Our combined weight slammed him into the ground with a crack that echoed through the trees. Dirt exploded around us as our claws dug and tore into him. Axel’s wolf form burst out, but my claws sank into his shoulder, pinning him down. Thalia tore into his flank. Adair went for his back leg, her jaws snapping shut with bone-crunching force.
Axel howled—a raw, furious cry—but he couldn’t find leverage. He was trapped beneath three wolves driven by grief, rage, and the need to stop a monster from slipping further into the shadows.
He thrashed, kicking up dirt, teeth snapping blindly, but we didn’t give him space to breathe. Didn’t give him time to think. Didn’t give him a single inch.
He’d killed Brand. Killed Cale. Killed the Grumps. He’d betrayed all of us, and now three furious females held him to the ground like the prey he finally was. I leaned in harder, my weight crushing his lungs, claws digging deeper until I felt muscle tear. His blood hit my tongue, metallic and bitter, and a growl rumbled out of me—long, dark, and satisfied.
This wasn’t mercy.
This was justice served before my mate and his betas got the chance to turn revenge into destruction.
Axel’s movements slowed. His struggles weakened. Pinned beneath the three of us, he finally stilled—not beaten, not unconscious, but contained. Until he wasn’t. He roared out in fury—a sudden surge of rage giving him strength—and shook us off. Thalia was knocked aside, her wolf whimpering as it hit the ground. Adair fell to the side, and I scrambled back to my feet, ready to face him.
He charged at me, and I responded. I had always been fast. Killian had trained me to be faster. Cody had shown me how to use my lighter weight to my advantage. Thalia had taught me how to absorb a hit. And my father had taught me how to fight dirty.
I dodged his charge, my wolf dropped low, and I sank my teeth into his underbelly and pulled. His scream tore through the air. Adair’s wolf jumped onto his back, her teeth locking into his neck, her head shaking furiously, ripping through his flesh. Thalia was in front of him, her wolf on her hind legs, her front claws swiping down and across his face.
Axel fought back, claws ripping at my leg. I heard Thalia’s yelp as he knocked her backward. Adair was shaken off him as easily as a rag doll. We stepped back, panting, ready to attack again when I saw him lurch. His wolf was panting heavily, so loud it drowned out our snarls. Blood flowed out of him from his wounds. He took a step forward and then staggered.
I dared not blink. Then Axel—killer, traitor, monster—crumpled as if his strings were cut, hitting the ground with a dull, satisfying thud.
The three of us froze. I watched the blood spill from his multiple wounds. Adair edged forward, but I growled, causing her to step back. I moved closer, my snout nudging his limp body. He didn’t react.
“Rowen, be careful,” Adair cautioned. She shifted back to her wolf, back to her human form, healing herself.
I backed away, keeping my eyes fixed on Axel. I shifted rapidly, following Adair’s lead, healing my body. I stood and reached for my power as a druid. There was no sense of life from the fallen wolf.
“Are you both okay?” I asked them quietly.
Thalia exhaled. “I will be when I see my husband,” she said simply. “Thank the Goddess that he wasn’t expectingus.” She ran a hand over her hair. “That was well fought.”
Adair spat on the ground next to his limp body. “He’s lucky that’s all he got.”
I looked down at him, my jaw trembling with rage and grief. “No,” I said. “His luck ran out. Justice was served for the ones we lost.” I nudged his dead body with my foot to make sure he was completely down. “Because when Wolfe wakes up,” I said quietly, “Axel won’t be alive.”
Thalia’s voice was barely a whisper. “What do we do now?”
I looked at the traitor lying in the dirt—cold, empty, irredeemable. “Now,” I said, “the pack can start to heal.”
Adair moved forward, her claws extending. She lifted his head, and with a quick swipe, she cut his throat. “You thought he was dead the first time,” she told Thalia, almost casually. “He isn’t coming back this time.”
I didn’t criticize her for overkill. I wasn’t the one who would wear his scar for the rest of my life. “We burn him here?”
“Wolfe will want his bones for Stonefang,” Thalia said grimly.
The wind shifted, carrying the cry of a falcon high above us.
I clenched my fists. “Alright, let’s carry the fucker back to Blueridge Hollow and face the music.”
Thalia rolled her eyes theatrically. “Dibs on saying you drugged me into submission.”
Adair snorted. “I was blackmailed.”
I grinned and was about to give a sassy reply when the hairs on the back of my neck stood up.
“And what’syourexcuse, princess?”
Damn it. They woke up too early.
