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Nonetheless, he gears up for another attack, and I ready myself to make the kill should I need to. My wing is injured, and this is my first shift in years; I need to end this fight as quickly as I can.
“Stop,” an authoritative voice calls out as Matteo begins to charge. For a second, I think he’s not going to stop, but the voice calls once more and Matteo skids to a stop. His head lowers to his alpha. From his bared teeth, I can tell he’s not submitting by choice. It is his wolf’s instinct that has made him bow.
“Olivia, get your mate out of here,” the alpha says gently, gesturing to the woman who had shifted back earlier. “I’ll deal with him later.”
So that’s his mate. I make a mental note to bring up how I believe she is being treated to her alpha.
Even once Matteo and Olivia walk away, I don’t shift back. I do not trust the danger to be truly over.
The alpha walks closer to me, his hands spread at his side in the same gesture of peace I showed when I arrived.
“I am Aryn. Alpha of the Ironwood pack. Are you Loukas?”
My owl nods his head and Aryn looks around me.
“And you must be Zach?”
I don’t remove my eyes from Aryn, but I feel Zach place both hands on my feathered back before he answers.
“Yes.”
Aryn seems to breathe out a sigh of relief.
“I just got off the phone with Alaric. He said to expect you. I’m so very sorry about them.” He gestures to the group behind him.
I look around, seeing only two shifters still in wolf form. The others have all shifted back and are looking at Zach and me apologetically. “I promise you are both safe here.”
I search his face for a moment, hoping and praying that he’s being honest. If I’m being truthful with myself, now that the adrenaline is beginning to wear off my strength is fading. I cry out as I shift back, the bones in the broken wing translating to a broken arm and fractured ribs as I fall in a heap at Zach’s feet.
Aryn steps forward as if to help me, but Zach’s magic coils around me protectively.
“It’s okay, buddy,” I tell him, grateful for the help his magic gives me to stand, and I place my hand on his shoulder.
Slowly, his magic recedes as he glares at Aryn.
“I wouldn’t expect you to trust me yet,” the alpha’s eyes look truly sorry. “But please come inside. We can call Alaric and get you reunited with your family.”
“Do you mean my sister? Is she here?” Zach asks, his voice laced with hope.
“She’s not here, but I think she’s with Alaric on the island,” Aryn answers.
“If I were you, I would check on Olivia,” I warn him, watching his face for any sign of compliance. Though I trust my mate, I don’t know anything about her allies.
Aryn heaves out a sigh.
“My mate is with her now. Matteo won’t touch her.”
“Has he done that before?”
He stops walking, taking me in.
“Unfortunately. We haven’t been able to convince her to leave him.”
“Why is he still in your pack?” Aryn seems truly hurt by the violence, but I don’t know if I want to put myself at the mercy of someone who would allow that to happen in their pack.
“If we banish him, she will go with him and…”
I nod in understanding, reading between the lines. “At least here you can protect her.”
