Jerome yanked on his cuffs. “I would rather fuckingdie!”
“Then it sounds like it’s the right punishment for you,” Mason said sadly.
I had to admit he was right.
Mason
I hated this. Hated every fucking moment of it. Seeing Jerome strapped to a table, his arms and legs bound, listening to him go from threats to pleading for mercy?
It was killing me.
We left the chaos and headed back to the motel. Tony and Fiona had offered us their guest room, but I wanted to be alone with him. As we stepped inside the room, I clutched his arm.
“Am I too much of a sap? Not wanting them to kill Jerome?”
Kip sighed. “The only reason I told Alpha Donnelly to find another way was because of you.”
He would have let him die. Not that I expected any other reaction. He was my Dominant, and Jerome had threatened me. Kip had a duty to ensure that would never happen again and to warn others what to expect.
So they’re going to strip Jerome of being a werewolf just so they can lock him up for attempted murder.
“You’re thinking too hard, baby,” Kip murmured into my hair.
“I didn’t want him to die,” I whispered.
“And that’s because of who you are. We could expect nothing less from you.”
“But locking him up is just like killing him,” I remonstrated. “It’s stripping him of what makes him special.”
Kip enfolded me in a warm, comforting hug. “You have to remember, this whole thing allows Jerome to see someone. Dr. Briggs is helping Donnelly find a psychologist who will help. Who knows? Maybe with therapy, Jerome can find himselfagain. If that happens, they’ll stop with the treatments and his wolf could come back.”
“Could. Maybe. Might.” I swallowed. “What if it doesn’t?”
“Then I’m sorry, but it’s the price he’s paying for what he’s done.” He tilted my head so I had to look him in the eye. “We can’t control what others do, only our reactions to them. In my opinion, Jerome got off easy. If you’d been anyone but an Omega wolf pleading his case, he would be pushing up daisies right now, and I’d be there pissing on his grave.”
“Kip!”
“It’s true, and I won’t apologize for it. He nearly took you from me. He did something so heinous, I had to sit in a hospital room and beg Death not to steal you from me.” He looked me in the eye. “You’re a good person. You care about everyone. Me? I care about you and our families. That’s it. Anyone beyond that can fuck off.”
My breath caught. “You don’t mean that. You told me you wanted to help me save the pack and your people, so obviously you care.” I knew he did. Kip might come off as aloof, but he’d always cared deeply for people, especially those few he considered his friends. “We both know you’re lying, so give it up.”
His cheeks flushed. “I’m not lying about this. I would let him die. I would kill him myself, if it meant that you’d be safe.”
Judging by the steel in his voice, I believed he would. Kip was my knight, my dragon.
My dragon knight.
My heart pounded. “Let me see you?”
Kip frowned. “I’m right here.” Then his brow cleared. “Oh. You wanna see… me.”
I bit my lip. “We were in the middle of a burning house. I didn’t get a good look.” I smiled. “Hey, it’s only fair. You’ve seen my wolf, right?”
He chuckled. “Okay, okay.” He took a few steps away from me, undressed, and I watched as his outline shimmered.
Fuck, he took my breath away.
Kip was as tall as I remembered, but now I got to see everything. Most of his skin was covered in iridescent deep blue scales, but on his neck, chest and thigh muscles, these were larger, more like armor plate. There was barely enough room for him to unfold his wings. They stretched out on either side of him, the same shade of blue as his scales, almost like a skin-covered hand with elongated finger bones, a tough leathery membrane stretched between them. I could see the delicate pattern of veins.
