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"Roam?" I scoff. "I'm not your pet, Jasper."
"Could've fooled me," he replies, stepping closer. His smile is all teeth, predatory. "But you know what they say about wild beasts. Sometimes you have to put a collar on them."
The threat hangs in the air, heavy and suffocating. The Eclipse agents shift, ready to pounce.
"Is that so?" My voice comes out ice-cold, but my heart thrums like a drumbeat in my chest. "You'd love that, wouldn't you? Having someone like me under your thumb?"
"Under my thumb, at my side, it's all the same." Jasper's gaze locks onto mine, sharp and unyielding. "It’s time for you to be my mate again, Moriah. The May Queen reborn."
I recoil, shaking my head. “You’re fucking sick,” I hiss.
“I’m a realist, and the reality is that I need to clamp down on this island,” Jasper says. “No more fuckin’ kumbaya bullshit, none of this community stuff. This is my island, I am in control…and I take what I want. I’ll have you first.”
"Over my dead body," I spit out, disgust curdling in my stomach.
"Suit yourself." Jasper's eyes glint with malice. "But we both know how this ends, don't we?"
"Never gonna happen, Jasper." I line up shoulder to shoulder with Ruby, Joy, and Iris. We're a ragged wall of defiance, shielding Luka where he's slumped against the cold stone of the temple’s altar. The tree of life is behind him, looking like he’s the very root of it all.
"Really?" Jasper sneers, a step away from us, his Eclipse goons fanning out behind him. "You think you can stop me?"
"Stop you?" I snarl, feeling the fury bubbling beneath my skin like lava. "I'd destroy myself before letting you touch me."
"Strong words, Aisling," Jasper says with a twisted grin, "but we both know you don't have the guts."
"Try me," I challenge, my voice a razor blade, cutting through the tension in the room.
We stand at an impasse, weapons drawn, ready to fight—
—then a loud bang sounds from outside.
The doors to the temple rattle, and my eyes dart from Jasper to the door and back again. Someone’s trying to get in, and it’s sending a strange sensation skittering along my spine, up my arms, down to the tips of my toes. I brace myself, my heart racing as I figure out who it is.
Then Gunnar Finch slams through the door, stumbling forward and locking eyes with me, followed by Vance Solace.
My guardian angels are here.
And shit’s about to get real.
Chapter twenty-six
Gunnar
I push past the busted temple doors, my boots crunching on scattered debris. The smell hits me first, a tang of blood and fear that makes my stomach turn. I scan the scene—Aisling’s there, her stance fierce as she guards Luka with three other omegas. Their guns are steady in their hands, ready to spit death across the room at the gathered Eclipse soldiers.
“Damn,” I mutter under my breath.
Luka’s curled up like he’s been sucker-punched by his own body, sweat beading on his brow. Pain etches deep grooves into his face, and each shiver that racks through him looks like it’s tearing him apart from the inside.
Relief floods me when I see Aisling alive, but it’s a punch in the gut that follows fast. There’s a fresh bite mark on her neck, red and angry against her pale skin.
It’s not mine, and that single fact feels like a bullet lodged in my chest.
“Who did this to you?” I keep my voice low, dangerous.
Aisling doesn’t even flinch at my question. She just squares her shoulders and meets my gaze with eyes that have seen too much already. “Not now, Gunnar. We’ve got bigger problems.”
I take a step closer, my fists clenching at my sides. “Bigger than betrayal?”
