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I know full well this will be the day I die, but I do so willingly for Ruby.
“No! I will not leave you here to die!” she cries.
I send her the image of our mangled bodies and the bear feasting on us. I make her see the blood, the flesh rendered from our bones, the teeth and claws of the bear as he eats us alive.
She backs away, fear roiling through her. That's good, that’s what I need. I need her terror to fuel her flight. I send her an image of the bear devouring a pup from her stomach. I hate myself for it, hate myself for even imagining it let alone making her see it in my mind. She screams internally, and the pounding of her paws as she runs away is the most hopeful sound I ever heard.
I back away from the bear slowly, snarling and darting at the massive creature's legs. I need this bear to pay attention to me and ignore the flight of my mate. I sink my teeth into his flesh and drag him backwards. I feel Ruby running, putting distance between herself and the bear, and I quietly thank the moon for the brief time I had with her, that I saved her from death today. I pray she’s pregnant, so she’ll have some part of me after I die.
I know I have no chance, not alone like this. With a whole pack, maybe, but not on my own. Our connection breaks as Ruby gets far enough away, and I focus on the task at hand. I need to try to survive, keep him busy long enough that chasing her down would be too much of a burden after he kills me. The bear roars, ripping its leg from my jaws and I take a chunk of flesh with me. In my mouth I can feel the texture of tendons. I bit him so deep I’ve rendered that leg useless.
I crouch, backing away and gnawing on the flesh and fur in my mouth as the bear roars with anger and licks its wound. For a second hope seizes my heart, maybe he’ll lose interest and I can escape. I turn to run, to make him follow me the other direction, except great claws come down on my shoulder. Ripping my flesh to ribbons, he tosses me into the air like I’m nothing but a toy. I hit the ground with a sickening squelch, my blood gushing from the claw gashes in my shoulder.
The massive bear stands on his back legs, his deafening roar so loud that I can feel my bones reverberate at the sound, and I know this is my death. His enormous muzzle closes around my injured leg, shattering it anew as he starts dragging me back towards his den. He thinks he’s won, taking me back to devour me in the comfort of his home, but he doesn’t know the lengths I’ll go to for survival.
He doesn't know what I have to fight for.
I snarl, biting at his face and kicking him under the chin with my other leg as I thrash against his jaw. He shakes his head, jostling me from side to side and ripping my leg out of the socket. I scream, yelping and howling in pain as the bear sets its front paws on me and stomps. Air abandons my lungs, and my howls become breathless death rattles. He lifts himself on his back feet and stomps me again. I’m sinking into the snow with every blow, not sure if the sound of crunching is my body or the frozen snow.
I feel her then, Ruby’s coming back, getting closer, desperation blinding her to the reality I’m facing. My heart sinks. She’ll watch me die and then die herself. I sacrificed myself for nothing. I send her a desperate plea to not look, not come any closer, to remember me in the cave and not like this. Not my broken body as I get killed. My vision is dimming, heart slowing, blood flowing freely when I see a gray shape dart into the chest of the bear. The animal flies back, struck so hard by the attacking wolf that he couldn’t hold his balance.
“No!”I scream.“He’ll kill us both, you have to run!”
“He can't kill us all, mutt!”a hard voice answers, and I pull myself to my feet and stare in disbelief.
A wolf, bigger than me, is attacking the bear. Pushing him back as Ruby goes for his legs like I did, ripping and snarling as they work in unison. The larger wolf is formidable, his form strong and solid. Not an inkling of fear seeps from him as he raises to his full height and stares the bear down. His body is like that of a wolf of legend, his fur rolling over the hard muscles as it ripples with his anger. His fangs are pure white, dripping with the blood of the bear as his golden eyes lock onto his enemy’s. I feel sheer power rolling off of him, the all-powerful determination of an Alpha.
Ruby found her brother, she found Cole Richardson.
All the fear I had for the bear flees just as the bear does, and when Cole turns golden eyes on me, I see my life flash before me. He’s saved me, just so he can kill me.
The grizzly, the seasoned survivor, has turned and run in fear. I should go with him. I should have let myself be eaten. What the Silver Dawn Alpha will do to me will be far worse than anything that bear could have ever done. Cole stalks forward, teeth bared, claws poised to rip me to shreds. His nose wrinkles, exposing every bloody fang in his mouth as froth builds up around his lips. He’s furious, the bear was the least of his worries. I’m the true threat to him.
“Trespasser!”he roars into my mind, snarling and snapping for emphasis.
He stalks towards me with murder in his eyes, but in a flash Ruby’s white coat blocks my sight of him. She cowers over my body, slinking over me and rolling over to bare her stomach in submission.
“Brother, stop! This wolf saved me!”she begs, and I stare in awe at her bravery.
That she would speak in my defense… I force myself to close my mind, protecting my memories and my knowledge of the Princess of Cole’s pack. She’s the future of their line, the mother of the pack of the next generation. Whoever Cole chooses will be his Luna, but Ruby will lead the females until her last day. If he so much as gets an inkling that we’ve mated he’ll kill me on the spot, no matter what she says.
“What were you doing out here, where have you been?”Cole demands, switching his attention to his sister and lowering his snarl at Ruby’s throat.
My body reacts before I can think. With the last of my strength I lunge, biting Cole’s neck and dragging him away from Ruby. He cannot threaten my mate and live to tell the tale.
Snarling, I pull him away from her, but one massive paw comes down on my claw wounds and presses hard. I yelp, collapsing under his sheer weight, but keep snarling. I will not submit to another pack’s Alpha, not for anyone. Cole glares down at me, his eyes flashing with murderous intent, and I snap up at him with every ounce of hatred I can muster. Once again the pale fur of my mate is over my body, pushing her brother away, as she licks the wound on my shoulder in direct defiance.
“I said he saved me!” she shouts. “I wrecked, I was trapped in my car. He must have heard me from the highway, he got me out! I’d be dead if not for him! And this bear? Do you think I’d be standing here right now if he had not attacked the bear so I could get away?”
“What?”Cole stammers, stepping back and watching me warily.
Ruby gets off of me and steps between us. I’m too weak to stand, so I lay in the snow where he left me and wheeze.“Your sedan is in the garage, how did you crash?”
“I stole Jax’s jeep,”she says, looking away.“I wanted to go to the mall by myself, and I knew if I took my car you’d notice I was gone. Jax isn’t back from his trip yet, he took the helicopter south to handle finances, remember?”
Cole’s fur bristles with anger, and he steps towards Ruby, growling until she cowers down and whimpers. He steps over her, protecting her from me, and bares his teeth at me viciously.
“Because you saved my sister, I will spare your life. Pray to the moon you can crawl back home before you die. Never trespass on my land again!”He snaps at me, his bite nicking my ear and sending shooting pain through my skull.
