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Adrian reared back to hit me a fifth or sixth time, I couldn’t be sure, and my left hand shot out catching his fist mid swing. His eyes went wide, and I reached up with my right hand, grabbing the right side of his neck, fresh power washed through my muscles, and I shoved him off kilter, rolling us across the ground.
I wrangled my weight around, trying to pin one of his shoulders down, as I grabbed his chin. His hands flailed wildly trying to find purchase, on my back. I closed my fingers around his jaw, pressing in hard, but abruptly his weight lifted off the ground and he threw me off him.
Rolling head over heels, I rebounded to my feet, breathing heavy. Adrian staggered up across from me, smiling.
“You think you’re so tough, don’t you little girl. But you’re just like him. Just like your father. Weak, ridiculous, andunworthy. He never should’ve been Alpha, and neither should you,” Adrian snarled.
I glared at him, hearing Jamie’s warning echoing through my mind.“Don’t listen to him. He’s baiting you. He wants you to make a mistake.”
I rolled my shoulders back and wiped the blood from my face. My back throbbed from hitting the ground, and I could feel that at least two of my ribs were broken.
“What?” Adrian sneered. “Nothing to say? Cat got your tongue, or has your mate put it to better use?”
A wolfish growl ripped from my lips, and Adrian shot forward again. I reached for his outstretched hands, to try and knock him off balance again, but he redirected at the last second and ducked lower, circling his arms around my waist, like I’d done to him. The impact of his weight knocked the air out of me, and I felt my shoulders hit loose stone.
Adrian’s eyes glittered viciously, and he shifted me sideways enough that I felt my body dipping as we came near the edge of the cliffside.
Panic seized my heart, and I started frantically pushing back, scraping my feet against the ground. “No. No. No.”
Adrian laughed, “Say goodbye, girl.”
“I’ll kill you, you son of a bitch,” I snarled, pushing up, trying to knock him off balance.
My foot slipped and I felt the ground falling out from beneath me. I held tight to his hands. “If I’m going over, I’m taking you with me.”
“I don’t think so.” Slipping his hands down to my side, he shoved me violently off the side of the cliff.
Gasping in shock, I scrambled to grab onto something… anything. In the distance, I could hear Jamie screaming for me, roaring my name in terror that nearly matched my own. My hands scraped along the rocks. My fingers found purchase and my body jerked to a stop, dangling over the water.
Breathing heavy, I looked up, and I couldn’t make out the top of the cliff. To many rocks, and branches jutted out between me and where I’d fallen from.
I had to get back up. I had to climb, but how. I couldn’t move. My fingers burned, but if I tried to grab another rock, or climb I could fall, and if I fell. My chest rose and fell in an uneven rhythm.
“No. No. No. What do I do?” I whimpered, leaning my head against the stone. “What do I do?”
Energy rippled in my body, as Annie’s voice whispered in my ear.“Let go, kiddo.”
I shook my head. “I don’t want to die.”
“Just trust me. Trust your wolf,”she said.“It knows how to survive, and it knows how to use the tools at its disposal.”
I squeezed my eyes closed. “I don’t want to die. I’m scared.”
“It’s natural to be afraid, but you’re a survivor. You can do this,”she said.
“Annie. I can’t. Adrian was right. I’m weak. I’m not brave. I’m not a leader. I’m not—”
“Enough, kid,”Annie snapped.“Listen to that boy screaming for you. Close your eyes, let go, and go to him.”
I exhaled a long shaky breath. “Jamie.”
“A mate’s bond is stronger than any magic, Evie. Think of that, and let go,”Annie urged again, and I felt something pulling my fingers loose on the rock.
Jamie. She was right. I could feel him holding onto our bond, pulling at me, reaching for me. With my eyes closed, I could feel his warmth. I could remember the way his kiss felt against my skin, his arms holding me tight.
My body relaxed thinking of him, and I felt my wolf surging to the surface as I released my hold on the cliff face. My arms and legs fell limp, the world tilted off kilter, and a rumbling burst of energy wrapped around me enveloping the night for a moment in violent blue light.
My body ripped through the change, and I dropped, flipping over onto all fours, back down onto the center of the altar in wolf form.
