“Um,” I said. “Thank you.”
But with that cleared up, Peregrine’s brow furrowed deeper in confusion.
“Using magic to create omegas… If that’s possible, why didn’t you try it?” Peregine asked Blaze in a low voice. “All this time, we could have had a solution.”
Blaze hissed. “He’s still lying! Do you see any omega gryphons around?”
“He’s still inside the keep. Go see for yourself,” I insisted.
“I’m not falling for one of your tricks.”
I resisted the urge to groan. I reached out to Neil through the mind link and ordered him to go find Bastian and Torin, and bring them here as soon as possible. Maybe with proof he’d listen better.
Urged on by my anger, I added with a sneer, “And he probably didn’t bother to try because he’s not as strong of a mage as I am.”
Fury ripped across Blaze’s face at being insulted in front of his guards and his pride.
But without any way to build himself up, he tried to tear me down again.
“Noro!” he commanded in a booming voice. “Capture this omega!”
Chapter 21
“No!” Ramsay snarled.
He and Colton threw themselves in front of me. The scene reminded me vividly of the night Torin had kidnapped me--the two of them fighting off a bigger and more powerful gryphon.
But this time, the gryphon wasn’t some faceless enemy. It was their friend, and my mate.
As Noro dived, the white wolf and red wolf moved like streaks of lightning. Ramsay sprang, sinking his teeth into Noro’s mane while Colton caught Noro’s hind leg in his jaws.
Together they had enough weight to pull Noro down out of the air. But he was mindless, acting out Blaze’s fury under the manipulative spell. He shrieked and kicked and clawed. Still, Colton and Ramsay didn’t let go. They loved me too much to let him hurt me.
“Stop it, you fucking coward!” I shouted to Blaze. “Release him!”
“Catch him at all costs!” Blaze shouted back to Noro. “Do not let him get away!” He whirled around to the rest of his pride. “You too! That omega is our prisoner!”
At those words, Tholan’s expression turned dark and sour. He stared at his own son with grave disappointment. And that wasn’t all. Peregrine, too, looked uneasy. She made no move to help Noro, and neither did the rest of the guards.
But nobody had the courage to interrupt the violent brawl of wolf and gryphon. All I could do was watch in horror as they fought.
Soon it became clear that Noro was the stronger one. He grabbed Ramsay’s scruff with his sharp beak and tossed him across the platform.
“Ramsay!” I cried.
In a swift motion Noro snatched Colton and threw the white wolf upside down on his back against the marble with a hardthud.My heart raced with panic. Noro’s talons curled around Colton’s neck, pushing down and choking him. Colton’s paws scrabbled uselessly against Noro’s arms.
“Colton!” I screamed, running towards him.
But a sharp, horrible pain made me stumble. I fell with a gasp on my hands and knees. My body trembled with a deep agony I’d never felt before.
I couldn’t move. I could only watch as Noro choked Colton. His talons sank deeper into the white fur, squeezing the life out of him.
My mate was killing my other mate.
Colton’s breath wheezed. He began to go limp.
“NO!”
