I sucked in a deep breath and tried to lower my voice as we were still being hunted by a dragon. “I have my own trauma, Finley. I have my own tragic past and shattered heart. I have my own scars that will forever mark and change me. I’m no one’s salvation. I’m barely surviving as it is, let alone capable of taking responsibility for another shifter. You have to deal with your trauma. You have to find strength in yourself before you look for it in someone else.”
This speech wasn’t just for him either.
My new plan moving forward was to make myself stronger so I could stop relying on alphas to fight my battles. They could help, of course, but I wanted tosave myselfon occasion too.
“You never took responsibility for your rejection,” he said with a scoff, crossing his arms over his chest, redefining how broad and thick his shoulders were.
His jabs were as sharp as always, and my laughter was brittle. “The irony of what you just said is next-level.”
When he smirked, that red hovering on the edge of my vision turned molten, and I knew whatever was about to come out of his mouth next would tip me right over the edge. “My actions have been completely justified. You needed to understand the consequences of your actions, and the rest of our pack are too pussy whipped to do more than accept your treatment of them. Fuck, you’ve all but stolen Kellan from me and the team.”
The angrier Finley got, the more irrational his attacks became, like a toddler lashing out in confusion and pain. But he wasn’t a toddler, and I wasn’t taking it any longer.
“Hey, Finley…” I said, my lips curving into a smile.
His eyes narrowed at my sudden change of tone. “What?”
I grabbed both of his shoulders, and as he went to lower his arms toward me, I slammed my knee right into his balls. Our faces were close enough that I saw his eyes widen, and a flash of pain creased the corners of his lips. When I stepped away, he crumpled to the ground, gasping for air.
I crouched until I was closer. “How’s that for a consequence of your action?”
He replied with a gasping grunt, and despite the tendrils of guilt I felt at causing him pain, I wasn’t sorry I’d hit him. “I won’t be your punching bag any longer,” I murmured, my voice breaking. “I won’t be your anything any longer. We’re done.”
There was a fissuring in the air between us, and a second later my wolf rose strongly. At first, I thought it was in response to my fight with Finley, but then I felt them out there.
Kellan and Hunter.
They’re here.
Finley groaned from the ground. “Pack is here,” he huffed out. “Not sure I can walk though.”
Tempted to kick him again—in the side this time, I wasn’t a monster—I stared down at him. “I’m walking out of here now. I don’t care if you follow or not. I don’t have time or energy for you any longer, and if youEVERspeak to me that way again, I will cut your balls off and feed them to my wolf. She’ll gobble them right up, and neither of us will lose a wink of sleep over it. I. Am. Done.”
I repeated it with force, and Finley’s features, already blanched from the nut shot, went starkly white. His eyes werewide and shimmering in unspent emotions, and I got the sense he was pleading with me not to go. Which I flat-out ignored.
Spinning on one foot, I strode through the mouth of the cave without a single glance behind me.
Finley had gone too far this time, and while he might not have deserved what happened to him in the past, he absolutely deserved my knee in his balls.
When the bright morning light hit my face, I picked up the pace and ignored the frosty bite of the crisp air. Righteous anger was fueling my blood, so I’d be fine. In the harsh light of day, the forest looked even more desolate, and I hurried through it, ignoring the new attack against my bare feet.
It could be worse; I could be Finley who was bare-ass naked. I doubted he’d risk shifting back to his bear and getting stuck, especially since I wouldn’t be helping him again.
Next time, he was on his own.
With the tugging of my mates growing stronger in my chest, my wolf’s presence came back in heavy waves. The ground trembled as I moved, and when a crash shook the sky above, I picked up the pace until I sprinted. The chill of the air faded under an assault of fire from above, and I was fairly sure I knew what I’d find in the skies when I stepped out from the trees.
It took every scrap of my scattered focus not to trip over the gnarled roots and exposed brush, and even when my hair caught on branches, I didn’t stop. Another crash had me stumbling, as near deafening roars shattered the air around us.
My face was hot, and I had no doubts it was tinged pink from the unnatural heat. Every breath I drew in scorched my lungs, and I was afraid that by the time I found my pack, it’d be too late to stop what was happening out there.
This was one for the history books. The first of its kind.
An honest to goddess dragon battle, and I had no idea how I was going to stop them from killing each other—and the rest of us in the process.
CHAPTER 11
SLADE
