“We’re not ready to take a whole pack of rogues alone,” he said. He pulled me down the stairs to the door. The forest was dark, yet so damn eerie. “You’re going to lead us, Isabella.” He clenched his jaw and turned toward the woods. “Now, I’ll ask again. What do you need me to do?”
Roman wanted me to lead.
The thought made me feel butterflies, but I couldn’t think about them for long. I tapped into the disorderly pack mindlink, trying to sort through the million and one things being said in it.
Give me the damn strength to figure this out, Moon Goddess.
After stepping into the forest, I gulped.“Don’t attack them,”I commanded through the mindlink. Roman and I walked further into the night to see the whole pack of warriors standing at full attention in front of the packhouse.“They’re here for me.”
I stepped forward, but Roman grabbed my wrist. “What are you doing?”
“What I need to do. Trust me.” I removed myself from his grasp. “You want orders? I order the whole pack to stand down. Don’t attack unless I tell you to attack.”
The warriors parted for me to walk through them. Ryker stood at the edge of the forest, watching and waiting for me, with the whole pack of ferocious rogues behind him.
He stepped into the moonlight, but none of the other wolves moved. They all stood there, staring. And I stepped toward him. He took a defensive stance, not nervously but cautiously.
“I already contacted the Lycans,” I said. “They know where their hideout is.”
Nobody spoke a word, and then he stepped forward again. “You’re lying.”
“You don’t intimidate me, Ryker.” My nails lengthened into claws. “Is Michelle at that rogues place?” I asked.
He tensed, his jaw clenched. “How do you know about her?”
My teeth lengthened into canines. “Or did you kill her?”
“Stop.” His voice was low, and he was shaking with anger.
“Michelle, the woman who used to be a Lycan before me, the woman who you let stay in your packhouse, the woman you marked when she was going through heat, the woman who gave you a child.”
He growled.
“It was all inside of your desk. Everything that I needed to figure it out.” I shook my head and actually let out a laugh. “You know, that’s not even the funny part. The funny part is that she tried to kill you.” My fingers brushed against the side of my neck, mimicking the scar on his neck. “Too bad she didn’t succeed.”
He shifted into his wolf and ran at me, sprinting full force. The wolves behind me got into their stance, but I didn’t move. Instead, I let him leap in my direction and then I swiped my claws right on his scar. The weakest part of him.
They cut into his skin, shredding it almost instantly. He leapt back. His wound was bleeding profusely, and I held my side tighter to stopmyblood.
“You always told me not to fight when angry, Ryker. You should’ve listened to your own advice.” I shifted into my wolf and sprinted at him.
The difference between him and I was that I wasn’t angry. I was a protector, born on the Wolf Moon to keep people safe, and that was what I would do.
Leaping at him, I latched my teeth into his shoulder and somersaulted over him, taking him with me. Ryker sank his teeth into my arm, and I howled. Roman inched his way closer and closer to me, and when he heard my cry out, he shifted and snatched Ryker by the neck.
Like they had done in the hallway a few days ago, they fought but this time claws were scratching, blood was spewing, flesh was flying.
Roman’s pack started for the rogues, though I told them to stand down, but the rogues wanted no part in a war that they were bound to lose. They ran through the woods, and Roman’s pack followed.
Before I could react, Ryker bit into Roman’s thigh and tore a hefty piece of flesh right out of it. Roman shifted back into his human form and cradled his leg. My heart raced, and I growled loudly, sinking my teeth into Ryker’s thigh and tearing his muscle out of it too.
A thigh for a thigh.
Ryker shifted into his human, stumbling into a tree.
I bared my teeth at him and jogged to Roman who struggled to stand. After shifting, I pressed my hand to stop the bleeding. And when I turned back to Ryker, he was gone. Roman shook his head, standing strong and trying to follow him. But I knew that it was too late.
I wasn’t leaving Roman like this just to chase Ryker. We would destroy him tonight, but not before finding our friends.
