There’s a blur, and a wolf appears between us and our escape.
Aiden. And he has a knife in his hands. He howls, raising the blade, aiming for Noah’s throat.
Hugh leaps between us and the blade.
A final surge of lightning flashes from the tiara. I cry out, directing the flow of power as best I can. It blasts in a smooth channel right into Hugh, making his eye sockets blaze bright with amber fire.
The ghost wolf leaps, whirls in midair, and turns on Aiden. I expect him to run through the alpha like he did the Warden, but when his paws hit Aiden’s chest, I hear a thump. He crashes into Aiden as a fully corporeal form. Taken by surprise, Aiden tries to fight, but Hugh’s already knocked him to the ground. The former ghost wolf opens his jaws and vomits up a ball of blue light straight into Aiden’s face.
Aiden’s body starts to convulse.
Noah doesn’t hesitate, he runs for the ladder. I cling to his neck, so he can free his arms and climb up a few rungs.
“Stop them!” the Warden shouts. He frees himself from the red-eyed wolves and starts to run towards us.
A dark-hooded figure leaps from the crowd and attacks the Warden. Tucked against Noah, I can’t see what happens, but in the end, the Warden goes flying into a flock of enforcers, who clamp their arms around him.
The hood falls away from the shadowy figure’s head, revealing Sully. Somehow, he must have infiltrated the pack in time for the ritual. “For Moira,” he snarls at the Warden. “Next time, I won’t miss.”
He makes a beeline towards the ladder, leaping atop the dais and grabbing onto the lowest rung of the ladder just before it swings out of reach. This makes the ladder swing, which makes my stomach swoop. I duck my head, focusing on Noah’s strong arms around me. He’s got me, he’ll never let go.
Above our head, Esme cackles and whoops as the chopper lifts us higher and higher to freedom.
The wind buffets the heck out of me and Noah, whipping my hair over my face. I peek through the strands, sucking in cold air to fight the fear of being suspended on a flimsy rope ladder several hundred feet above the ground.
Below us, the Celestial Cradle glows with the golden light of the torches lit for the ceremony. It gets smaller and smaller as the helicopter gains height, until the wolves look like scurrying ants and the torches are mere spots of light.
And then we’re speeding away over the dark forest, leaving behind the pack lands that were my home for so long.
But no longer. I’ve given up my role as Adalwulf Seeress, forever. I’ve left my pack, my birthright, behind. That life is over, and this is goodbye.
“You all right?” Noah murmurs in my ear. I cling more tightly to him, and he gives me a reassuring squeeze. I press my face to his bare chest, inhaling his woodsy scent until calm rushes through me. Whatever my destiny, whatever happens next, I’ll face it with Noah.
“You lovebirds okay?” Esme shouts.
“We’re okay,” I shout back. We’re okay, I mouth again to Noah. He grins, and my mating mark throbs, reminding me I’m his. Reminding me that whenever I’m with him, I’m home.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Noah
I sit behind Aster in a hot bath, leaning back against the marble and slowly dragging a warm washcloth up her thigh. After our dramatic exit by helicopter from the Adalwulf estate, our pilots–three rowdy young werebear mercs Sully brought in–landed the bird at The Blackthroat estate where I carried Aster straight to the en suite bath in our room.
Getting her naked, holding her, keeping our bodies connected skin-to-skin felt like a necessity. Even now, having her in my arms, knowing she truly is mine, the sense of near desperation clings to me.
I still don’t understand everything that happened. Even up on that cracked dais, I didn’t know whether she’d orchestrated the whole thing to manipulate me into leading her pack, or whether she was just trying to keep us both alive.
I thank the sweet Moon Goddess for the moment she agreed to leave with me, and I could be sure she was the female I thought she was. That what we have together is real. That she loves me and wants to be my mate.
I pick her up and turn her to straddle me, so I can read her lips.
“Aster. Starshine. You nearly killed me when you said you didn’t want me as your mate.” I sign and speak so that she can learn ASL.
Tears spring to her eyes. “I know.” She cups my cheek. “I had to make you leave. I hated hurting you, but I knew it was the only way.”
“Why? What did you see?”
I had a vision–” she chokes up. I feel her pain as acutely as if it’s my own.
