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My eyes closed, and my head tilted back, so I didn’t see the fist shooting toward my neck. Pain exploded from my throat, cutting off my howl. I felt a crunch that made my head reel. I tried to draw in breath to scream, but I couldn’t. The trauma from the blow had cut off my voice and my air flow. I choked and tried to cough, my lungs screaming for oxygen.
My wolf healing kicked in, allowing me to suck in a tiny breath before stars appeared and my vision became hazy.
A howl split the air, making me jump. Through the blur of pain, I saw Estella’s wolf continuing the howl that I started. The wolves surrounding her surged, but the human Estella kicked out and managed to trip them up, allowing her wolf to finish the howl.
“It doesn’t matter.” Tamra waved away the shifters Estella had tripped. “It’s too late for them. They’ll never get here in time to save you.”
Turning back to me, she raised a long and shockingly white dagger. My heart started beating faster as I registered that I was staring at the blade Rylan had nearly decapitated me with.
Tamra stepped toward me, the dagger in her hand gleaming with an eerie white glow, like it was made of moonlight instead of steel.
“I’m sure you recognize this,” she whispered, tapping the point on my neck where the blade had been lodged after the Gala. “This is a unique blade that the darkness made for me. You see, it’s not metal.” She moved the tip to my left collarbone, and I swallowed past the panic, determined not to let it show. “It’s actually bone. Her bone in fact.” Tamra’s eyes flitted sideways to her sister. “The darkness took the Moon Spirit power from my sister’s body, forged this blade, and gifted it to me. A thank you for bringing him into this world.”
The shadows surrounding us moved, drawing closer to her as she explained the dagger in her hand.
“Wolves are not bothered by silver like the stories say, but the bones of the dead frighten even the strongest alpha. Do you know why?”
I shook my head, having no clue why the bones of shifters could hurt us.
“Because darkness deals in death. Bones are a testament to that. Shifter bones do not belong to the Moon Spirit. They belong to the dark.”
The blade nicked my collarbone again, but this time I felt the cool bite followed by the warm trickle of blood that flowed from the wound.
Darkness swirled in Tamra’s eyes, and she welcomed it like she knew it intimately. A presence swept over me, making my stomach churn violently. The shadows coalesced behind her until a completely black wolf appeared. It was taller than any wolf I had ever seen, nearly a head above Tamra’s.
“It’s time,” the enormous wolf said, speaking out loud for everyone to hear.
Tamra trembled, not in terror but more in rapture. The voice of her master caused a physical reaction from her. It was grotesque, and I fought the urge to gag. This whole thing was messed up, and I couldn’t understand how she didn’t see it.
‘She only sees what she wants to see,’ my wolf said, a vague sense of pity for her flitting across my mind.
Tamra bit her lower lip then lifted the bone blade above my head. At first, I thought she was going to cut through my bonds, but that was wishful thinking on my part. The quick slices on my wrist were almost painless. Blood poured down my arms, the liquid covering the filagree marks. A whimper escaped when the blade moved down to my throat.
“No,” Estella yelled, as her wolf snarled pulling on her restraints.
‘That’s enough, Tamra.’ A soft voice drifted through all of our thoughts. ‘I’m here. Let my Alpha Seeker be.’
I couldn’t help the gasp that escaped when I saw the all-white wolf standing a couple paces behind Tamra and the Shadow Wolf.
My heart ached when I saw the Moon Spirit, knowing what it was about to do in order to save me. I wanted to yell, to beg the wolf not to sacrifice itself for my life but also knowing that it wouldn’t listen. All of Faela and its careful planning all led to this exact moment.
“Excellent.” The Shadow Wolf panted with excitement. “Time to die.”
The dark wolf lunged, but before it could take two steps, a sound reached our ears. It was deep and rumbly. It shook the ground beneath our feet, followed by a wave of power that knocked nearly every wolf to their knees.
With my heart pounding in my ears, my eyes narrowed on the tree line directly across from me. An enormous figure darted out. At first glance, I’d say it was a monster, but after further inspection, I recognized it for who it was.
Rylan!
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Rylan
My mate was tied to a fucking tree. She looked like a sacrifice, with blood covering her arms and soaking her clothes. Fury coated my insides, making it impossible to control the angry beast inside of me.
Fur rippled over my skin as my body shifted. Bones cracked and rearranged themselves, followed by flesh and sinew stretching and constricting. It felt like I was being skinned alive, but I ignored the pain. Nothing would distract me from the sight of my mate bound and tied like some animal.
My earlier roar had freed a good number of wolves from Tamra’s hold, but I knew that it wasn’t nearly enough. I’d been driving on pure instinct ever since Pearl had been taken. I needed a level head, which I’d managed for the most part until I laid eyes on her again. Seeing her covered in blood and helpless to save herself caused something inside me to snap.
