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“He’s lying,” Soledad says.
“I know,” I whisper, looking up at her. “But we have to be careful. He could—”
I don’t get a chance to finish my sentence.
Javi shoots out from under my grip and flies toward my father, enveloping him in a swarm of shadow. They tangle as my father shifts—but then his wolf comes out, grey and scarred, the blind eye shining in the dark. Javi stumbles and trembles as they circle each other, and I know in that moment that this is a fight he can’t win.
Gideon lunges at Javi and knocks him down, his teeth going right to my mate’s throat. I’m moving before I realize it, sprinting toward them in a partial shift, my claws digging into my father’s back. He flings me away across the deck and I roll with a pained grunt, then get up to see Javi going at him again, teeth bared.
Blood splashes across the deck, black as oil in the night.
“Javi!” I scream.
The sound is too loud for an escape—too loud for a rescue. Soledad tries to grab me and pull me back, but I race toward him and throw myself over him, checking him for wounds, not caring that my father could kill me or capture me right now.
But he can’t.
Because my father is dead.
Javi isn’t hurt, though the action seems to have made his condition worse.
Still—it’s my father that’s bleeding out on the deck, unmoving.
I don’t have time to examine him, nor do I care to when I can tell he’s no longer breathing. Javi shudders and jerks, and his green eyes find mine in the middle of a spin. He snarls and human speech filters through his fangs somehow,just one word.
“Promised,” he groans.
A howl goes up from the dock and I look at Soledad, begging her with my gaze to help. She doesn’t try to fight me on it; she runs toward us and lifts, but Javi is too big for the two of us. I drag on him, but only manage to get him a few feet—then there’s someone else there. Will, picking him up by the shoulders, along with a large bronze woman with antlers—one of the Valkyries—dealing with his feet.
I run forward with our group, escaping the howls as they get closer. Two is already onboard, Ephraim right on her heels, and Soledad goes in next. I stay behind with Will and Randvi as they carry Javi to the ship, and I find myself grateful for the family that’s come to find me.
The family I chose.
The family that would never let me—or anyone else—suffer in silence.
The ship hums as it comes to life, golden lights flickering along the floor. There’s a flurry of activity as Soledad kneels by the hatch, grabbing another gun and lining up a shot. She hits her mark and yelps in excitement, cackling like a woman gone mad. Will looks over my shoulder as I tend to Javi, who whines in pain. There’s too much input, too much action, too much.
“Ephraim?”
I go still…and so does the rest of the ship.
June is standing at the entrance to the cockpit—the woman I escaped with before, and Ephraim’s ex-mate. He drops his hands to his side, but I can see the fury in his eyes, silhouetted by the moonlight coming in from the hatch. I immediately know that bringing him here was a mistake, and one look at June tells me that she’s not going to let it stand.
The Valkyrie that helped with Javi stands behind June, a tumble of blonde hair falling down her back. She’s statuesque, and has an inch or two on Ephraim, who looks utterly pissed. He sneers at her and crosses his arms, lifting his chin to take them on.
“Honey, I’m home,” he says.
It makes my skin crawl. He sounds just like my father.
June opens her mouth and closes it again. Her eyes sparkle on the verge of tears. I haven’t seen her cry in ages, not even when we were trapped on the Rig…but seeing Ephraim again has her in a twist.
I did this to her.
And I feel horrible.
“It’s you,” she says, her voice cracking.
The hum of the ship is the only sound. I stay at Javi’s side, knowing I should say something, that I should apologize, that I should—
