She strikes out with her affinity, downing structural supports around the building until it begins to creak and crumble.
Thoughts brush against mine when the concrete starts to crack.
Rad’s thoughts.
They’re desperate and frantic and when the ceiling of the facility falls, they go utterly silent.
Deep beneath the ruins of his secret facility, Rad, my tormentor, is dead.
“He’s gone,” I tell Blair.
She bows her head and whispers out a scratchy, “Thank you.”
“No, Blair. Thank you. You saved my life.”
“And you mine.”
My pack races across the clearing, and I run toward them, tears flowing down my cheeks as they take me into their arms, as they touch and kiss me, as they hold me. Emotion pours down our bonds and through my affinity, I feel their relief, theirlove.It’s so potent, I weep.
Ian lets out a sharp hiss when he sees the burn over his bite, though while my skin may be burned, the bond between us is just as strong as ever. I push my love down the bond to him, and he lets out a choked laugh of relief.
“My darling, you’re… you’re all right?”
“Tired,” I murmur. “Weak. And… and it’s…” My quiet weeping turns into desperate sobs as I hold my men closer, nuzzling against them to steal their scents, to snatch what scraps of comfort I can.
Cassian sets his hands on my shoulders, and I look up into his dark eyes, my own watery.
“You’re safe, love. We’ve got you. We love you and we’ve got you.”
Graeme approaches us hesitantly, and I look up at him and then over at Blair.
“Will you take care of her and keep her safe? She saved my life,” I tell the royal detective inspector. “Take her to Nathan.”
If Blair is anything like me, and I don’t know that she is, she’s going to need the love of her alpha right now—his arms and his scent, his comfort and his touch.
Graeme nods and approaches Blair cautiously and then leads her to his car. I sense her trepidation, but it’s quickly buried under the sweet solace that fills the thoughts of my men.
“He’s gone,” I whisper. “Rad’s dead.”
My men say nothing because there’s nothing they can say that will calm the storm of emotion inside of me, but Luca pulls off my torn hoodie and tosses it aside, replacing it with his flannel, then holds me close.
All the adrenaline that sustained me through my fight with Rad is long gone, leaving me wrung out. After two years of torment, months of torturous courting, a narrowly missed mating, and months more of waiting for him to lash out in vengeance, Andrew Radcliffe is dead.
“Let’s get you out of here, love,” Cassian says softly. “I want you checked out at Saint Marmora’s before we take you home.”
I nod as I lean against him and, with my pack around me, I make for the SUV. I grimace when I stand before Marcus, unable to meet his eye. Istunnedhim. Saints above, I stunned the man who has done so much to protect me.
“I-I’m sorry,” I stammer. “I didn’t have time to think, and I?—”
Marcus pulls me into a tight hug, and somehow his winter wind-and-pine scent is so much deeper than the scent of wintry pine forests around us. “You did the right thing, sweet-tart. You were smart, but more than that, saints, Juniper, you were brave. So brave.”
I look up and smile, but it’s weak. Worn. “I threw him over my shoulder. Just the way you taught me.”
His gray-green eyes shine with pride. “I always knew you could. Not to me, of course.”
“Because you’re so big and strong,” I say with a teasing smile.
“And know every single one of your tells.”
