Hold on,he projected toward Harper, knowing she might not hear the words but hoping she'd feel his love, his promise.I'm ending this tonight.
Then he was moving toward the exit, his wolf's massive form cutting through the smoke like a shadow of death itself. Behind him came Marty and his enforcers, their combined howls rising above the chaos—not sounds of fear but declarations of war.
Outside, Ronan and his wolves were waiting. Inside, his pack was fighting for survival.
And between them stood Dorian, Alpha of the Holt Pack, finally ready to settle a debt that had been eighteen years in the making.
NINETEEN
HARPER
The inferno was consuming everything beautiful they'd spent days creating. Harper's emerald gown, once pristine for dancing, now clung to her sweat-dampened skin as acrid smoke burned her lungs with each desperate breath. The twinkling lights Dorian had so carefully strung now sparked and fell like dying stars, igniting the formal wear of pack members who stumbled past her in blind panic.
This is hell on earth.
Through the chaos, she caught glimpses of Dorian's massive black wolf disappearing through the exit with Marty and the other enforcers, their combined howls cutting through the screams like battle cries. Every instinct screamed at her to follow him, to stay by his side where she belonged, but his alpha command echoed in her mind.
"Get to Lila now."
He's going to sacrifice himself if it means we survive, she realized with crystalline terror.Well, so will I.
The thought should have paralyzed her. Instead, it sharpened her focus to a razor's edge. She'd spent her entire life managing crisis situations. Tonight, every skill she'd ever developed would be tested.
Harper pushed through the crowd, her heels abandoned somewhere in the wreckage, her bare feet finding purchase on debris-strewn floors. The smoke thickened with each passing second, turning the elegant town hall into a suffocating maze where familiar faces became ghostly shapes in the haze.
"Lila!" she called, her voice hoarse already from the toxic air.
She found them near the shattered windows—Lila and Tobias working together to help an elderly pack member climb through the jagged opening. The young man's formal shirt was torn and bloodied from broken glass, but his hands remained gentle as he supported the older woman's weight.
"Harper!" Lila's face was streaked with soot and tears, her blue-gray eyes wide with terror that threatened to drag her back into the trauma that had nearly destroyed her months ago. "The whole building's going to collapse!"
"I know, sweetheart." Harper reached them, immediately assessing the situation with clinical precision. The support beams near the back wall were already groaning ominously, and the fire was spreading fast. "We have maybe ten minutes before this whole structure comes down, and the smoke's getting toxic quick."
For a heartbeat, she watched Lila's face crumple—the brave, healing girl Harper had come to love like a sister threatening to disappear back into the broken, terrified victim she'd been after the attack. The sight made Harper's chest tighten with protective fury.
No. Not tonight. I won't let her go backward.
But then something miraculous happened. Lila's chin lifted with a defiance that made Harper's heart soar, her voice cutting through the chaos with surprising strength.
"I'm not leaving this building until everyone is safely out."
"Lila, no," Harper started, even as pride flooded through her at the girl's courage. "You need to get to safety. Dorian wants you out of here?—"
"I don't care what Dorian wants right now." Lila's voice carried an edge of steel Harper had never heard before. "I'm not going to let anyone die today. I will do whatever needs to be done so no one has to suffer like I did."
God, she's magnificent.
Harper's throat tightened with emotion even as urgency drove her forward. This was the Lila she'd glimpsed in their counseling sessions—the strong, compassionate young woman who'd been buried under months of fear and trauma. But they didn't have time for celebration.
"Then we do this together," Harper said firmly, grabbing Tobias's arm as he helped another pack member through the window. "All three of us. Move fast, work smart."
They fell into a rhythm born of desperation and determination. Harper's crisis training kicked in fully as she assessed each situation, prioritizing the most vulnerable while Lila and Tobias provided the physical strength needed to move debris and support injured pack members.
Two minutes.Harper mentally tracked their progress as they worked.Maybe three if we're lucky.
That's when she heard it—a sharp crack followed by a child's terrified scream from across the burning hall.
Harper's head snapped toward the sound, her heart stopping as she spotted the source. A massive support beam had collapsed near the far wall, pinning someone beneath the wreckage. Then through the smoke and flames, she could make out Evelyn's silver hair as the matriarch fought to reach a small form trapped behind the fallen timber.
