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She said, “I never wanted this.”
She said, “I never wanted this to happen.”
She s
aid, “I was under his control.”
She said, “Like Robbie. I was just like Robbie. I couldn’t fight him off. I couldn’t stop him. I swear to you. On my life. I only wanted for the wolves to survive. I never—please. Please believe me. I’ll do whatever you want. Joe.” She took a step toward us, and Ox snarled at her. She stopped again, hands up to placate. “Joe,” she said again, voice stronger. “Alpha Bennett. I’ve… done so much. For the wolves. I’ll step down. You will become the Alpha of all. Just… spare me. Please.”
“What the hell?” Gordo muttered. I glanced over at him. He was looking down at his arm. The raven was twisting furiously.
Joe stared at her for a long moment. “You stopped him.”
“Guys,” Gordo said. “Something’s wrong. Something’s—”
She nodded furiously. “I did. I waited for the right moment. I knew if you came—when you came—that it would be our only chance. I had to make him think I was still on his side. Until I could finish this. Finish him. A witch can’t live through an Alpha bite. The wolf magic and witch magic are incompatible.” She smiled shakily. “He’s dead. And I killed him. I saved you. I saved all of you—”
She jerked forward, eyes widening.
I screamed for her as a hand burst through her chest, blackened, the fingers ending in long, glistening hooks.
Blood poured from her mouth as Robert Livingstone rose behind her, black hair growing along his face, eyes blazing orange. He roared at us over her shoulder as he pulled her heart out through her back.
She was dead before she hit the ground.
Livingstone held her heart in his hand as Kelly and Carter scrabbled away from him. Ox and Joe stepped forward, half-shifted, roaring.
Livingstone’s eyes filled with red.
Michelle had been an Alpha. And now Livingstone had taken it from her.
“You did thissssss,” he hissed at us, and impossibly, he began to grow, his body contorting, muscles rippling as his bones creaked. His shift overcame him, but he wasn’t like any wolf I’d ever seen. His clothes shredded and fell to the ground, but he remained on his hind legs, which were bent at the knees, feet turning into long black paws shot with white hair across the tops. His chest expanded, ribs breaking and reforming. His arms were bulky with muscle, and the claws on his hands and feet were at least six inches long. His face stretched into a savage mockery of a wolf, his head bigger than any I’d ever seen. He towered above us.
A beast.
He tilted his head back and howled. It rolled over us, the ground shaking beneath our feet.
“What do we do?” Rico shrieked. “What do we do?”
“We finish this,” Ox growled.
“Yessss,” Livingstone said, jaws snapping.
But he was stronger than us.
Than all of us.
And here, at the end of all things…
We lost.
Oh, we gave it everything we had. Ox and Joe charged at him, and we all shouted when Livingstone swung his massive arm out, striking them both in the chest, knocking them back. I barely had time to take a breath before Joe crashed into me, slamming us both to the ground.
He rolled off me as gunfire erupted above us. I looked up to see Jessie walking toward the beast, Rico’s guns in her hands. She kept on shooting, and the bullets were silver, but they barely made a mark, bouncing off Livingstone’s face and chest, only pissing him off even more. The guns dry-clicked and Jessie threw them to the ground, pausing only to scoop up the crowbar before charging. Livingstone swung at her, and she ducked, falling to her side, her momentum carrying her underneath him between his legs. He started to turn, but she was already on her feet behind him, bringing the crowbar down onto his back.
It broke, the end snapping off and falling to the ground.
“Well, shit,” Jessie said.
