AllFreeNovel
Share Us
It doesn’t work.
Her silver eyes dim as she bites her bottom lip. “I’m sorry, Gemma,” she whispers, raising her hand. Like her eyes, her fingers seem to glow.
“Don’t—”
She does it. Before I can use my reflexes to stop her, she grabs my wrist in an iron grip.
My wolf is screaming inside of me, terrified that I’m going to lose Ryker.
She told me that one half of the bond has to give permission. It’s not as easy as me or a Ryker saying yes or no. With her gift, she’s tapped into the Luna. She knows if either one of us has regrets or doubts.
I don’t. Even when I was on the run from Ryker, hiding out from him, I think I always knew that there would never be another male for me. It’s why I never entertained the idea of giving Aleks a shot at wooing me, or how I missed the warning signs that wolves like Shane and Theo were giving me. It’s always been Ryker.
I would never give him up.
But what about him?
If the bond snaps, it’ll be because he doesn’t really want me. The final rejection, it wouldn’t matter if it’s possible that another one could be formed in its place after Elizabeth snaps it. Breaking our bond would break me.
Her hand feels like fire on my skin. I brace myself for what’s going to happen, but despite the few outcomes I’ve dreamed up, what happens next is nothing like was I expected.
Elizabeth lets out a short shout as her odd eyes suddenly roll back to the back of her head. She yanks her hand away from me, her whole body jerking as if she’s been electrocuted. Her hair stands on end. Her skin glows. A piercing keening sound spills from her open mouth before she drops to the platform, crashing into the chair behind me.
Before I even think to move to make sure she’s okay, a terrible sound splits the air, reaching deep inside of me and turning me so suddenly frozen, it’s like he find an off switch.
It’s a spine-chilling roar. As a shifter, I instinctively recognize it as if it’s some bone-deep memory. That roar is the battle cry of a murderous vamp.
Once I shake it off, I glance down at Elizabeth. She’s splayed out on the ground, clutching her wrist. Her eyes are closed, though, and her breathing is slow. She’s alive, but barely. Whatever she just did, it nearly killed her.
“No!”
Leaving Elizabeth where she is, my head whips around again.
Walker’s handsome face is contorted in an ugly rage.
Hate fills me at the same time as it fuels me. Later, I’ll admit to Ryker that what happened next hadn’t been my intention before I turned around and looked at the bastard. The way he’s staring at me as if this is all my fault does something to flip my switch. The whole time I’ve been in the Wolf District, I was careful not to be too impulsive, too reckless, too much like the Gemma Swann I’ve always been.
He wanted me to be Ruby Walker. No fucking way. I’m Gem. I’m an alpha.
And this has been a long time coming.
Shoving the chair aside, I break the stare. I hear him order me to come back to him, but that’s not going to happen. Like, really? He just tried to forcibly break my bond after gleefully drinking in my fear as I watched Ryker in a fight to the death.
He deserves this. He deserves all of this.
His hand-picked alpha being dead.
His pet being injured.
His captive vampire, who is clearly enraged by that fact. I might not understand what’s going on between Aleks and Elizabeth, but I know that it’s only a matter of time before Aleks gets revenge for what happened to him—and her.
His whole pack has watched as his grand plans have fallen apart, too, which seems like poetic justice to me.
And now...
Welp. Might as well add something to the list.
He deserves to have his daughter finally challenge him. Because, if I challenge Walker, then any other challenge is postponed. I won’t have to sit and watch as he sends wolf after wolf to fight my mate in the hopes that they’ll eventually take him down.
As if he can sense what I’m about to do, Ryker calls out my name.
Sorry, my mate. You fought twice for me. It’s my turn.
“I challenge the Alpha,” I announce, jutting my chin out as fire blazes in my eyes. “I challenge the Wicked Wolf of the West.”
