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It consumed me, and I burned with it as these strings so much like tethers exploded out from me. They struck Rico first, and I heard lobito lobito lobito, and then they moved on to Kelly, and it was i love you i love you i love you, and it went on and on and on until there was Jessie and Elizabeth, Chris and Tanner, Gordo and Mark, Carter and the timber wolf, faint though it was, and then, oh, and then it was the Alphas, their voices bright and strong, and I heard them all. I heard them all when they sang BrotherLoveFriendMatePack we see you we feel you we will never let you go because we’re packpackpack and pack is love pack is home pack is—
“Pack is everything,” I said.
“What is this?” Livingstone demanded. “What have you done?”
I looked at him, the bonds of my pack writhing within me, giving me strength. I’d never felt so alive. So vital. So present, here, in this moment. I took a step toward Livingstone. “I don’t need you. I don’t love you. You can’t control me. Not anymore.”
He said, “Would you hear me, dear?” but it was such a small thing, such a negligible thing when it plucked against the strings so vibrant and fibrous.
And I said, “No.”
He narrowed his eyes. “So be it. Remember, when all you love is gone, I gave you a chance.”
He shoved the boys forward.
Tony and Brodie ran, claws raised.
I took a breath and braced for impact.
And I was hit, but not from where I expected.
I fell to the side when Rico crashed into me.
I stumbled. I would remember that always.
I turned in time to see Brodie sink his claws into Rico’s chest again and again and again.
Blood spilled as Rico said, “Oh. Oh. Oh.”
The claws raked down into his stomach.
Birds took flight from the trees.
Kelly said, “No. Oh god, no.”
Tony hit Rico, who took a step back, somehow managin
g to stay standing. Tony climbed onto his back, knees hooked around his waist, and he raised his claws to sink them into the back of Rico’s neck.
Rico looked at me. He grinned. His teeth were bloody. He said, “Worth it. All of this. You. Them. I—”
Tony brought his claws down.
Rico grunted and fell to his knees.
The boys jumped off him and landed on their feet, hissing as they backed away, covered in Rico’s blood.
I caught him before he fell.
His eyes were open and glassy. His breath was ragged in the ruins of his chest. His blood smeared into my skin, and I couldn’t stop the bleeding, I couldn’t make it stop.
“Rico, Rico,” I chanted. “Look at me, stay with me, stay with me.”
Livingstone stepped off the porch. Tony and Brodie huddled at his sides, burying their faces in his stomach.
I looked up at him, eyes wet. “Why?”
Livingstone said, “Because it’s the only way.”
