his entire body as he did so.
“I had every right. Her mother should have been mine,” Fox babbled. “Should have been mine but he took that away. She made me kill her. Goddammit, I loved that woman and she left me with no choice. Ivan couldn’t know—he couldn’t find out. She chose that bastard!” he said in an unintelligible growl, still pinning Lorenzo to the wall as he continued to pelt him with heavy blows.
And then it became clear that Ivy’s mother hadn’t committed suicide. She’d wanted to come clean with her mate. Fox claimed he loved her, but in the end he decided his position in the pack was more important than the woman he allegedly loved.
Just like Lorenzo’s uncle.
Lorenzo tightened the muscles in his stomach and gripped Fox’s wrist, ceasing the man’s attack. He brushed his lips against Fox’s mangled ear. “There will be no mercy for you.”
A chaotic rhythm of wolves moved around him, as if summoning his own.
Lorenzo kicked off the wall and collapsed on top of Fox, choking him and slamming the back of his skull against the floor. Lorenzo dizzily looked around, the wound on his own head throbbing.
Fox’s eyes bulged, his face turning a sickly shade of purple. He reached out, wrapping his fingers around the handle of a gun lying on his right.
“To the death,” Lorenzo whispered, a promise on his lips.
This wolf did not deserve an honorable death. Now Lorenzo understood his grandmother’s prophecy. In his culture, the sun represented the warm mother who embraced her children, and the moon was the cold mother who punished them. Maybe it was superstition, but it’s why he’d never felt at ease on a full moon. His grandmother saw blood on the moon—a vengeful mother. Lorenzo’s wolf howled and he relinquished all power, leaving Fox at the mercy of his animal as he shifted.
Fox turned the gun toward him and, seconds later, pulled the trigger.
Chapter 20
When I shifted back to human form, I turned my eyes away from the wolves who were savagely tearing at each other’s throats. It took a moment to adjust to being in human form. My bloodstained dress was carelessly spread out on the floor, and my long hair covered my body like a garment.
Wheeler’s wolf sank his teeth into the other wolf’s throat, thrashing his head violently.
Serenity overcame me, as if I were dreamwalking in my memories.
A wolf charged into the kitchen and screams pealed out. He immediately scurried back into the room, toenails scraping the floor in a desperate attempt to flee. Behind him, an impressive wolf that looked more like a Siberian husky stalked out with death in his eyes.
Denver’s eyes.
Instead of going after the wolf, he backed up. Saliva dripped from his mouth as he continued to threaten everyone with a low and deadly growl before returning to the kitchen.
I gripped a chair and pulled myself up, blood oozing between my toes from the oversaturated carpet. Then I saw it.
A few feet ahead, Lorenzo shifted. His grey wolf stood astride Fox, who lifted a gun from the floor, moving his arm toward Lorenzo’s head. Raw anguish constricted my heart and I knew not which way to turn.
Lorenzo’s wolf latched on to Fox’s arm and he shook his head. The gun went off and tumbled immediately to the floor due to the violent thrashing of the wolf’s head.
I staggered forward, moving around Fox until I reached the gun. I leisurely bent down and lifted the weapon, curling my finger around the trigger. Something took over me… something dark.
A wolf vaulted off the bar and landed on Jericho’s back. April cowered behind the bar, throwing bottles at anyone who got close to her. Fox’s pack had managed to disarm most of us, but I heard another gunshot go off. Some shifted, others remained in human form, but there was chaos all around in this sanguinary battle.
“Get back, Lorenzo,” I said in a low voice.
His wolf tugged at Fox’s arm, ignoring me.
“Thunder Wolf! Let me reclaim my honor.”
Thunder lifted his head and a flicker of understanding sparked in his eyes. He reluctantly stepped back.
“I was still conscious when I shifted, Fox. Long enough to hear your confession. How could you do it? My mother!” I screamed, fury erupting from my soul. “The woman who gave life to me.” I lowered the gun from his head to his heart. “You took more than my innocence that day. You took my mother, my son, my father’s love, my horse, and my future. Yet I am still here. I will never gain back what I’ve lost, but the one thing you can never take away is my heart. And it loves, Fox. It loves my family, it loves this proud alpha standing before you, it loves a child I will never hold, and it most certainly will never love you.”
Crack.
The gun went off and a pool of blood spread across his chest like a plague. Lorenzo’s wolf took in his scent, checking for signs of life. Without pause, he ran forward and joined Austin’s black wolf. By this time, everyone had shifted.
I knelt down and placed the gun on Fox’s lifeless chest, erasing all hope that someday I might reunite with my grown son. How could a child have love for a woman who took the life of his father?
Yet I held no remorse for what I’d done. Was I the first girl Fox had taken so cruelly? Was I the last? I shuddered to think. Perhaps with this violent end, I saved more lives than I took.
The sounds died down and I collapsed, falling to my knees with my head hung low.
“Ivy…” A pair of hands cradled my head and I looked into Lorenzo’s dark and captivating eyes. “Sweet Ivy. It’s over.” He placed a kiss on my forehead. “My brave warrior.”
Tears spilled down my cheeks. “I took a life.”
“You saved a life. Yours. Mine. Your son’s.” He lifted my chin and stroked my cheek with his fingers. “I’ve never known such a fierce heart to be caged inside a woman. Your mother deserved to have her death avenged. Now that her name is cleared, you will never be blackened by Fox’s wickedness and lies.”
Lorenzo rose to his feet and helped me to stand before walking away. When he returned, he washed the blood from my body with a wet towel and then dressed me in his red flannel shirt. After carefully securing each button, he tucked my loose hair behind my ears. “The battle is over. Go look after your pack. Some are injured and need
your care.”
He trudged toward Jericho’s injured wolf and knelt down, coaxing him to shift by summoning his alpha voice.
Austin shifted back and called me over to help. He found a rag and wiped the beads of sweat forming on his brow. “Stay with April,” he said, panting and out of breath. The muscles on his torso flexed as he lifted one of the dead bodies and dragged it toward the center of the room.
I moved around the bar, stepping over the pieces of broken glass. April had a cut on her arm, so I found a shirt lying near the bar and wrapped her wound to staunch the bleeding.
“Holy smokes. I’ve never seen anything like that before,” she said, out of breath. “My hands were shaking when I fired the gun. I was so scared I’d hit the wrong person, so I dropped it and ran. Everyone was moving so fast and—”
“It’s fine,” I said, smoothing her blond hair away from her face. “You’re just a human; this isn’t something you expect to see every day. You did good, April. All the bottles you threw covered the floor in broken glass and not only kept you safe, but also the pack. Fox’s men shifted too early and their paws were cut up, so it gave us an advantage. You need to see a healer and get your arm fixed up.”
“Where’s Reno? Is he okay?”
“Right here, princess,” he said, leaning over the bar. “How’s my girl doing?”
I turned back to look up at him. “She needs a Relic.”
He shook his head while looking at the streaks of blood on her arm. “We’re not about to sit around wasting time when the hospital is just up the street.”
“Humans ask lots of questions in the emergency room,” I said. “Be sure to come up with a good lie about how she got the cut or else they’ll think you had something to do with it. You should go with her, but clean up in the bathroom first. Get a change of clothes for April; her jeans are soaked in alcohol.”