“He’s going to be okay,” Hunt said quickly, not looking up from where he was applying pressure to Knox’s shoulder. “The pain just made him pass out. His heartbeat is strong. He’s going to be fine.”
Tears filled my eyes, blurring my vision. I reached out and touched Knox’s face, his cheek cold against my palm. But Hunt was right. I could see his chest rising and falling. Couldfeel through the bond that he was still there, still alive, just unconscious.
The pain in my shoulder made sense now. I was feeling his pain. The gunshot wound. The bullet that had been put in my mate’s back.
I was going to kill Lucio.
Rage burned through me, hot and white. But first, I needed to know Knox was going to be okay.
“The bullet?” I asked, my voice shaking.
“Went through,” Hunt said. “Clean exit. He’ll heal fast once we get him somewhere safe.” He finally looked up at me, and despite all the mud caked on his face, I could see the relief in his eyes. “He’s tough. He’ll be fine.”
I let out a shaky breath, trying to pull myself together. Knox was alive. He was hurt, but he was alive. I pushed myself to my feet and stormed back across the room to where Noah, Cole and Ryder were dealing with Lucio. They had him on the ground, his arms wrenched behind his back, the gun kicked away across the floor. He was struggling, screaming something about how it wasn’t his fault, but nobody was listening.
He didn’t see me coming, so it was a pleasant surprise when I stopped next to him and I kicked him. Hard and right in the ribs.
He grunted, curling in on himself, and the sound was deeply satisfying.
“Fucker,” I spat at him.
Then I turned and went back to Hunt and Knox, wiping my eyes with the back of my hand to really look at them. Hunt was covered in mud from head to toe, dried blood visible in patches, his clothes torn and dirty. But he was alive.
“I’m so happy you’re okay,” I said. “We were worried about you.”
Hunt smiled, just a little. “Takes more than a syringe to keep me down.” Then his face went serious again, and he jerked his head toward the hallway behind him. “Mary and Mira have the babies. They ran that way when we confronted Lucio. Knox went after them and that’s when that coward shot him in the back.”
“I’ll get them,” I told Hunt, pushing myself to my feet. My legs were shaky, my arm still throbbing, my shoulder burning with Knox’s pain. But I couldn’t stop now. “Thank you. For protecting him. For being here.”
Hunt nodded. “Go. I’ll stay with him until the healers arrive.”
I turned and ran toward the hallway.
The corridor was narrow and dark, lit only by a few weak bulbs that left most of the space in shadow. I could see a door at the far end, standing open, moonlight spilling through from outside. That’s where they’d gone. That’s where Mary and Mira had taken my daughter and Cole’s son.
Footsteps pounded behind me as Noah and Cole followed, along with several more guards. Cole’s face was set in hard lines, his jaw tight, his eyes burning with desperation. His baby was out there too.
I burst through the door and into the yard behind the cabin.
Mary and Mira were standing about twenty feet away, their backs to me, staring at the tree line. They hadn’t run into the forest. They couldn’t. Because our wolves were forming a perimeter around the property, their eyes gleaming in the darkness, their teeth bared. The rogues were gone, either dead or scattered, and now there was nowhere for these two to go.
They were trapped.
“It’s over,” I called out, my voice stronger than I felt. “Give us the babies.”
Mary and Mira spun around to face me.
Mary was holding Blake, my baby girl clutched against her chest like a shield. Blake’s face was red from crying, tears streaming down her tiny cheeks. She looked so small in Mary’s arms. So fragile.
Mira had Thomas, held in a similar position. He was crying too, his little fists waving in the air, his wails mixing with Blake’s.
The sight of them made something in my chest crack wide open. My baby. My daughter. In the arms of the woman who had tried to destroy my life over and over again.
“Long time no see, bitch,” Mary sneered at me.
And just like that, memories slammed into me.
It was like a dam breaking. Images and feelings and moments came flooding back, filling in the dark spots that had been there since I woke up from the coma. I remembered Mary showing up at Noah’s door. Remembered the threats she’d made, the wayshe’d clawed at me in a rage. Remembered how she’d claimed she was pregnant with my mate’s son, how she’d tried to tear my family apart with that lie.
