He followed suit and they hurried down to Nessie and Charlie’s new bunker. His mother took their hands. Gazing up at him with shimmering eyes, she croaked, “Stay away from Jaxon at all costs. He can’t challenge you if he can’t get to you.”
“Mum…”
“I’m serious, Torin. I’ve lost too much to that bastard already.”
He gave his Mum a hug, glancing up at Nessie’s fierce face.
“I’ll be up as soon as the sun sets.”
“Nessie,” Charlie growled.
She glared over at him. “Charlie,” she growled back.
Torin sighed. “Please don’t get any ideas from my bull-headed sister,” he said to Autumn. “Hold up…” He glanced around the room. “Where’s Kay?”
His mother sniffled. “I don’t know. She ran off the moment she heard about Blackmoon coming.”
He let out a long sigh. As if he didn’t have enough on his plate. But he didn’t have much time to track down his rebel sister.
In fact, as Alaric’s gruff yell echoed from the doorway upstairs, he knew he was out of time. If yesterday was any indication, he’d probably run into Kay soon enough.
“I have to go,” he said, his eyes automatically turning to Autumn. She stepped forward, closing the distance between them and placing her hands on his face.
“You have to come back to me,” she whispered. “You still have a lot to show me when it comes to loving.”
He couldn’t help the small smirk at the thought. If he made it back to her, he planned on taking an extended vacation enjoying every inch of her. “I plan on loving you a lifetime, gorgeous.”
Pressing his lips against hers for just a moment, he relished the kiss before he forced himself to pull away and leave the bunker.
As soon as he was outside, he could hear the shouts of men just outside the village. The battle raged for hours, but they managed to drive them back. And Torin managed to steer clear of Jaxon.
But, alas, he couldn’t avoid him forever it seemed. As much as he dodged between trees, other warriors, the clanking of metal on metal ringing in his ears as swords clashed and joined the chorus of battle around him, Jaxon caught up with him at last.
“I get the feeling you’re avoiding me,” Jaxon sneered as his sword smashed into his own.
Torin shrugged as he parried. “What can I say? Crazy assholes aren’t my type.”
Jaxon’s mouth curved as he swatted his sword away. “You won’t be taking my victory away this time.”
Growling, Torin slashed at him again. “Let’s see if you fight like a man, or the monster I know you are.”
An evil grin broke across Jaxon’s face. “I fight…to win.”
As the two parried each other, the force of the giant’s blows radiated down his arm with every swing. Every clash shook his body, draining him bit by bit. But Torin had speed on his side. He flitted around the big brute in circles, managing to knick him a few times.
But none of the wounds were enough to weaken him. If anything, they seemed to spur the crazy bastard on. His swings came faster and harder. Torin could barely dodge them now. Rolling out of the way, Torin came to crouch just in time to get a boot in his face, sending him flying. He landed hard, knocking the breath out of him. Jaxon’s foot smashed down on his wrist, and his sword was swiftly kicked away.
Jaxon’s sneered down at him as he sprawled on the ground, his sword landing several yards away and well out of reach. “I am over a century older than you, boy. Violence is in my blood. I relish it. I bathe in it.” He crouched down, tapping Torin on the cheek with the tip of his sword. “You didn’t stand a chance.”
He tried to roll away, yelping as Jaxon’s sword sank into his shoulder, pinning him to the ground. A second glint of silver sparkled in the moonlight as Jaxon pulled a dagger from his boot. This was it. He had let down his entire pack. His family. His mate. Everyone. This deranged monster was about to take over his pack.
“Stop!”
All of a sudden, a familiar head of white-blonde hair stood over his body directly in front of Jaxon, straddling the sword wedged in Torin’s shoulder.
“Kay, get out of here!” Torin growled, trying to push his sister off of him. And here he’d thought he’d gotten lucky and she’d actually found a good hidey-hole to ride out the battle. But no, not Kay. Apparently, she wanted to be right in the action.
Jaxon’s head lifted, the fingers still clutching the sword gripping the hilt a tad tighter. His wide mouth curved in a smirk. “Well, aren’t you a pretty pale thing. I’ll deal with you in a second, princess.”
“I offer myself as your mate in return for a vow of peace between our two packs.”
Jaxon quirked his brow at her. “I am about to take control of two packs. What makes you think a woman would be worth more than that?”
Kay’s throat moved as she swallowed hard, lifting her head to the sky, allowing the moonlight to illuminate her pale face.
And then he heard the distinct pop of her bones cracking.
Torin found himself shaking his head. Denial even though it was happening right before his eyes. Kay’s skin shook, the bones beneath it moving, morphing. Fur erupted from her changing form.
“No,” he whispered. “Kay…”
But, there she was. Standing on all fours with fur as white as snow, the same icy blue eyes shining out from her wolfish face.
He heard the dozens of men around him suck in harsh breaths at the spectacle. And the realization of what they’d just witnessed. A true lycana, untainted and pure.
“You!” Several voices called.
Torin turned, finding Charlie and Nessie staring at Kay’s new form.
“It was you that warned us about…” Nessie’s stunned gaze glanced over at Jaxon, narrowing. “Him.”
Kay nodded her head and then shifted back a moment later. Making Torin snap his head away. He had no desire to see his little sister naked.
But he caught Jaxon’s face lighting up, a glint coming to his eyes as he smiled. “I accept your offer.”
Jaxon took a step forward, but Kay stood her ground, throwing a stiff arm up. “Not so fast, buddy. I require a written agreement first.”
“Kay, no!” Torin yelled, struggling against the sword still seated in his shoulder. Jaxon released the hilt, allowing him to yank it free and stumble to his feet.
“And my friend happens to have one handy for us to sign,” Kay continued, ignoring him.
He grabbed her arm, swinging her around, uncaring about her lack of clothes at the moment. “No!”
“I will not allow our pack to be put under his rule, Tor. Not while I can prevent it. You tried, brother. But Pack Law is on my side.”
“She’s right,” Alaric said as he stepped out of the crowd, holding a piece of parchment. “As a pack lycana, she cannot be taken by a rival pack by force. Only her family, or herself, can offer her as a mate. She cannot be claimed without her consent. It is the Leader’s Sacred Rule.”
Torin clenched his teeth. “I know Pack Law.” Mates were coveted, but lycanas. They were prized, treasured. They were a pack’s most valued asset. And they were to be protected above all else. For one simple fact. They had the highest chance of producing healthy lycan offspring. And the only ones that could produce more of their own kind.
“I do not agree to this,” Torin snapped.
“But I do,” Kay snapped back.
Alaric handed the parchment to Jaxon, who scanned over it. His mega-watt smile faded with each sentence. He lifted his gaze, looking over the parchment at Kay. “This...agreement...states that we must release all slaves in addition to a vow of peace, which by the way is to remain in effect as long as either of us lives.”
Kay nodded. “You read that correctly.”
Jaxon quirked a brow. “It also forbids me from touching you until after the next full moon during the bonding ritual.”
And Kay slammed her hands on her hips. “Do you want me or not?”
Jaxon’s eyes flicke
red over her bare body, making Torin clench his fists. He stripped his shirt off, throwing it over Kay’s shoulders and giving Jaxon a dirty look.
“Very well,” Jaxon stated, scribbling a sloppy signature onto the parchment.
Alaric took the parchment from him and handed it to his sister. And with a shaking hand, Kay signed her own name.
AUTHOR’S NOTE
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Kiss of Fire: A Dystopian Shifter Romance (The Whitemoon Warriors #2) (The Whitemoon Warriors Series) Page 17