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Enough of that stuff and my heart would stop completely, with no hope of my regenerative powers kicking in afterwards. It was lethal, a one-and-done situation.
My skin went cold at the realization.
Ricardo stepped forward with his smug smile, kneeling to be at eye level with me. Those dark eyes gleamed back at me with mischief underlined with pure hatred.
“After everything we did for you: setting you up with reliable work, helping to grow your wealth with our endless opportunities, and even making you a partner. We never needed to do all that for you, but we saw your potential, Liam. You had what it took to be one of us.”
Gritting my teeth through the lingering pain of the last round of prodding, I felt as my healing kicked in again, more sluggish than usual. “Until I finally opened my eyes.”
He scoffed. “Until you lost your backbone. It’s a shame. We could’ve accomplished so much together.”
“If you hadn’t left without any warning, there was a chance we could’ve worked things out ‘like men,’” Alphonse taunted, dark grin matching his brother’s. “But you couldn’t even face us. You’re a coward; we could’ve saved you if you had let us.”
“You know that’s not true,” I muttered, growing angrier as they tried to lay everything out like I had been the problem. As if I had been the psychopath with murderous tendencies. “You never would’ve let me leave. I did what I had to do.”
Alphonse snickered and crossed his arms over his chest. “You burned us in more ways than one. You thought you could run from your problems, but now you’re going to pay for it with your life.”
I tried to keep my composure, afraid of making Cora panic even more than she already was. But I knew it wouldn’t take much mountain ash to render me completely useless—even kill me.
Even one cut from that blade could give me irreparable damage, and I couldn’t risk it.
Sucking in a deep breath as Ricardo approached with the blade in his hand, I braced myself for anything. At the very least, they weren’t shocking me, and I wasn’t bound. I could fight them off. I just needed the chance without triggering a volley of gunfire. I couldn’t risk Cora getting hit by a stray.
“Think about us as you cross to the other side,” Ricardo sneered, bringing the blade up to my left arm. “But not before we carve you up first.”
Trying to steady myself, I only looked ahead and waited. Everything was happening too fast. I couldn’t come up with a solution fast enough.
Until a nearby snarl shook the landscape around us, and their attention shifted.
To our left, pounding footfalls ran in, only for one of the men to be dropped and dragged away in the dark. Immediate concern ran through the others as they tensed, lifting their guns defensively.
In the back, another fell, screaming as he was dragged away. His sounds were concealed by heavy growling, and I had no doubt that backup had arrived.
Shouts rang out among the armed men as they went to shoot, only to find they were far too slow.
The shifters rolled in, fighting them off as quickly and efficiently as they could.
With everyone distracted, I knew it was my chance.
“Liam!” Cora cried, trembling from fear in the dark. Surely, she knew they were there to help as they picked off the men one by one. I assumed she was afraid of being hit by one of the bullets, but I soon realized her concern was for me.
I had been moments away from getting sliced by the mountain ash-tainted blade, and I had found myself unmoving still.
I need to act.
To my surprise, the sound of her voice filled me with pure energy and strength. It rippled through my system, almost like I was pumped full of caffeine and wearing a suit of armor simultaneously.
Accompanied by warmth, I knew it was from the connection. That tether between us seemed to vibrate with urgency and affection, silently screaming for me to act.
Letting the instincts take over, I took in that lent strength from Cora and shifted.
It had been a long time since I took on my wolf’s form, but seeing everything from that perspective just made sense.
Connecting with my inner wolf again, I lunged at Ricardo, making him drop the blade at once. He fell to the ground, forcing Alphonse and the other men to back up, overcome by the surprise.
They didn’t know enough about shifters to take us out with confidence. They were in over their heads.
A scream came from the tree Cora was bound to, but it wasn’t hers. As I attacked Ricardo, Finn latched his jaw around Zain’s leg and yanked him away from her, dragging him into the woods as he clawed at the ground. It was useless, and before long, he was completely out of sight.
