My wolf surged suddenly—a molten eruption in my veins—begging me to twist free…
But it was too late.
Harrison pivoted faster than thought, his claws raking across Bronc’s chest with a wetrip. Crimson bloomed beneath the torn fabric of his vest; Bronc staggered but didn’t fall…No!My heart seized as Harrison raised his hand for another strike—aiming straight for Bronc’s throat this time.
The world narrowed to fire and fury.
I threw myself sideways with feral desperation, teeth bared even before fur split my skin…
The shift tore through me in seconds—bones snapping like dry twigs. Claws erupted first; fur followed in a tsunami of vengeance.
Harrison turned too late.
I was already airborne… jaws wide… fangs sinking into his jugular.
He thrashed violently… claws shredding my flank… but I bit down harder…. tasted copper…crunch.He gurgled wetly. Then, he collapsed beneath me…. still twitching… still staring hate into my soul… until nothing… I’d all but detached his head from his body.
The silence hit louder than his death rattle.
My wolf vanished like smoke, leaving me human again. Naked. Shaking. Kneeling in a pool of his blood; my blood.
The bond snapped like a severed wire. Agony detonated in my chest. Bile rose as full-body tremors wracked me.Mate.The word echoed hollowly;killer.
Bronc rasped my name, hands hovering inches away like I might break. Maybe I already had.
“Juliet.” His voice cracked, blood dripping down his chest, mingling with mine on the floor.
I scrambled backward. Every inch of skin burning under fluorescent lights. Under his gaze. How could he look at me? My thighs smeared red, hands trembling where they clutched shattered ribs.Filthy.Unclean. The mate-bond might be ash now, but its ghost clung like oil.
“I didn’t—” The words shattered mid-sob. “My fault. All because that cursed bite made me crave his hands while hating him.”
Bronc sank down beside me, slow as sunrise against hellscape shadows. “You survived,” he whispered roughly. “That’s all that matters.”
But it wasn’t true. Not when every ragged breath stank of Harrison. Not when half of me still screamedWHY DID YOU MAKE ME KILL YOU?
I gagged, retching bile onto concrete.
Bronc reached out again. This time I didn’t flinch as his calloused palm cupped my cheek. So warm, so wrong. I shouldn’t let him touch what Harrison ruined.
His thumb brushed away blood or tears as he leaned forward until our foreheads touched. “Little Wolf.” Broken reverence. No disgust, only grief.
I wanted to collapse into him–but how? When guilt gnawed deeper than any claw mark? When even victory felt like chains?
In the silence between us, Harrison’s corpse kept laughing.
The sound that broke from me was all anguish, no relief. It was never meant to be like this. I was supposed to just save my mother. Swift. I’d let him bring me here, then I’d call for Bronc and he’d save me. But Harrison was ruthless. A step ahead. The bite. He made me need him. Crave him. He broke me and made me something dirty. I killed my mate. Even now, he’d won.
I bit back the cries of pain. And now my wolf was gone again. She must hate me to have left me again. The thought swarmed like flies, filled the empty, rattling spaces of me. They all would hateme. I hated myself. My heart clenched, making every breath feel tight and perilous. I didn’t even notice my nakedness, the way I lay bare and exposed, covered in blood under the white fluorescence, beneath Bronc’s terror-stricken gaze.
I thought he might never speak. The man I hadn’t trusted. The man I’d just killed for. The man who found me in the arms of another man. How could he touch me? How could he—
“Juliet.” My name, ragged on his lips, broke through the staggering press of it all. He reached for me again. But I shook my head. I was too dirty for him. He deserved better than me.
“Bronc,” I gasped, “I thought—I thought—” The words tangled between us like a snare, impossible to untangle.
He knelt next to me. Looking at me like I was a feral animal he was too afraid to touch. That’s what I was. “I know Little Wolf. You wanted to fix things.” There was no accusation in his voice, only sorrow. He closed his eyes for a moment before he turned to look at the ruin behind us. “I’m so glad he’s dead. And you’re not.”
“I hate him. He only ever hurt me, and he made me want it. Now, I killed him, my mate, so I have to pay. I HATE HIM! I HATE HIM! IT HURTS!” I turned in on myself, leaving Bronc to kneel beside me, helpless.
